By George Poulakidas, Dorota Stefanowicz and Anita Charters
*This is part one of a two-part series on Genome BC’s new Policy and Research Innovation Lab (PRIL) and its new approaches to tackle biodiversity challenges facing British Columbia. Read part two here: “Novel Solutions for Biodiversity: Inside Genome BC’s Inaugural Ideas Lab“
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The global biodiversity crisis is often described as a “wicked problem.” Not because solutions don’t exist, but because the drivers are interconnected, the trade-offs are real and the system is changing quickly. Biodiversity loss is shaped by land use, climate change, resource demands, economic incentives, governance structures and the availability (and uptake) of good evidence. In that context, previous approaches — too often defined by project-by-project monitoring, disconnected datasets and siloed decision-making—are increasingly mismatched with today’s scale and speed of change.
The stakes are profound
Approximately one million species are estimated to face extinction risk, and human activity has significantly altered much of the planet’s land and ecosystems. This is more than a scientific emergency; it is a systemic crisis deeply intertwined with social and economic foundations—from food security and health to livelihoods and cultural continuity.
British Columbia is a place where the global biodiversity crisis becomes immediate and tangible. BC is Canada’s most biologically diverse province or territory, with 14 biogeoclimatic zones—distinct regions where specific combinations of climate, soil and vegetation create unique living conditions. These zones represent a wide spectrum of ecosystems that vary dramatically across geography, climate and elevation. That diversity is an extraordinary asset, but it also means conservation cannot be one-size-fits-all.
Protecting biodiversity in BC requires targeted strategies tailored to local conditions—while still aligning with global commitments and measurement frameworks.
Why a new approach is needed
Globally, the adoption of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework has reinforced a key reality: halting and reversing biodiversity loss will require more than individual projects, even large ones. It requires coordinated, “whole-of-society” implementation and better ways to monitor progress, learn what works and scale solutions.
In May 2024, Genome BC hosted the workshop “Biodiversity Policy and Practice: BC and the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework”, bringing together stakeholders from government, academia and NGOs. The findings were clear:
- BC has deep scientific expertise and
- There is strong support for conservation, but
- Progress is hindered by disjointed monitoring efforts and limited cross-sector coordination.
Participants identified a critical need for an ongoing mechanism to bridge scientific knowledge, technology and the realities of provincial policy and implementation.
This is a familiar pattern for wicked problems: the evidence may be strong, and the tools may exist, but the pathway from innovation to adoption is often unclear: Conservation initiatives can become fragmented across mandates and timelines; data can be collected but not integrated; promising technologies can be demonstrated but not scaled.
As biodiversity pressures accelerate, the “implementation gap” becomes as important as the innovation gap.
Introducing PRIL: the Policy and Research Innovation Lab
To address this challenge, Genome BC is launching the Policy and Research Innovation Lab (PRIL).
PRIL is designed as an arm’s-length intermediary that connects researchers, policymakers, rightsholders, industry and non-governmental organizations with a goal to turn technical innovation into policy-relevant action. Traditionally, public and private research, funding mechanisms and regulations and policy have too often operated in parallel. PRIL’s role is to bring these parts of the system into productive alignment—so that evidence and innovation can move more quickly into practice, and practice can inform the next generation of research.
PRIL’s broader focus will remain on environmental challenges, with biodiversity as its inaugural theme. This choice reflects both urgency and opportunity. The biodiversity crisis demands faster, more coordinated action, while new scientific capabilities—especially genomics and related data-driven tools—are expanding what is possible in biodiversity monitoring and management.
From evidence to action
PRIL’s core mission is to help translate scientific innovation into environmental outcomes. That means supporting partners to move through the full pathway from evidence → decision support → implementation → learning → scaling, with each step shaped by practical constraints and responsibilities.
Genomics and other emerging approaches are especially relevant here. Tools such as environmental DNA (eDNA) and related genomic methods can enhance how we detect and monitor biodiversity— with the potential to be more sensitive, faster and cheaper than traditional methods. But technological capability is only one part of the solution.
For a method to matter at the provincial level, it must be trusted, interpreted appropriately, linked to decisions and embedded in policy and operational practice. PRIL is built to bridge that gap.
PRIL will also leverage Genome BC’s ecosystem of national and international large-scale projects to connect BC partners to broader networks, standards and shared infrastructure. This helps ensure that local biodiversity work is informed by, and contributes to, pan-Canadian efforts in genomics-enabled monitoring and conservation.
Crucially, PRIL also supports alignment: ensuring that local actions in British Columbia connect to broader frameworks and goals. When monitoring and reporting are coherent—from local projects to provincial strategies to global commitments—effort becomes additive rather than duplicative. That is essential in a landscape where capacity and resources are always finite.
A multi-disciplinary, inclusive approach
Wicked problems require multi-disciplinary solutions. PRIL will bring together expertise across natural sciences, social sciences, governance and implementation to ensure that solutions are robust, realistic and durable.
A central commitment of PRIL is to support approaches that are inclusive and respectful, prioritizing meaningful engagement with Indigenous Peoples, who are the traditional stewards of many of BC’s most biodiverse regions. PRIL also embraces the braiding of knowledge systems—combining Traditional Knowledge and Western science in ways that reflect context, rights and responsibilities.
PRIL will help strengthen the “people pipeline” needed for long-term success. Addressing biodiversity loss requires professionals who can work across disciplines—individuals who can translate between data, policy design and operational delivery. PRIL is dedicated to supporting the development of that interdisciplinary capacity, so that ambitious frameworks and goals can become practical, local programs.
How PRIL will work
PRIL’s approach is designed to move beyond isolated initiatives and into coordinated action. It will do this by convening partners, creating structured collaboration opportunities and using proven co-creation methods to generate implementable proposals.
In practice, PRIL will integrate the following methodologies:
- Diverse perspectives: Future visions will be challenged by a wide range of viewpoints to ensure resilience and depth.
- Interdisciplinary balance: Natural and social science perspectives will be equally weighted when evaluating potential solutions.
- Knowledge exchange: PRIL will facilitate workshops and other strategic opportunities to bridge communication gaps between sectors and decision contexts.
- Co-creation: Programs will use IDEA Lab/Sandpit methodologies to develop proposals collaboratively—bringing together a diverse group of participants to design solutions that are fundable, feasible and scalable.
This is how PRIL aims to create momentum: not by producing recommendations in isolation, but by building shared ownership and clear pathways to implementation.
Why this matters now
Biodiversity loss is accelerating, but so is our ability to respond. The question is whether we can match scientific progress with the governance and coordination required for adoption. In a world of wicked problems, better tools are necessary—but are not sufficient on their own. The missing piece is often the connective tissue: the relationships, shared methods and implementation pathways that turn knowledge into action.
PRIL represents Genome BC’s commitment to building that connective tissue for British Columbia. By bringing together the actors who generate evidence, make decisions and carry out implementation, PRIL will help BC move toward a resilient, evidence-based framework for protecting the province’s unique biological diversity.
