We are delighted to celebrate a new paper led by Sven Kock, developed from his MSc dissertation within the IEK-CHANGES project and now published in npj Biodiversity, an important journal in the Nature Portfolio family.
The study examines how we assess tree species richness in Indigenous Peoples’ Lands, using Bolivia as a case study. Sven and colleagues show that the picture we get of biodiversity can be strongly shaped by the datasets we use, including important spatial and taxonomic biases. The paper also draws attention to a broader challenge: biodiversity data and assessments do not always adequately recognize Indigenous contributions, knowledge, and relationships with their territories.
The findings highlight the importance of developing biodiversity assessments that are not only scientifically robust, but also more locally grounded and attentive to the knowledge systems and data practices of Indigenous Peoples.
It is particularly wonderful to see this work, which started as Sven’s MSc dissertation, reach such an excellent international journal. And there is even more exciting news: Sven has also secured a PhD position at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig, where we are sure he will continue to do fantastic work.
Huge congratulations, Sven!!! We are incredibly proud of you and excited to see where this next chapter takes you!
Reference: Kock, S., Llopis, J.C., Fernández, M., Moraes R., M., Fernández-Llamazares, Á. (2026) Characterizing tree species richness in Indigenous Peoples’ lands: addressing often-overlooked data limitations and biases. npj Biodiversity. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44185-026-00153-6
Photograph by Joan de la Malla
