Science, government and industry join forces to develop biodiversity monitoring strategy
The research programme Biodiversity in Focus has officially started. A broad-based consortium with partners from academia, government, NGO's and industry will collaborate to develop a practical, reliable and cost-effective monitoring strategy to assess biodiversity status at a local level. Biodiversity in Focus is an initiative led by Witteveen en Bos and Deltares.
Reversing the decline of biodiversity in the Netherlands is essential to maintaining a healthy and resilient society and economy. Through international and European agreements, the Netherlands is working towards biodiversity restoration targets by 2050. However, demonstrating the impact of interventions remains challenging due to a lack of sufficient project-specific biodiversity data.
What does biodiversity in focus do?
The Biodiversity in Focus project is developing a robust, reliable and affordable measurement strategy, integrating emerging technologies alongside established monitoring methods. Emerging techniques include acoustic sensors, camera systems, environmental DNA (eDNA), remote sensing, and drone-based observations.
The strategy is being co-developed explicitly with its future end users. A key stakeholder group comprises organisations subject to reporting obligations under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which require standardised biodiversity data. These organisations have made pilot sites available for testing and validation.
The real strength of Biodiversity in Focus lies in its collaborative approach. By bringing together science, policy and practice, the programme ensures that new insights move beyond academic reporting and are translated directly into actionable, real-world applications.
Sacha de Rijk, Freshwater Ecologist and Initiator at Deltares
A strong legal and governance foundation
Ultimately, the Biodiversity in Focus project will deliver a number of key outputs. The ambition is to develop practical, reliable and cost-effective products that are broadly supported by NGOs, public authorities and private-sector organisations. The principal deliverables include:
- A comprehensive monitoring strategy, including a toolbox of complementary monitoring methods;
- Decision trees to support the selection of the most appropriate combination of measurement approaches;
- Advisory guidance on data architecture, including data storage, accessibility and interoperability with existing datasets.
Partners unite in three core groups
To ensure usability and applicability, the Biodiversity in Focus programme is structured around three core groups. Witteveen+Bos oversees programme coordination and ensures that the primary objective is achieved and that the measurement strategy is widely adopted in practice. The three groups actively exchange knowledge and insights gathered through pilot implementations.
Firstly, the Knowledge Team, consisting of Deltares, Wageningen Environmental Research, Naturalis Biodiversity Center, IUCN NL, and Deltaplan Biodiversity Recovery / Schuttelaer & Partners, contributes scientific expertise underpinning the measurement framework.
Secondly, the Pilot Site Owners include KPN, a.s.r., Heijmans, TenneT, Stedin, Rabobank, Alliander, STOWA, the Province of Drenthe and the Central Government Real Estate Agency. These stakeholders provide testing environments where biodiversity is monitored in practice. The diversity of pilot sites enables the iterative development and validation of the measurement strategy.
Finally, the Advisory Group brings together public-sector bodies, market players and non-governmental organisations, including the Provinces of Overijssel, Gelderland and Groningen, BoerenNatuur, Gasunie, SoortenNL, BAM Infra, the Green Offices Network, the Port of Rotterdam Authority, EcoShape, Rijkswaterstaat, the Municipality of Pijnacker-Nootdorp and the Dutch central government.
The Advisory Group is kept actively informed and provides critical reflection from a policy, governance and user perspective. It plays a key role in building broad support for the measurement strategy and ensuring its practical applicability.
With Biodiversity in Focus, we aim to make biodiversity both measurable and visible, and to demonstrate tangible improvements. In doing so, we advance ecosystem restoration. Moreover, by evidencing the effectiveness of interventions, we can properly reward sound policy and responsible business practice.
Sebastiaan Schep, Aquatic Ecologist and Initiator at Witteveen en Bos
Minimum duration: four years
Biodiversity in Focus is a public-private partnership (PPP) with a minimum duration of four years. It forms part of the Knowledge and Innovation Agenda for Agriculture, Water and Food 2024–2027*. Funding is secured through a combination of partner contributions and a grant awarded under the PPP call for Agriculture, Water and Food 2025.
