Guidance for use of the Data Entry Module of the IUCN Contributions for Nature platform

Prepared by: IUCN Contributions Platform Strategic Initiative, Gland, Switzerland

I. Introduction

 

a. Background

The 2011 “One Programme Charter” established a mandate for IUCN to deliver its Quadrennial Programme in a way that encompasses contributions from all components of the Union – Members, National and Regional Committees, Commissions, and Secretariat. However, to date there has been no mechanism to allow documentation of such contributions.

The Nature 2030 IUCN Programme addresses this by mandating development of a platform to allow such documentation. Specifically, it establishes that “We will create a digital platform where all parts of the Union can voluntarily share their planned and realised contributions to meeting the Impact Targets as well as towards global policy targets such as the post- 2020 global biodiversity framework and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. This mechanism to document, and ultimately report on, contributions from the IUCN membership, National and Regional Committees, Commissions and Secretariat must be as light as possible (otherwise it will not be used), build on available information, be spatially explicit, be considerate of restrictions and reservations to share such information, provide maximal benefits to all users, and yield the most informative documentation possible. By doing this we can truly show the strength of the Union.” (Section 8, page 21).

Over 2021, the IUCN Director General convened a Strategic Initiative to develop this Contributions for Nature platform, as documented at https://www.iucn.org/about/senior-management/director-general/iucn-strategic-initiatives/contributions-nature-initiative. The operational platform comprises three distinct but interacting modules:

i. Data Entry Module.

This is the portal allowing IUCN constituents to document the places where they are undertaking or planning to undertake conservation or restoration actions over the timeframe 2021 – 2030. It is accessible only with IUCN login credentials, from across the IUCN constituency.

ii. Validation Module. 

This is the portal allowing validation of plausibility of potential contributions documented in the Data Entry Module. It is accessible only to a defined set of users in the IUCN Regional Offices.

iii. Visualisation Module. 

This is the platform for public display of the potential contributions towards global goals for nature (initially, biodiversity goals in terms of extinction risk reduction, and climate change mitigation goals in terms of carbon sequestration), as documented by IUCN constituents, individually and in aggregation, and visible to the world at large.

 

b. Objectives

This guidance document is intended to support IUCN constituents in their use of the Data Entry Module. Its audience is therefore the entire IUCN constituency: representatives of IUCN Members (states, government agencies, sub- national governments, indigenous peoples’ organisations, national and international non-governmental organisations, affiliates), participants in IUCN National and Regional Committees, IUCN Commission Members, and IUCN Secretariat staff.

 

II. Guidance

 

a. Overarching considerations

In establishing the mandate for development of the Contributions for Nature platform, the Nature 2030 IUCN Programme emphasised six required characteristics for the platform. These are addressed as follows:

i. It must “be as light as possible (otherwise it will not be used)”.

This is addressed by minimising the required data to document contributions in the Data Entry Module. The only data which an IUCN constituent needs to enter to allow inclusion of their contribution in the platform are a) a polygon documenting where their conservation or restoration action is being undertaken on the ground, b) a name for the contribution, c) a description of the contribution (which can be short) and d) the start and end dates of their contribution. A number of other fields are available and recommended, but not required, to keep the system as light as possible.

ii. It must “build on available information”.

This is addressed by drawing from two major databases about sites relevant to conservation in supporting spatial data entry by IUCN constituents: the World Database on Protected Areas (https://www.protectedplanet.net/en) and World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas (https://www.keybiodiversityareas.org/). In addition, in the Visualisation Module, contributions towards global goals for reducing biodiversity loss are reported in terms of the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration metric based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (https://www.iucnredlist.org/assessment/star), and contributions towards global goals for mitigating climate change are reported in terms of carbon sequestration based on the Restoration Barometer (https://infoflr.org/bonn-challenge-barometer).

iii. It must “be spatially explicit”.

The entire premise of the Contributions for Nature platform is that it be based first and foremost on spatial data, documenting the places where IUCN constituents are undertaking or plan to undertake conservation or restoration actions. The primary data entry screen in the Data Entry Module is spatial, and documentation of a polygon is one of the few required data elements for data entry.

iv. It must “be considerate of restrictions and reservations to share such information”.

By entering a contribution, IUCN constituents give IUCN permission to store, aggregate, transform and display their data, as well as to repost or redistribute it to third-party platforms, because otherwise their contributions cannot be documented in the Visualisation Module. 

v. It must “provide maximal benefits to all users”.

