Legacy data can unlock opportunities for conservation research in data-scarce environments

Conservation research in recent decades has shifted toward interdisciplinary approaches that integrate conservation and community knowledge. While this transition has generated vast amounts of ecological and social datasets, much of it remains unpublished, fragmented, and inaccessible as “legacy data”. This paper examines the challenges and opportunities associated with managing, recovering, and reusing legacy data in conservation research. Using a case study, we examine two long-term research landscapes where nearly three decades of interdisciplinary research have generated diverse legacy data. We combined qualitative interviews with researchers and practitioners with a semi-systematic literature review to map data types, storage practices, metadata standards, backup practices, and willingness to share data. Our results reveal extensive thematic and temporal diversity in legacy data, as well as high levels of fragmentation, inconsistent documentation, and reliance on personal storage systems. Despite these constraints, researchers expressed a strong willingness to share legacy data, contingent on recognition, incentives, and ethical safeguards. We identify key barriers across institutional roles and, drawing on these findings, we propose institutional, technical, and operational strategies for recovering and managing legacy data, and present a conceptual Legacy Data Lifecycle Framework to guide long-term stewardship. Strengthening legacy data management can enhance evidence-based conservation, reduce redundant data collection, and maximize the societal and scientific value of decades of research in biodiversity-rich regions, like India.