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Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities

CETAF

CETAF is the Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities: a European network of Natural Science Museums, Natural History Museums, Botanical Gardens and Research Centres with their associated biological collections and research expertise.

Lobbying Activity

Response to EU Life sciences strategy

11 Apr 2025

The proposed Strategy for European Life Sciences presents an opportunity to position the EU as a global leader in innovation. However, the call for evidence document currently underrepresents the foundational role of ecosystems, biodiversity, as well as taxonomy as fundamental science pillar for research in that realm, in enabling a resilient and sustainable life sciences sector. It treats ecosystems as peripheral, referring only to the protection of ecosystems where needed, while understanding and managing living systems in dynamic, data-informed ways are enabling infrastructures of Europes life sciences that act as critical innovation drivers and provide a competitive advantage. Biodiversity underpins, among others, medicine discovery, strengthens resilience to zoonotic disease outbreaks and provides critical ecosystem services essential for combined growth in fields such as forestry and agriculture with sustainable use of natural resources. Moreover, framing the green transition as technocentric, focused on biotechnology and industrial innovation, narrows the scope of the strategy and misses the significant potential of nature-based solutions. Ecosystem restoration, rewilding, and other biodiversity-based innovations offer proven benefits for climate adaptation, carbon sequestration and sustainable food systems areas where life sciences have an important role to play. A more holistic approach would recognize that ecological health and technological advancement are not mutually exclusive but reciprocally reinforcing. As such, the green and digital transition should be seen as instrumental for scaling up the implementation of biodiversity policies. Efforts to simplify regulation and accelerate innovation could lead to better competitiveness, but they must be balanced with strong safeguards for biodiversity. While regulatory clarity is important, the streamlining of approval processes for new technologies particularly in areas like synthetic biology or genetically modified organisms should not come at the expense of thorough ecological risk assessment. Innovation in life sciences must be not only efficient, but also safe, sustainable and informed by a deep scientific and ethical understanding of biodiversity dynamics. Taxonomic expertise is essential for identifying species, managing invasive organisms, monitoring ecosystems and ensuring biosecurity. Accurate species-level knowledge forms the foundation of research in medicine, agriculture and environmental management. Investment in modern integral taxonomy including genomics, AI-enabled identification tools and digital infrastructure is thus necessary which entails parallel investment efforts in training and equipping professionals to ensure the required research capacity. Collaboration between regulators and scientific networks such as CETAF (the European organisation of natural sciences collections-based research institutions), and direct linkage to research infrastructures for biodiversity data, as DiSSCo, (the Distributed System of Scientific Collections) would strengthen the EUs capacity in this area and improve the reliability and reproducibility of life sciences research and ensure the strategy draws on the best available expertise across Europe. Aligning the strategy with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework is essential. Without concrete commitments and accountability measures, combatting biodiversity loss remains an aspiration rather than a strategic priority. To secure a truly sustainable and competitive life sciences future, biodiversity and taxonomy should be moved from the margins of EU innovation policy to its centre. The EU has an opportunity to lead globally with the support of biodiversity-focused research communities, by demonstrating that life sciences innovation and biodiversity restoration can go hand in hand, driving prosperity, resilience and sustainability for future generations.
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Response to EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy

20 Jan 2020

The Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities, CETAF, welcomes the initiative to adopt a new EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy. However, while the strategy claims to address by 2030 the main causes of biodiversity loss it fails to mention and make the necessary policy links to the very important indirect drivers of biodiversity loss as formulated in the recent IPBES reports, and very recently referenced by the Council Conclusion 15272/19. This is essential to successfully mainstream the protection of our biodiversity into other political, societal and economical domains. Similarly to the IPBES report, recent scientific studies have shown substantial declines in insect numbers as it is the case in Germany, the Netherlands and other EU Member States. The alarming decline in insect abundance not only threatens other species like birds and mammals but more importantly the very fabric of our ecosystems itself. Although we have selective evidence of this decline, we are still lacking a comprehensive monitoring system and the supporting network that draws on the work of species experts to provide us with the necessary data to inform decision making for conservation measures and strategies. And while topic SC5-33-2020 is a step in the right direction, this issue needs much more political commitment as to be able to drive real action. Assessing the effectiveness of protected areas equally requires biodiversity monitoring. However, monitoring should not be restricted to protected areas, but also should include every type of ecosystem. In addition, urban environments, marine and freshwater as well as forestry and agricultural areas should be monitored for their biodiversity development, as biodiversity loss can only be halted by including the majority of related and directly linked influential areas. Taxonomic and biodiversity research is vital and instrumental to ensure feasibility, effective implementation and quality control of biodiversity monitoring as well as its protection and restoration by providing checklists and floras, identification tools, and genetic analyses. Therefore, biodiversity research needs a larger commitment from the EU and its Member States, including data sciences to discover hidden relationships and developments. Equally, restoration of damaged ecosystems to good ecological status and enhance the flow of essential services that they provide, needs knowledge on species, on genetic adaptations and ecological relationships – biodiversity research has to be promoted. Furthermore, biodiversity research should be a focus of the biodiversity strategy, including the corresponding commitments under Horizon Europe. CETAF constitutes the main ground for discovering biodiversity (including spatial and temporal geographic variation, in part as a proxy for genetic diversity) and therefore collections-based biodiversity research should be considered at the center of the environmental research providing a fair and reliable source to explain and document bio- and geo-diversity. Since the protection of biodiversity must include species discovery and identification, natural science collections-based institutions are in a prime position to deliver this important information. Natural history collections provide precise and reliable biodiversity data across space and time and they are predestined to support activities of biodiversity monitoring, including citizen scientists. Engaged citizen scientists are the expression of knowledge and enthusiasm for biodiversity and life on earth. Natural History Museums and Botanic Gardens across Europe gathered around CETAF have already established connections to engage citizens, spread the fascination about nature and provide information about pressing issues like biodiversity loss and climate change.
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