The Contributions for Nature platform is designed to provide benefits to IUCN constituents across scales, specifically: a) allowing individual constituents to document their potential contributions towards global targets for nature in a given place; b) supporting networking and establishment of partnerships; c) supporting planning, reporting, communications, and resource mobilisation within organisations; d) advancing action planning to fill gaps at national or regional level; e) establishing a basis for monitoring of delivery of actual contributions by 2030 and beyond; f) documenting the overall potential contributions of the IUCN “One Programme” towards global goals for nature.

vi. It must “yield the most informative documentation possible”.

This is achieved by presenting, in the visualisation module, documentation of individual and aggregate contributions towards global goals for biodiversity (derived from application of the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration metric to data documented by IUCN constituents) and climate change mitigation (derived from application of the Restoration Barometer’s carbon calculator to data documented by IUCN constituents). Associated data (e.g. budgets, numbers of staff and beneficiaries) are also presented for individual and aggregate contributions.

All modules and constituent elements of the Contributions for Nature are available in EN (English), FR (French), and ES (Spanish), the three official languages of IUCN.

 

b. Log-in screen

The data entry module can be accessed by clicking on the “Add your contributions” button on top, or by going directly to https://admin.iucncontributionsfornature.org/. All that is necessary at the log-in screen is for the IUCN constituent to enter their IUCN constituent user name and password. This should be the same user name and password used in all other IUCN systems. 

If you are having trouble remembering your IUCN credentials, please visit https://portals.iucn.org/union/recover-account. You can also click on “Forgot password”, type your email and click “Reset” to receive an email reconnection link. 

All focal points of IUCN Members, all IUCN Commission members, and all IUCN Secretariat staff have IUCN credentials, as do many additional staff of IUCN Member organisations. If you are an IUCN constituent (eg staff of an IUCN Member organisation) but do not have IUCN credentials, please contact the Membership Focal Point for your region (details at https://www.iucn.org/regions), who can assign you with credentials accordingly.

 

c. Data Entry Module landing screen

Many features and modules are available on the Data entry interface. Most of them however, are reserved for IUCN staff, administrators and validators. In addition, a permission system limits the use of certain features or the access to certain data points to only a number of authorised users. 

The landing screen for the Data Entry Module has several elements:

  • The main panel is a map interface, showing a global map populated with all documented contributions to date. 
    • You can examine specific areas by zooming in and out of this map, scrolling with your mouse. 
    • You can also click on any contribution to access the linked data entry form. You can, however, only edit this data entry form if your organisation is the main responsible for that contribution. 

  • Above the map, in the upper-right corner, a “ + “ button allows you to access a data entry form to create a new contribution. 

  • Additionally, on the left of the map, several views allow you to browse contributions and potentially find one of your contributions to edit it. 

    • The “all contributions” panel allows you to view all contributions from all organisations, as you could see on the Contributions for Nature Platform. 
    • The “validated contributions” panel allows you to view the contributions of your organisation which have been validated by an IUCN validator. 
    • The “pending contributions” panel allows you to view the contributions of your organisation which are pending validation from an IUCN validator. It is most likely in this panel that you would find a contribution you need to edit.  
    • The “rejected contributions”  panel allows you to view the contributions of your organisation which have been rejected by an IUCN validator.  

  • The other features available, such as the toolbars of the left and right side are reserved for IUCN staff, administrators and validators.

 

d. Entering a contribution (except for spatial data)

After having connected to the Data Entry Module, users can access a data entry form to create a new contribution by clicking on the “ +” button. It is important to mention that most data fields are not required in allowing IUCN constituents to document their contributions. The below video demonstrates how to enter a contribution (except for the spatial data).

In total, this screen allows documentation of nine types of data:

  1. Contribution name (mandatory field)

This is a free text field. Typical contribution names will be the name of the project or site in question. Names can be provided in any language which uses Roman characters. The potential contribution cannot be submitted with this field blank. Please do not use dummy names (e.g. “test contribution”) and of course avoid using any inappropriate or offensive language in contribution names. The intent of the contribution name field is to document the contribution with a unique and relevant identifier.

  1. Contribution description (mandatory field) 

This is a free text field. Constituents can enter a short narrative description of their potential contribution (in any language using Roman characters). The rationale for this field is to give you the opportunity to provide richer information associated with your contribution; these will be disseminated through the Visualisation Module associated with your contribution. 

Nevertheless, the Contributions for Nature platform remains primarily intended to be a spatial and quantitative one, rather than a narrative one. As such, and to provide full documentation of conservation successes, we suggest that you consider displaying this through the complementary PANORAMA platform (https://panorama.solutions/en).

  1. Geometry (mandatory field)

This is the field in which the geospatial information related to the contribution is added. See section e. Spatial Data entry. 

  1. Partners tagging (optional field) 

This is a select-from-a-list type of field. If you are undertaking your contribution in partnership with other IUCN constituents (e.g. as implementing or executing agencies, donors, etc), you have the option to “tag” them when documenting a potential contribution in the Data Entry Module. 

