Ecoregional context windows: a game-changer nature footrpinting

Our grand challenge: to arrive at a common framework for defining "nature" and measuring the extent to which nature either improves or declines over time. We don't have the luxury of a single, interoperable molecule like CO2, which those in the carbon footrprinting space enjoy. To date over 600 nature metrics have been identified, presenting corporates with a daunting task. They must quickly develop internal accounting metrics for their nature impacts (and uplift) that are replicable and easy to implement across numerous stakeholders within their business value chain. 

Of the three categories of metrics -- ecosystems, species, and genes – ecosystems (extent and condition) are the most actionable. But corporates are now asking: What are the observable characteristics of an ecosystem that can be reliably monitored over time across diverse geographies? To answer this question, we have to tackle a more difficult question: how are we defining "ecosystem"?

While there is an effort underway to develop a common global taxonomy of ecosystems (estimated to be approximately 5000 units), this is likely many years away. Ecoregions could save the day for corporates, especially during the critical time frame of 2026-2030, offering us something of a "shorthand" for defining the ecological context of a particular site focusing particularly on vegetative cover.

In this talk, we'll be unveiling Ecoregions 2026, the product of a year of review by leading conservation biologists and biogeographers, which provides for the first time a globally uniform set of "context windows" that define the observable characteristics of a particular geography against which baselines of ecosystem extent and condition can be measured. This can help to solve numerous problems facing corporates in their footprinting efforts:

*Current open-source land cover maps and products like Nature Lands Map often overestimate the extent of natural land in many regions, and novel AI products have proven unreliable.

*Some ecoregions have much higher risk factors than others. There are 500 unique forest ecoregions that can be differentiated, providing key insights on both risks and benefits of nature-positive investments.

*KBAs can be enhanced using ecoregions by screening out anthropogenic lands currently designated as critical for biodiversity.