Two important articles on International Biological Diversity Day!

Two Key Publications for International Biological Diversity Day!

Today – May 22, 2026, the International Day for Biological Diversity, established by the UN General Assembly in 2000 and celebrated this year under the theme "Local Actions for Global Impact" – two crucial publications have been released. They aim to consolidate and invigorate collaboration within the DNA barcoding research and practice community, establishing a strategic framework that can serve as a universal model, ready to be emulated and implemented anywhere in the world.

• Analysis of the Potential of National DNA Barcoding: The first article, titled "Empowering National Capacity for a DNA-Based Approach to Species Identification and Biodiversity Monitoring" (Kaitetzidou et al. 2026), was published in the renowned journal Metabarcoding & Metagenomics. The senior author and corresponding author of the publication is Prof. Dr. Hab. Michał Grabowski from the Department of Invertebrate Zoology and Hydrobiology at the Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz. This work analyzes current DNA barcoding activities in Europe, serving not only as a compendium of knowledge on the subject but also providing specific guidelines for initiating and effectively implementing local barcoding initiatives and national iBOL nodes. The publication synthesizes extensive experience from 20 countries and emphasizes building research capacity, standardizing methods, engaging stakeholders, diversifying funding sources, and public communication, formulating a ten-page guide to ensuring the long-term success of national DNA barcoding nodes.
• Strategic priorities for Europe in a global context: The second article, published in the journal BioScience, is titled "Species identification, discovery, and biomonitoring: strategic priorities for DNA barcoding in Europe, set in a global context" (Hollingsworth et al. 2026), with Prof. Dr. Habowski as the senior author. Michał Grabowski, defines the mission and key strategic priorities for the entire iBOL Europe community. The publication also outlines a long-term vision for the entire barcoding community in Europe, centered on the creation, curation, and universal availability of a reference DNA barcoding library for all European eukaryotic species.

The most urgent tasks identified by the researchers include:

• consolidating reference libraries enabling reliable taxonomic identification of priority taxa,
• democratizing access to modern sequencing technologies,
• strengthening collaboration within a distributed network of researchers.

A Race Against Time and Threatened Regions

Both publications unanimously and emphatically warn that building a complete reference library for European biota is a dramatic race against time. This challenge is particularly acute in regions characterized by unique natural richness, such as Southern and Southeastern Europe, and other areas of high natural value, such as the Carpathian Arc. These regions, considered global centers of endemism, are currently directly threatened by increasing urbanization and dynamic climate change, while still suffering from a lack of adequate research funding and, consequently, a lack of mapping of local biodiversity in reference DNA sequence databases.

Importance for Science and Global Cooperation

In a broader perspective, both articles represent a milestone not only for the European scientific community but also for strengthening the global research infrastructure. They clearly demonstrate the crucial need to combine the efforts of professional scientists – taxonomists – and nature enthusiasts working within the framework of citizen science. Only their joint efforts will enable the implementation of rapid yet reliable DNA-based environmental monitoring, provide a solid foundation for advanced metabarcoding (e.g., environmental DNA) and metagenomic analyses, and ultimately support global programs for the discovery and characterization of new, as yet unknown, species, as well as nature conservation policy and practice and rational ecosystem management.

These proposals constitute an open invitation to discussion, exchange of experiences, and continuous improvement of action strategies by the entire global scientific community engaged in biodiversity research.

Both works are also the result of many years of research, the joint efforts of many researchers, including the PoLBOL team from the University of Lodz, and extensive consultations and discussions during two scientific workshop sessions held at the University of Lodz in May 2023 and June 2025, thanks to the support of the EU Horizon Europe project Biodiversity Genomics Europe (BGE) (https://biodiversitygenomics.eu/), financed under the