What is the Ecological Knowledge System?
Restoration plantings using diverse species and provenances, Tasmania. Image: SM Prober, CSIRO
The Ecological Knowledge System (EKS) provides a transparent and authoritative source of information, biodiversity assessment, and forecast capability for the Nature Repair Market. It supports market integrity and reduces barriers to participation by making it easier for market participants to access the ecological information needed to inform nature repair projects that deliver genuine biodiversity benefits.
Specifically, the EKS delivers information designed to:
- help proponents design projects that meet market requirements
- help proponents assess the potential biodiversity benefits of their projects
- help buyers compare, and have confidence in, the benefits of projects
- assist the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) in their functions as the regulator (e.g. assessment of project applications)
- inform development of Nature Repair methods and help methods meet the legislative requirements of the Nature Repair Market.
While the EKS underpins biodiversity assessments for the Nature Repair Market, it also has potential applications outside the market in conservation planning, environmental reporting, natural resource management, and research. The ecosystem models, datasets, methods and technical resources developed through the EKS are publicly available, supporting transparency, understanding, and broader use.
EKS scope and components
The two components of the EKS: ecosystem models and the NBAS
The EKS has two main technical components:
- ecosystem models (i.e. state-and-transition models, STMs)
- the National Biodiversity Assessment System (NBAS).
In addition, the EKS incorporates a range of other activities that enable its operation, delivery, and ongoing scientific development. These activities include dedicated research on how to incorporate the effects of climate change in ecosystem models, exploring how existing approaches could be extended to marine and coastal ecosystems, and the development of a robust governance framework to support effective implementation of the EKS. The EKS is also being informed through ongoing collaboration with First Nations representatives to guide how Indigenous knowledge and values could appropriately interact with the EKS.
To learn more about each of these components, see below. For a more comprehensive description of the EKS see the EKS Technical Report (2026).
Ecosystem models
Ecosystem models describe how key components of ecosystems – such as structure, composition and dynamics – interact. State-and-transition models (STMs) are a type of ecosystem model used in the EKS to synthesise knowledge of the dynamics, management, and restoration of ecosystems. STMs describe the state of a particular ecosystem (in terms of ecosystem integrity or condition), and the drivers or agents that cause transitions between states of varying condition. They provide a useful way to capture and communicate our understanding of how management interventions, such as conservation or restoration activities, or disturbances such as fire, drought or vegetation clearing impact ecosystem condition and biodiversity.
Learn more about ecosystem models and the range of STMs developed by the EKS. See the Guide for expert elicitation of state-and-transition models for further information about how these models are developed with experts.
Stylised depiction of the relationship between archetype models and dynamic state and transition models and their components.
NBAS
MVG 1 Rainforest and vine thickets at Mount Ossa just north-west of Mackay in April 2026. Image: Simon Walker, CSIRO
The National Biodiversity Assessment System (NBAS) provides a nationally consistent approach for assessing a project’s contribution to the conservation of biodiversity. The NBAS uses biodiversity persistence as the common currency to assess project benefits. Biodiversity persistence is a measure of the likelihood that species will continue to exist without significant loss or decline, both now and into the foreseeable future. The NBAS is used to evaluate and report the current contribution to biodiversity persistence of a project site and forecast the biodiversity benefits that are expected to result from project activities. Biodiversity persistence scores can be compared through time and between projects.
The overall biodiversity persistence score reflects three components: the expected improvement in ecosystem condition resulting from project activities, the contribution of those improvements to landscape connectivity, and the ecological significance of the ecosystem being protected or restored, taking into account its rarity, species composition, level of depletion and degradation.
A full description of the NBAS v2.1.1 model and outputs are available in the EKS Technical Report (2026). The NBAS code, data, and supporting technical documentation are publicly available through dedicated repositories:
Climate change
The EKS includes materials designed to enable experts to consider and incorporate the effects of climate change in STMs to reduce and manage climate risk to restoration outcomes.
Climate change can be incorporated into ecosystem models by combining climate projections with expert ecological knowledge. Information on projected changes in climate (e.g. temperature, rainfall, aridity), climate-related parameters (e.g. sea-level rise, extreme events such as fire, drought, floods and cyclones), and expected biodiversity responses can be used by ecosystem experts to envisage how ecosystem states, transitions, and management outcomes may change under future climates.
Mulga shrubland affected by heatwave and drought, Newman, Western Australia. Image: SM Prober
For guides and worked examples on how to create climate-adjusted ecosystem models see the Guide for expert elicitation of state-and-transition models, Module 1 Climate change in the Ecological Knowledge System.
The Climate Change Directory for Australia’s Nature Repair Market provides links to key information that can support project proponents (and the Clean Energy Regulator) to identify and manage climate change risks when planning and implementing Nature Repair projects.
Adapting approaches for marine and coastal ecosystems
Divers conducting giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) restoration in Tasmania are distracted by a passing shark. Source: Scott Ling, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Science (IMAS), The University of Tasmania
The EKS has initially been based on approaches that have a long history of use in terrestrial ecosystems. Compared to terrestrial ecosystems, marine and coastal ecosystems have unique ecological, biophysical, socio-economic, logistical and governance considerations. Work was undertaken to evaluate if (or how) the approaches developed for terrestrial ecosystems (STMs and NBAS) could apply in marine and coastal ecosystems, and/or what alternative approaches might be considered.
For more information on marine and coastal ecosystems in the EKS:
- see our detailed report An Ecological Knowledge system for the Nature Repair Market: Key considerations, challenges and recommendations for application coastal and marine systems
- recording of webinar (to publish in early 2027).
First Nations knowledge, values, and data
The CSIRO EKS and DCCEEW team are working together with First Nations representatives to inform and guide how Indigenous knowledge and values could appropriately interact with the EKS. The approach is underpinned by a commitment to the principles of free, prior and informed consent at each stage of engagement and communication, and recognition of the importance of data sovereignty for First Nations people.
In 2025 an Indigenous Working Group drafted a set of principles and protocols for ethical and respectful inclusion of Indigenous knowledge, values and data in the EKS. The principles and protocols provide guidance for ethical engagement, managing data sovereignty, and acknowledging cultural authority that is relevant to both the EKS and the broader Nature Repair market framework. The application of these principles and protocols is currently being trialled in development of ecosystem models for the EKS.
Governance
EKS governance is founded on the core principles of transparency, integrity, reliability, consistency and sustainability. Our overarching governance framework includes policies and procedures that will ensure reliable supply chains of data and information, transparent probity management, and effective governance of inputs, outputs, and operations. For a full description of our governance principals and policies, refer to the EKS Technical Report (2026).
EKS partners, collaborators and contributors
The EKS is a partnership between CSIRO and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) to support the Nature Repair Market. For more information on the market, visit the DCCEEW Nature Repair Market webpage. For more information about how the EKS is used in the market, visit the DCCEEW EKS webpage.
The EKS team has also collaborated with Haizea Analytics to operationalise NBAS and ecosystem models within PLANR (the Platform for Land and Nature Repair), with Haizea supporting the testing and deployment of EKS materials for market use and public access.
Regional experts have generously contributed their time and knowledge to develop the ecosystem models for the EKS. The EKS has been shaped and informed by multiple advisory groups, convened by DCCEEW, which provided feedback on earlier documentation of the EKS approach including the Biodiversity Assessment Expert Reference Group and the State and Territory Working Group (measuring and tracking biodiversity). Our work has also been informed by numerous individuals and organisations who have provided feedback on the EKS in their submissions to public ‘Have Your Say’ Nature Repair Market consultation processes.