The portal provides an overview of the structures, stakeholders and activities that make up biodiversity monitoring in Germany.

It addresses key questions such as:

• Who manages and coordinates the different monitoring programmes?
• Which stakeholders are involved?
• Which aspects of biodiversity are monitored?
• Where do monitoring activities take place?
• What results are available and how are they used?
• Which developments are shaping biodiversity monitoring at the national level?

Together, these elements create a coherent picture of Germany's biodiversity monitoring landscape and the relationships within it.

Alongside information about monitoring itself, the portal provides access to current knowledge on the status and trends of biodiversity in Germany.

This includes, amongst other things:

• clear and contextual explanations of key developments,
• selected biodiversity indicators and their significance,
• background information on methods and data sources,
• engaging digital stories illustrating how observations and monitoring data are transformed into robust scientific evidence.

In this way, complex information is presented in an understandable format and insights from biodiversity monitoring become more accessible.

The portal provides content in a modular format and combines it into thematic information offers according to context.

Like navigating a knowledge map, users can enter the portal through different starting points—for example a topic, species group, habitat, monitoring programme or organisation. From there, they can explore related information, datasets, indicators, events and organisations.

Each piece of content functions like part of a larger puzzle. While every element provides valuable information on its own, only by linking them together does a comprehensive understanding of Germany's biodiversity monitoring landscape emerge.

This approach makes scientific relationships more visible, improves the discoverability of information and enables users to view topics from different perspectives.

The portal supports exchange within the biodiversity monitoring community and increases the visibility of activities, organisations and current developments.

Planned features include:

• profiles of monitoring programmes, projects and participating organisations,
• overviews of relevant initiatives and information portals,
• event announcements and calendar functions,
• news and updates from biodiversity monitoring.

Together, these features will establish the portal as a central hub for information, collaboration and community building in biodiversity monitoring.

Why do we need another portal? 

Rather than replacing existing information and data services, the portal complements them. It does not create another isolated data repository or collect biodiversity data itself. Instead, it serves as a central platform for orientation, networking and communication within biodiversity monitoring in Germany.

The portal provides a comprehensive overview of biodiversity monitoring in Germany. By making programmes, organisations, methods and data flows visible, it enables cross-cutting analyses of the monitoring landscape while directing users to relevant data sources and additional information. This makes existing resources easier to find, understand and use.

The development of the portal is anchored in the Outline Concept of the National Monitoring Centre for Biodiversity (2021) and in Germany's National Biodiversity Strategy 2030. A needs analysis within the monitoring community in 2024 further confirmed the demand for such a platform.

Will all biodiversity data be stored centrally?

The portal is not a traditional data portal or a central platform for biodiversity data. It does not consolidate existing datasets and does not store biodiversity data that are already available elsewhere.

Instead, it increases the visibility of existing monitoring activities, places them into context and facilitates access to relevant information for researchers, practitioners, public authorities, policymakers and interested members of the public. The portal follows the principle of decentralised data management.

Its purpose is to guide users by showing where information and datasets are available, who collects them and for which purposes they can be used. Existing monitoring programmes and information services are described, linked and contextualised. Where appropriate, information may in future be integrated through interfaces or links, without duplicating the underlying datasets.

The emphasis is on making existing information easier to find, understand and use.

Why build a new portal when many data portals already exist? 

Biodiversity monitoring already benefits from numerous valuable information services and data sources. The portal adds value by building on these resources, connecting them and placing them into a broader scientific context.

Monitoring programmes, information portals, repositories and other specialist resources are described and linked within a common framework. This creates a clearer overview of the biodiversity monitoring landscape and makes relevant information easier to discover.

Will existing stakeholders be involved in developing the portal? 

From the outset, the portal is being developed in close collaboration with stakeholders involved in biodiversity monitoring and environmental information. Scientific requirements, existing infrastructures and practical experience continuously inform its further development.

Partners include the coordinating and data-holding institutions of national monitoring programmes, the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN), the environmental information platform umwelt.info, the NFDI4Biodiversity consortium within the National Research Data Infrastructure, and specialised institutions such as the Soil Monitoring Centre and the German Red List Centre.

The aim is to bring together existing expertise, complement established services and jointly develop sustainable solutions for biodiversity monitoring.

Why include information on programmes, methods and data flows?

Reliable assessments of the status and trends of biodiversity often depend on combining evidence from different monitoring programmes. This requires transparency regarding methods, responsibilities, survey approaches and data flows.

The portal creates this transparency by providing structured descriptions of monitoring programmes, placing them into context and making their interconnections visible. In the long term, this will improve comparability, coordination and the shared use of knowledge across programmes and institutions.

In addition, the overview of the monitoring landscape helps identify existing gaps and priorities for action, providing an evidence base for recommendations on the future development of biodiversity monitoring at the national level.

Why doesn't the portal include all monitoring activities from national to regional level right from the start? 

The portal is being developed gradually, initially focusing on the key requirements of biodiversity monitoring at the national level.

The first development phase concentrates on monitoring programmes that provide robust evidence on the status and trends of biodiversity in Germany.

Accordingly, the initial focus is on national biodiversity monitoring, while state-level information will be incorporated where appropriate and available.

Looking ahead, further integration of regional and state-level monitoring activities will be assessed wherever it provides additional value for analyses, users and the continued development of biodiversity monitoring in Germany. Decisions will be based on scientific relevance, data availability and implementation effort.