The future of Nature-based Solutions with eDNA

Growing recognition of nature’s role in mitigating climate change has mobilised finance into forests, peatlands, and blue carbon projects at a scale that was unimaginable just a few years ago.

Functioning ecosystems are critical for both climate change mitigation and societal adaptation, providing natural flood prevention, cooling our cities, producing clean water, and sequestering carbon. Investment in Nature-based Solutions (NbS) has the potential to deliver multiple outcomes that benefit climate, people, nature, and the economy. But nature is complex and difficult to measure and manage. The rapid influx of capital to Nature-based Solutions creates both huge opportunities and potential pitfalls. Data-driven decision-making is essential to successfully managing complex natural assets and accurately reporting on measurable outcomes to provide a flow of capital via carbon markets or future market mechanisms for biodiversity.
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Unlike carbon dioxide – a single molecule that has a constant impact on society no matter where in the world it’s emitted – biodiversity includes all life on Earth. Site specific context matters because species compositions vary highly in space and time and the impact of one species being lost from an ecosystem is influenced by how other species in the ecosystem interact with it or rely on it. It also matters because the extent humans interact with and depend on biodiversity differs across the world. Measuring biodiversity at scale is one of the most profound challenges of our age.
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The old ways of measuring – binoculars, traps, nets – do not provide data that are verifiable, scalable, and comparable. Nor do they measure everything that matters – the whole tree of life – beyond the wildlife that we can visually observe. Top down, proxy measurements, traditionally gained through Earth Observation or estimates of habitat quality, can help to identify priority areas that require action to protect and restore biodiversity. Yet, global data layers are extremely low resolution and do not enable measurements of impact or progress. Site-based measurements of real biodiversity are needed to understand the impacts of interventions, to make good decisions and reward real uplift.
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Measuring biodiversity with environmental DNA (eDNA) provides a solution to this complex challenge because the monitoring methods are accessible, standardised, and affordable in the field. It also provides unparalleled levels of biodiversity detail, capturing nearly the whole tree of life, from bacteria to blue whales. NatureMetrics is leading the way to deploy eDNA monitoring at scale globally. We can easily provide the data and insights that matter to enable our customers to make vital decisions for their business and for nature.

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