As a member of the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) Alliance, UNEP-WCMC celebrates doubling of investment in biodiversity datasets in 2024.

Accurate, reliable data is essential for monitoring biodiversity and tracking progress towards global targets, as well as allowing private sector actors to measure their nature-related risks and impacts.

IBAT is a user-friendly platform that provides access to the world’s most authoritative global biodiversity data. The platform is maintained by the IBAT Alliance, of which UNEP-WCMC is a partner and co-founder alongside BirdLife International, Conservation International (CI) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The IBAT Alliance has recently announced that its investment in biodiversity data in 2024 reached a record level of USD 2.5 million – an increase from USD 1.2 million in 2023. This is news to be celebrated, but what does it mean for biodiversity data on a broader scale?

Building world-leading biodiversity datasets

IBAT provides access to three of the world’s most authoritative global biodiversity datasets:

• The World Database on Protected Areas (WDPA)

• The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™

• The World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas (WD-KBA)

These foundational datasets are used in IBAT for early biodiversity risk screening, setting goals and measuring progress towards global biodiversity targets such as those in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. They help build a more complete picture of the state of nature globally, enhancing understanding of threats to biodiversity and driving tangible conservation action. They also support businesses and financial institutions in understanding the potential impact of their operations on the natural world, assessing their dependencies on biodiversity, and aligning with regulatory and disclosure requirements.

The growth in the use of IBAT and the associated funding for its underlying data demonstrates that businesses and financial institutions around the world are investing in authoritative biodiversity data and incorporating them into their decision-making at an increasing rate. Through making use of this tool, IBAT users provide critical investment directly into each of the platform's foundational datasets. This enables IBAT Alliance partners to update, expand and improve the data, ensuring long-term accuracy and sustainability and supporting policies and decisions for people and nature.

Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, China. Photo: Robs / Unsplash

Tracking the world’s protected areas

The WDPA is managed by UNEP-WCMC as part of the Protected Planet Initiative. This database provides detailed information on the status and extent of terrestrial, inland water, marine and coastal protected areas across the globe. Updated on a monthly basis, it is the most authoritative resource on global protected area data and is used widely by the international community. In 2024, updates to the data reported by around 100 countries and territories across all global regions were completed, enhancing knowledge on the status of protected areas globally and showcasing conservation progress.

Looking forward, the Protected Planet team at UNEP-WCMC will continue supporting countries and territories to report against the KMGBF. In 2025, UNEP-WCMC is working particularly closely with governments and others in the Caribbean, Southeast Asia and West Africa to provide support that is tailored to the needs of data providers in these regions. Through ongoing support with national and regional partners, we are building the long-term capacity of data providers and ensuring that efforts towards achieving area-based conservation in all parts of the world are accurately reflected at the global level. 

Furthermore, through IBAT’s support, we will continue to collaborate with our broad network of international, regional and in-country partners, to support the implementation of Target 3 of the KMGBF, which calls for 30 per cent of the world’s land and waters to be protected by 2030.

Learn more about IBAT and request a demo here

Main image: Soham Bhattacharyya / Ocean Image Bank / Mangrove Photography Awards