Advancing Species Knowledge for Biodiversity Conservation: Outcomes and Value of Baden-Württemberg’s Integrative Taxonomy Initiative

The state initiative “Integrative Taxonomy Baden-Württemberg“, launched in 2019 by the Government of Baden-Württemberg, addresses the critical loss of biodiversity and the parallel decline in taxonomic expertise.The initiative is based on two complementary pillars. The first is the Competence Center for Biodiversity and Integrative Taxonomy (KomBioTa), a collaboration between the University of Hohenheim and the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart. KomBioTa promotes biodiversity in university teaching and research and encompasses two newly established professorships in Integrative Taxonomy of Insects and Biodiversity Monitoring, a PhD program and a network of scientists contributing to basic and applied research on biodiversity, integrative taxonomy, nature conservation and biodiversity monitoring.The second pillar comprises a central institution for continuing education and professional training in biodiversity, anchored by the Academy of Nature Conservation and Environmental Protection Baden-Württemberg. The Environmental Academy offers courses across taxa, expertise levels and target groups, ranging from taxa relevant to environmental planning (e.g. reptiles, birds, wild bees, butterflies, dragonflies, ground beetles) to underrepresented groups which are covered by only a small number of specialists. Basic trainings target educational multipliers and volunteers to raise public awareness and support for biodiversity friendly policy decisions, while advanced courses cover also survey methods and conservation management to enhance both species knowledge and expertise in conservation assessment in the staff of environmental authorities and consultancies. The Environmental Academy fosters cross-institutional collaboration with a broad network of partners within Baden-Württemberg and beyond. As a member of the nationwide framework of the BANU (Federal Working Group of State-Run Educational Centres for Nature and Environmental Protection), it contributes to the development of harmonised standards for competency-based training and certification in species identification. In Baden-Württemberg BANU standards are implemented with a focus on competence certification, a formal, multi-level assessment framework ensuring demonstrable and verifiable identification skills. Examinations are conducted in collaboration with universities, museums, and accredited taxonomic experts to guarantee scientific rigor and cross-state comparability.