Vital Biodiversity Systems: A Companion Paper

Regenerative and diverse ecosystems are essential to living futures. Healthy ecosystems are more resilient to climate change and are better able to absorb and store carbon. Communities and corporations worldwide are currently establishing how environmental data can best support these processes. This Companion Paper provides the rationale for the Design Brief and synthesizes findings from four years of research across academia, corporate sustainability teams, and community stakeholders. It argues that biodiversity data systems are not neutral repositories but designed artefacts that embed assumptions and values. To redirect innovation, the paper supports the Brief by expanding on its key design principles, criteria, constraints, and propositions that together chart a pathway for ‘vital biodiversity systems’: platforms that embed the aliveness of the ecosystems they mediate.