You can tag other organisations in the “Partners” field. Click “Select” and use the search bar on the top-right corner to look for another organisation by its name. After you submit your contribution, the partner organisation will receive an automated email requesting approval from the IUCN constituent(s) who has been tagged. If they do not approve, then the tagging is not added.

Tagging of partner IUCN constituents is recommended but not required. The rationale for contribution tagging is to ensure due credit for shared contributions, to support networking, and to avoid double counting when summing budget, staff, and beneficiary data.

  1. Contribution start and end dates (mandatory fields)

This is a simple date selector field. The timeframe of the Contributions for Nature platform (for its Phase I) is 2021 – 2030, consistently with the IUCN Programme. Documentation of potential contributions outside of this time window is not possible, i.e. either contributions which were completed before 1 January 2021 (historical contributions) or contributions which are anticipated to start after 31 December 2029 (long-term future contributions).

The intent of the contribution dates fields is to allow documentation of the timeframes over which contributions are being implemented. For future phases of the Contributions for Nature platform development, it is also anticipated that mechanisms for tracking change over time will be incorporated, which will necessarily draw directly from these date fields.

  1. Staff and beneficiaries documentation (optional fields)

These are simple numerical fields. You can document the number of women and men staff working or planned to work on your potential contribution; and also the number of women and men direct beneficiaries of the potential contribution. 

Beneficiaries are those people who are directly targeted by the contribution and as such are expected to directly benefit from its activities/outputs/outcomes; e.g. by receiving training, technical assistance, access to materials, supplies, or financing. 

Documentation of staff and beneficiaries is recommended but not required. The rationale for documenting numbers and sex differentiation of staff and beneficiaries is that it is important to show both the level of conservation-related employment, and the breadth of beneficiaries from conservation.

  1. Budget documentation (optional field)

These are simple numerical fields. You can document your current annual budget for a given current contribution, as well as your total annual budget required for a potential contribution (documentation of current annual budget as larger than total annual budget is not possible in the Data Entry Module). You can enter data to the level of precision appropriate to your own budget data. 

Documentation of budgets is recommended but not required. There are several rationales for documenting current and total budgets. At the level of individual contributions, this allows the Contributions for Nature platform to be used as a resource mobilisation and fundraising tool by the individual IUCN constituent making those contributions. At the more aggregated level, it allows better documentation of both the resources available for and needed for conservation at national, regional, and global scales, which is important information for helping to narrow the conservation finance gap more broadly.

  1. Documentation of conservation actions and types (optional fields)

These are drop-down lists selection fields. Documentation of potential contributions is enriched by documentation of the actions being undertaken. This documentation is provided in the form of two non-mutually exclusive drop-down menus, for conservation actions (https://www.iucnredlist.org/resources/conservation-actions- classification-scheme), and types. 

Documentation of actions is recommended but not required. The intent of the documentation of actions is to shed light on what conservation and restoration actions are taking place through the contribution in question. In addition, the documentation of the types of actions implemented allows comparison with the most pressing threats and needs in any given spatial area.

9. Attachments (optional field)

This is a document addition field. At the very bottom of the data entry form, the section “Attachments” allows you to add an attachment. Many formats are compatible, including PDFs, Word documents, pictures, videos, URL links, etc. To do so, click “Upload file” and either drag-and-drop from your files, click on the “Upload” icon, or on the URL icon to directly upload a file from an online source. 

The rationale for this field is to give you the opportunity to provide richer documentation associated with your contribution; these will be disseminated through the Visualisation Module associated with your contribution.

 

e. Spatial data entry

As established by the Nature 2030 IUCN Programme, spatial data provides the core of the Contributions for Nature platform. As such, the “Geometry” field of the data entry form allows IUCN constituents to document the sites where they are undertaking (or are planning to undertake) conservation actions over the time period 2021–2030. Spatial documentation is required for entry of a potential contribution.

Please keep in mind that the Contributions for Nature platform is designed to allow documentation of potential contributions from conservation or restoration actions on the ground, not from policy engagement actions spanning entire countries or regions. While there is no automatic size limit, the median area of Key Biodiversity Areas is 100 sq km (that for protected areas is similar). Of course, there are a few very large conservation and restoration programmes (eg >10,000 sq km), but these are relatively unusual and mainly focused in high latitude countries.

Early feedback from across the IUCN constituency emphasised the importance of allowing multiple pathways for spatial data entry, to allow for the very wide variation in capacity for handling spatial data across the IUCN constituency. Thus, you can document the sites where you are delivering or will deliver contributions using three different approaches -one of which will be made available soon:

  1. Upload of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) data.

If you have existing GIS data documenting the polygons where your conservation and restoration actions are underway or planned, you can upload them by selecting them from your device. Shapefiles should be zipped (.zip) so as to reduce file sizes and upload times. 

