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Combining science and policy for a unified global soil biodiversity observatory

The effective conservation of soil biodiversity and ecosystem services in the face of global-change threats requires improvements in national monitoring. We outline the Global Soil Biodiversity Observatory, an initiative that aims to develop standardized indicators and enhance national monitoring capacities to support evidence-based policymaking and facilitate global assessments.

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Fig. 1: Implementation and execution of the GLOSOB.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to G. Rocchegiani for reviewing the first draft of the manuscript. The original version of the figure was produced by M. Sala. The authors were supported by the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Global Soil Partnership and Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development grant 312824/2022-0 (G.G.B.).

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P.d.R., L.M., C.G., Z.L., J.B., J.J.P., G.G.B., N.R.E., G.L.B., R.G., R.M.P., D.H.W., G.M. & R.C.-C. conceptualized the article. N.R.E. provided administration. J.J.P. wrote the original draft, and all authors contributed to editing and reviewing.

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Correspondence to J. Jacob Parnell or Carlos Barreto.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Parnell, J.J., de Ruiter, P., Guerra, C. et al. Combining science and policy for a unified global soil biodiversity observatory. Nat Ecol Evol 9, 1302–1306 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-025-02754-z

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