National Biodiversity Network

The National Biodiversity Network (NBN) is a United Kingdom collaborative venture established in 2000 to improve the collection, management, exchange and public availability of biodiversity information. Rather than functioning as a conventional commercial brand, it is a partnership and information infrastructure associated with the NBN Trust, a registered charity that coordinates the network and supports common standards for biological recording. Its work connects public bodies, conservation organisations, recording schemes, local environmental records centres, national societies and individual members. The network addresses a practical problem in nature conservation: biodiversity observations are generated by many different groups, using different systems and at different geographic scales. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, an estimated 60,000 people routinely record wildlife and other biodiversity information, with much of that activity undertaken by volunteers. Their observations are supplemented by data collected by government departments and agencies. Local Environmental Records Centres and other specialist organisations play an important role in assembling and interpreting these records. The NBN seeks to make the resulting information more consistent, discoverable and useful across organisational boundaries. Its principal public-facing service is the NBN Atlas, an online biodiversity data-search platform. The Atlas allows users to explore species and distribution information through interactive maps and search tools, inspect records at different levels of detail, filter information by date range and download data where access conditions permit. The platform is intended for a broad audience, including volunteer recorders, researchers, conservation practitioners, public authorities, educators and members of the public. According to the cited reference material, the Atlas held more than 300 million species records from over 1,000 datasets in August 2024. The NBN's positioning is based on open, standards-led collaboration rather than ownership of a single proprietary dataset. It promotes agreed approaches to the collection, collation and exchange of biodiversity data, while encouraging better access to information. By bringing records together in a searchable and digitised environment, the network aims to support evidence-based decisions about species, habitats and the wider natural environment. Its stated environmental rationale is that better access to reliable information can help individuals and institutions make wiser decisions and protect nature for present and future generations. The partnership has included more than 200 public and voluntary organisations as well as individual members. The NBN Trust employs staff to facilitate and coordinate the network's development and is governed by a board of trustees. The organisation's reach is therefore both technical and institutional: it provides data infrastructure while also helping sustain relationships among the people and organisations involved in biological recording. The network is associated with the broader field of biological recording and works alongside bodies such as local environmental records centres and the National Forum for Biological Recording. The NBN has also had a public-benefit and charitable profile. Reference material reports that it appeared among the 1,000 United Kingdom charities raising the most donations in 2012. Its continuing role is principally that of a national biodiversity information network and enabling organisation, with the NBN Atlas serving as its most visible digital offering.

The National Biodiversity Network was established in the United Kingdom in 2000 as a collaborative response to the fragmented nature of biodiversity information. Wildlife observations were being generated by large numbers of volunteers, specialist recording schemes, national societies, conservation bodies, local environmental records centres and government agencies. Although this activity produced a substantial body of knowledge, the information was not always held in compatible formats or readily available outside the organisations that collected it. The NBN was created to encourage cooperation and make biodiversity information more accessible through shared standards, coordinated infrastructure and improved exchange. The NBN Trust became the organisational mechanism for facilitating the network. Its role has been to support the development of a partnership rather than to replace existing recording organisations. The Trust works with public and voluntary bodies and with individual members, helping promote agreed approaches to the collection, collation and distribution of biological records. This coordination function is central to the NBN's identity: it connects data producers, custodians and users while preserving the contribution of local and specialist recording communities. A major stage in the network's development was the creation and continuing expansion of the NBN Atlas. The Atlas provides a web-based environment in which users can search biodiversity records, view distribution maps, examine changes over time through date filters and download data using interactive tools. It is designed to make records useful to both specialist and non-specialist audiences. Researchers and conservation professionals can use it to investigate species distributions and evidence, while members of the public can explore wildlife information for the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. The Atlas represents the digitisation and aggregation side of the NBN's work. Its records originate in many datasets and from many contributing organisations, rather than from a single survey programme. The reference material states that, by August 2024, the system contained more than 300 million species records from over 1,000 datasets. This scale reflects the cumulative contribution of volunteer biological recorders, national schemes, public agencies and other data providers. The network's standards and access work help those records function as a more coherent information resource. The NBN's broader purpose is environmental decision support. It promotes the idea that conservation and land-use decisions are improved when reliable biodiversity information is available in a form that can be found, interpreted and exchanged. Its work therefore sits between biological recording, information management, conservation practice and public engagement. The network is also linked to the wider community of local environmental records centres and organisations concerned with biological recording. The NBN Trust is a registered charity governed by a board of trustees and supported by a staff team responsible for coordination and development. The partnership has consisted of more than 200 public and voluntary organisations and individual members. This governance and membership structure distinguishes the NBN from a conventional data vendor: its core value lies in convening a community and maintaining shared infrastructure for public and conservation benefit. The organisation's charitable profile was also reflected in its reported inclusion among the United Kingdom's top 1,000 charity fundraisers in 2012. The National Biodiversity Network remains active as a UK-focused biodiversity information initiative. Its most visible continuing asset is the NBN Atlas, supported by the Trust's work on standards, collaboration and access. The network's long-term significance lies in helping transform numerous local, specialist and institutional observations into an accessible national-scale evidence base for understanding and protecting wildlife.

• 2024

  NBN Atlas exceeds 300 million records

  [1]National Biodiversity Networken.wikipedia.org

  The NBN Atlas was reported to contain more than 300 million species records drawn from over 1,000 datasets in August 2024.

• 2022

  NBN Trust strategy period begins

  [2]National Biodiversity Network official websitenbn.org.uk

  The NBN Trust published a strategy covering the 2022–2027 period, setting out its direction for the network's continuing development.

• 2012

  Recognised among leading UK charity fundraisers

  [1]National Biodiversity Networken.wikipedia.org

  Reference material reports that the organisation was listed among the 1,000 United Kingdom charities raising the most donations during 2012.

• 2000

  National Biodiversity Network established

  [1]National Biodiversity Networken.wikipedia.org

  The National Biodiversity Network was set up in the United Kingdom as a collaborative venture dedicated to improving access to biodiversity information.

A charitable, partnership-based biodiversity information network that turns distributed biological records into accessible, standardised and usable evidence for conservation, research, policy and public understanding.

• Biodiversity data platform

  NBN Atlas

  The NBN Atlas is the network's principal online data-search service. It brings together biodiversity records from numerous datasets and allows users to search species and occurrence information, view interactive distribution maps, apply date-based filters, examine patterns in records and download data through a range of tools. It serves public, educational, research, conservation and governmental users interested in wildlife in the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. The platform held more than 300 million species records from over 1,000 datasets in August 2024, according to the cited reference material.

• Information standards and coordination

  NBN data standards and exchange support

  The NBN Trust supports shared standards for collecting, collating and exchanging biodiversity information. This work helps records produced by volunteer schemes, specialist societies, public agencies and local environmental records centres become more consistent and easier to use across organisational boundaries. It is an enabling service rather than a consumer product, supporting the quality, interoperability and accessibility of the wider NBN information system.

1. 1National Biodiversity Networken.wikipedia.org
2. 2National Biodiversity Network official websitenbn.org.uk