To upload a shapefile, click on the “Upload” icon on the left side of the map and select the .zip folder you want to upload. The area will be automatically visualised on the map, allowing you to verify its correct ingestion.

  1. Drawing polygons on the map

If you do not have GIS data documenting the polygon where you are undertaking (or anticipate undertaking) your contribution, you can still document your contributions by drawing one or more polygons on screen using the drawing menu on the map. 

Maintain a click to move on the map. To help you drawing polygons or verifying the correct import of a Shapefile, make sure to use the “Zoom in” and “Zoom out” options. You can also display Protected areas and Key Biodiversity Areas on the map by selecting them from the top-right corner of the map.

To draw a polygon or several polygons, click on the “Polygon” icon (first icon) on the left side of the map and click for each corner of the polygon you are drawing. To complete your polygon and stop new corners and sides from being added, either double click, or click on the last or first corner you have drawn (highlighted in blue).  

NB: You can draw several polygons if your contribution’s area is not continuous. If you draw two polygons that have one area overlapping, both polygons will automatically be merged into one. 

To delete a polygon, click on the “Select” icon, click on the polygon you want to delete and click on the “Delete” icon.

To modify a polygon after having drawn it, you can select the corners of your polygon and move them. Certain corners cannot be moved: click on them to create additional points, which you can move. 

  1. Selection of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) or Protected Areas (PAs).

More than 16,000 KBAs have been identified through national processes around the world, following the IUCN Global Standard (https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/46259), and documented in the World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas (https://www.keybiodiversityareas.org). 

Similarly, more than 300,000 PAs have been identified through national processes around the world, following the IUCN Global Standard (https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/9243), and documented in the World Database on Protected Areas (https://www.protectedplanet.net/en). 

As many IUCN constituents work in supporting the safeguard of these sites which contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity, the Contributions for Nature platform is currently being enriched with a pathway to select one or more KBAs or PAs as the spatial data to document a given contribution - this feature should be made available to users during the Summer of 2025.

 

f. Data translation (EN, FR, SP)

The Contributions for Nature Platform is available in English, French and Spanish. As such, contributions can be entered in each of these languages, and translations can also be provided by constituents to enhance their contribution’s visibility on the platform.

By default, the data entry form on which you enter your contribution’s information is in English, which is also the fall-back language. You can however change the language of entry, or add another language by clicking “Toggle split view” above the contribution’s name. 

You can then choose French or Spanish as language of entry, and enter the contribution’s information in the language of your choice. The information can be entered in all 3 languages, by switching one of both tabs from one language to another (e.g. keeping English on the left side and switching between French and Spanish on the right side).

NB: Only two fields can be translated: name and description, as the other fields do not need to be translated. 

 

g. Modifying a contribution

You may edit or delete already-submitted contributions at any time, regardless of their validation status. This is particularly important in cases where a submitted contribution is rejected by the IUCN validator, on the grounds that important data is missing or likely incorrect. In addition, it is preferable that constituents regularly update their contributions to keep the information displayed on the Contributions for Nature Platform as accurate as possible. 

To edit an already submitted contribution, start by finding your contribution depending on its status from the left panel (“validated”, “pending” or “rejected” contribution) and click on it to access the data entry form. Edit your contribution as needed and click save. 

  • If your edits on an already validated contribution do not modify the contribution’s geometry (the geospatial data), the information visible on the Contributions for Nature Platform will be updated automatically. 
  • If the edits modify the contribution’s geometry, the contribution will be re-submitted to the IUCN validator, as a change in the geometry will also impact the contribution’s scores. 

 

h. Validation process

At the point at which an IUCN constituent clicks “Save” to submit their potential contribution in the Data Entry Module, an automated email is generated to a pre-determined email list of IUCN Secretariat validators based on the IUCN operational region in which the potential contribution is located. Where a single potential contribution spans more than one region, validation emails will be sent to the validation email list for each region in question. The validator has two weeks to undertake the validation.

If the validator does not find the potential contribution as documented to be plausible, they have the responsibility to follow up with the IUCN constituent in question to diagnose the issue. Often, this will be the result of a simple data entry mistake, which the IUCN constituent can correct in the Data Entry Module and re-submit their corrected documentation for validation.

Occasionally, it may not be possible for the validator and the IUCN constituent in question to resolve plausibility of the potential contribution. In such rare cases, the issue will be escalated within the IUCN Secretariat for resolution.

Once the validation has been completed, an automated email informs the IUCN constituent of this, and the potential contribution in question is published onto the Visualisation Module.