Addressing Financial Constraints in European Biodiversity Monitoring
- Nature FIRST
Kacia Rutkoŭskaja
- 0
- 12 minutes read
Biodiversity monitoring in Europe faces significant financial challenges, particularly in regions with funding gaps. These constraints limit efforts to track biodiversity changes and manage human-wildlife conflicts effectively. To tackle this, innovative technologies like remote sensing are being explored to improve monitoring efficiency and reduce costs.
At the Tusnad Eco Bear Conference in Romania in October 2024, Janka Faller, junior consultant at dotSPACE and currently pursuing an MSc in Urban Ecosystem Sciences from the Technical University of Berlin, presented her research on these financial bottlenecks. As part of the EU-funded Nature FIRST project, Janka’s work as a junior consultant at dotSPACE focuses on how technology can help overcome funding challenges and improve biodiversity conservation across Europe.
Financial Constraints in Biodiversity Monitoring
Janka’s presentation highlighted one of the biggest challenges facing biodiversity monitoring in Europe today: financial constraints. She explained that a lack of stable and long-term funding has been a persistent issue, especially in Eastern and Southern Europe. According to Faller, the EUROPABON project identifies insufficient funding as a top challenge across the continent, and conservation initiatives like Natura 2000 are facing significant budget gaps.
“Financial constraints are one of the most common obstacles to effective biodiversity monitoring,” Faller explained. “We need more predictable and stable funding to make monitoring effective and to support initiatives that manage human-wildlife conflicts.”
Why Are Financial Constraints So Widespread?
The issue is multifaceted, involving several interrelated factors. Faller highlights the overly centralised structure of many institutions, which often face challenges in efficiently distributing funds. Furthermore, private funding is underutilised, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe, where 75% of organisations refrain from pursuing it. This hesitation is not necessarily due to data privacy concerns but rather a general lack of trust in these organisations.
Another key issue is the European Union’s funding mechanisms, which tend to treat biodiversity as one category among many. As a result, biodiversity projects often have to compete for limited resources with other politically prioritised sectors. Furthermore, the stringent requirements for pre- and co-financing make it hard for smaller organisations to secure funds, leading to low absorption rates for many biodiversity projects.
Consequences of Limited Funding
The underfunding of biodiversity monitoring comes with serious consequences. It limits the ability to collect data on biodiversity and respond to environmental changes in a timely manner. Faller noted that underfunding also affects the ability to maintain a skilled workforce, making it difficult to monitor species and habitats in real-time. In turn, poor data often leads to reactive, compensation-based management of wildlife conflicts. Without being combined with preventive measures, such reactive actions are less effective and can be costlier in the long run.
“Without enough funding, we are forced to manage issues like wildlife conflicts reactively rather than proactively,” Faller said.
Technological Solutions to Financial Constraints
Despite these challenges, Faller points out that innovative technologies can offer solutions to many of the financial bottlenecks in biodiversity monitoring. Remote sensing tools, for example, can reduce the need for costly manual field data collection. These tools can also help improve data management and validation, making the monitoring process more efficient.
“The key is to use technologies that can lower the cost of data collection and help us focus our resources on analysis and decision-making,” Faller explained. “By adopting new technologies, we can do more with fewer resources.”
Faller’s research emphasises the potential of satellite imagery, drones, and other remote sensing technologies to help fill the gaps in biodiversity data. By automating fieldwork, these technologies can reduce the need for human presence in the field, thus lowering operational costs and allowing funds to be allocated more effectively.
How the Space Sector Can Contribute
The space sector, particularly through Earth observation and remote sensing, has a crucial role to play in improving biodiversity monitoring. Habitat mapping, which relies heavily on satellite imagery, could greatly benefit from increased involvement from space organisations.
Faller highlights that one of the main challenges in applying remote sensing data is the lack of awareness among many organisations of how to use these technologies. “A lot of organisations are not yet aware of how to use modern remote sensing solutions for monitoring species, and they lack the expertise to implement them effectively,” she notes.
One of the partners in the Nature FIRST project is already using remote sensing to collect data on habitats and species, and Faller believes that expanding these efforts could help overcome some of the resource limitations faced by conservationists. Remote sensing, she says, can also help organisations better understand spatial and taxonomic data gaps, which are common in biodiversity monitoring.
Developing a Market for Biodiversity Monitoring
Faller’s research also focuses on the market for biodiversity monitoring tools in Europe. According to Faller, the market is fragmented, with various organisations—NGOs, scientific institutions, and local authorities—operating independently without a unified strategy. This fragmentation makes it harder to address biodiversity challenges effectively and reduces the impact of conservation efforts.
Linda van Duivenbode, consultant at dotSPACE Foundation, who coordinates the Policy Lab and Operationalisation at the Nature FIRST project, emphasises that the financial and economic aspects of biodiversity monitoring are often overlooked. “Biologists and conservationists are typically focused on the species and ecosystems they are studying,” says van Duivenbode, “but without understanding the financial side of things, conservation efforts often fall short.”
Van Duivenbode points out the importance of addressing the financial side of biodiversity monitoring: “The market for biodiversity monitoring is fragmented and underdeveloped. There is a real need to create a more structured market where new technologies, like remote sensing, can be applied effectively.”
Next Steps for the Space Sector
Faller and van Duivenbode both agree that the space sector has a significant opportunity to support biodiversity monitoring efforts. However, this requires a greater awareness of the potential applications of remote sensing technology and a more coordinated approach to bring these solutions to the market.
As van Duivenbode notes, organisations like the European Space Agency (ESA) and others in the Earth observation community are already taking steps to connect space-based technologies with biodiversity efforts. However, she stresses the need for better collaboration between the space and environmental sectors to build a viable market for biodiversity monitoring tools.
“By working together, the space sector and conservationists can develop better solutions to the financial and operational challenges in biodiversity monitoring,” says van Duivenbode. “It’s about connecting innovation with real-world applications and creating a market that is ready for new technologies.”
About Nature FIRST project
As a Horizon Europe project funded by the European Commission, Nature FIRST will develop predictive, proactive, and preventative tools for nature conservation for the next three years.
The tools we use are demonstrated in the following European regions:
- The Carpathian Mountains, a 1,500 km-long range in Central and Eastern Europe.
- The Danube Delta River is Europe’s largest remaining natural wetland. The more significant part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania, and a small part is in Ukraine.
- The Stara Planina mountains, a mountain range in the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula.
- And the Ancares y O Courel, the largest green reserve in Galicia, Spain.
Featured Image: Janka Faller presenting at the TusnadEcoBear Conference (photo by Linda van Duivenbode)
