Finding ways for taxonomy to keep up with the urgent knowledge needs of conservationists

In many regions, and particularly for some taxonomic groups (invertebrates) or ecosystems (deep-sea), severe gaps in biodiversity knowledge are a major impediment to halting and reversing biodiversity loss. A step-change is required for the world of taxonomy and systematics to meet the needs of conservationists involved in decisions in the context of development projects, spatial planning or biodiversity policies. We will also discuss how to harness the resources of the private sector to fund this change: businesses plays an important role in generating new knowledge on biodiversity, notably by conducting baseline surveys and monitoring, and they are also important user. It goes both ways of course and data sharing remains a challenge. In essence, biodiversity knowledge is foundational to any action aimed at addressing the biodiversity crisis and a step change is required to bring taxonomists on board.