Digital platform for standardized valuation and follow-up of biological diversity in municipal operations

Biodiversity is in decline, as highlighted by international reports like those from the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). To reverse this trend, the EU has introduced the Nature Restoration Law, increasing efforts to protect species and ecosystems. This regulation is aligned with
international commitments such as Agenda 2030, and requires EU member states, including Sweden, to meet specific environmental targets. The Nature Restoration Law, adopted by the EU in 2024, aims to restore ecosystems, enhance biodiversity, and strengthen climate resilience across Europe. The goal is restoring at least 20% of Europe’s land and sea areas by 2030.

Swedish municipalities face challenges in meeting these environmental goals, particularly due to the lack of standardized systems for assessing and comparing the ecological value of habitats over time. Some municipalities build their own databases to map local habitats, leading to fragmented and uneven environmental planning. While some initiatives exist to rank municipalities and track their environmental goals, they often focus on limited aspects of biodiversity. At the same time, private initiatives such as Climb, Biodiversity Net Gain, and EcoComp assess the impact of exploitation and offer compensation measures. However, these initiatives primarily focus on areas slated for exploitation, leaving many valuable habitats with potential to benefit biodiversity unmonitored and underutilized. There is a clear need for a unified system for municipalities to assess and monitor biodiversity in a consistent and measurable way.

This project addresses these challenges by developing a standardized method for rating biodiversity in ecosystems and creating a digital platform (including a database, web app, and mobile app). The biodiversity ratings will be comparable across different ecosystem types and administrative levels. This will improve the planning and implementation of environmental measures, benefiting not only municipalities but also national and international stakeholders. The platform will allow for efficient data handling, helping municipalities to prioritize efforts where they are needed most and track progress over time. The digital platform will simplify planning and decision-making processes, as well as facilitate communication with stakeholders. It will also provide tools for public organizations, businesses, and private landowners to enhance biodiversity at the local level.

The project will develop and test this tool in collaboration with 2-5 municipalities serving as pilot testers.

The goal is to introduce a rating system that assesses the status of biodiversity, ecological functionality, and ecosystem services in different habitats. This system will make it possible to track these factors over time, providing measurable, concrete results. Efforts from small to large will be visible, comparable, and integrated into strategic plans from the municipal to national and even global levels.

The project aims to address several critical issues:

1. Uneven Environmental Planning: Municipalities have varied guidelines and resources for environmental goals.
2. Lack of Transparency and Long-Term Strategy: There is a need for transparent, long-term strategies that produce tangible results for biodiversity.
3. Integration of Green Planning: Municipalities need better integration of biodiversity with other societal needs to meet sustainability goals.

By enabling objective measurements and evaluations, the project will help municipalities achieve their environmental targets. This standardized approach will fill the gap in municipal biodiversity work and provide tools for more effective long-term planning. The method will promote data transparency, making it accessible to all stakeholders. A digital infrastructure will ensure efficient data collection and sustainable data management.

The main goal of the project is to streamline municipalities’ environmental efforts to ensure that every action contributes to increasing biodiversity. This system will be scalable from the municipal to the global level, promoting the democratization of data by making it accessible to all.

In the short term, the project will test and refine a demo version of the tool with pilot municipalities. In the long term, the project aims to create a powerful tool that municipalities currently lack, capable of supporting more strategic and effective biodiversity management across Sweden.