From Museums to Communities: CETAF’s Evolving Ecosystem for Biodiversity Literacy

Biodiversity literacy - the capacity to recognise, understand, and act upon the diversity of life – is essential for effective conservation and societal engagement. The Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities (CETAF), as a unique organisation representing European natural history institutions, addresses this challenge by linking infrastructures, training initiatives, and community engagement under a shared goal: transforming biodiversity expertise into accessible knowledge. Central to this effort is the DEST (Distributed European School of Taxonomy) platform, which serves as CETAF’s digital infrastructure for training and capacity building across the biodiversity community.

CETAF’s initiatives form a continuum of learning that spans formal, non-formal and informal education, professional development, and public participation. This continuum is underpinned by the ‘train-the-trainers’ approach, ensuring that participants become multipliers who can sustain and expand biodiversity literacy within their own communities. In that context, DEST provides a structured, collaborative environment where natural science actors can develop and share competencies critical to the concept of integrative Taxonomy. By combining high-quality training resources, expert knowledge exchange, and standardized skill frameworks, DEST strengthens capacity-building across institutions and ensures that the European biodiversity-related community remains prepared for emerging scientific and technological challenges.

Several projects lead by the CETAF community exemplify this approach: “Biotalent” targeted the improvement of competences among teachers and other professionals in biodiversity education. Through blended courses, it demonstrated how the unique resources and expertise of museum-based scientists can directly enhance the quality and reach of biodiversity literacy across Europe. “TETTRIs” extends this approach into hybrid learning and citizen-science contexts through cascade-funded Satellite projects. Training courses are designed to combine digital modules with hands-on fieldwork, addressing a variety of audiences, ranging from early-career scientists to educators and citizen scientists, to equip them to replicate learning activities locally while strengthening Europe’s community of biodiversity stewards.

Through DEST, these and other outcomes are consolidated within a sustainable digital infrastructure for mentored and self-learning that ensures training materials remain accessible, interoperable, and continuously updated also through alliances with other initiatives. Together, they illustrate CETAF’s systemic approach to lifelong biodiversity learning: combining digital tools, field experience, and blended training to empower educators, researchers, and citizens alike.