Biodiversity surveys and monitoring programmes hold promise for guiding evidence-based conservation in China, but inconsistent survey methodologies, insufficient oversight and flawed data management undermine the reliability and utility of these datasets. China should draw on international best practices to improve data integration, verification, and management, to ultimately strengthen its conservation outcomes.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 32571751, 32271737, 32071544), the Excellent Youth Project of the Anhui Natural Science Foundation (grant 2108085Y09), and the Interdisciplinary Innovation Team of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) ‘Light of West China’ Program (xbzg-zdsys-202207).
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C.L., Z.J. and J.H. conceived the idea of the Comment, and all authors contributed substantially to discussion of the content. C.L., Y.M., Z.J., Z.W. and J.H. led the writing of the manuscript. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript before submission.
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Li, C., Ma, Y., Jiang, Z. et al. Data issues hinder further success in China’s biodiversity conservation. Nat. Rev. Biodivers. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-025-00122-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-025-00122-0
