Microbiologists have launched the first coordinated plan to protect microbial biodiversity across the planet, calling attention to the “invisible 99% of life” that drives essential Earth systems. As with other lifeforms, microorganisms have been threatened by climate change.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has formally recognised this effort through the creation of the Microbial Conservation Specialist Group. The scientists behind the project hope that by developing new metrics, policies, and restoration tools, this will help to make microbial life a core part of global conservation action. This effort has been led by Professor Jack Gilbert, President of Applied Microbiology International.
The roadmap also outlines upcoming goals such as microbial hotspot maps and new microbe-based conservation solutions.
Preserving the networks of invisible life
To develop the policy framework, Gilbert brought together conservation specialists and microbiologists to explore how traditional conservation goals apply in a world driven by microbial processes.
He explains: “This is the first global coalition dedicated to safeguarding microbial biodiversity, which is the ‘invisible 99% of life’, to ensure that microbes are recognized as essential to the planet’s ecological, climate, and health systems.”
Continuing, Gilbert says: “I think this reframes conservation from saving individual species to preserving the networks of invisible life that make visible life possible — a paradigm shift toward planetary health. It also gives us a really good look into the microbial tools that can support conservation action — so that we may use microbiology to solve the world’s biggest problems.”
Why microbial biodiversity matters for the planet
Microbes are central to soil fertility, carbon cycling, marine productivity, and the health of plants and animals. Despite this, they rarely appear in conservation policy. Gilbert notes that overlooking microbial diversity weakens climate resilience, food security, and ecosystem restoration efforts: “The MCSG fills this gap by embedding microbiology directly into IUCN’s conservation machinery, i.e. using Red List criteria, ecosystem assessments, and restoration programs, to make microbes visible in policy, not just in science.”
Formulating the microbial roadmap
The initial steps for the roadmap are:
- Assessment — develop Red List-compatible metrics for microbial communities and biobanks.
- Planning — create ethical and economic frameworks for microbial interventions.
- Action — pilot restoration projects using microbial solutions (coral probiotics, soil carbon microbiomes, pathogen-resistant wildlife).
- Networking — connect scientists, culture collections, and Indigenous custodians worldwide.
- Communication & Policy — launch public and policy campaigns, including “Invisible but Indispensable.”
These steps relate to the primary goals for the roadmap. These are:
- Developing the first Microbial Red List framework by 2027.
- Creating global maps of microbial hotspots across soil, marine, and host-associated systems.
- Testing conservation strategies such as microbial bioremediation, coral probiotics, and soil carbon restoration.
- Ensuring microbial indicators are incorporated alongside plants and animals in IUCN and UN biodiversity targets by 2030.
Source – NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laborat, CC SA 2.0.
In achieving this, there will be challenges. “Microbial conservation must contend with enormous unseen diversity and highly dynamic community structures that defy classical species concepts. Taxonomic instability, lack of long-term baselines, and the ethical handling of microbial samples (including Indigenous or human-associated microbiota) all require new definitions of ‘loss’, ‘restoration’, and ‘rights of microbes'”, according to Gilbert.
An associated part of the project is to boost public microbial literacy, especially in recognising microbes as the foundation of ecosystem and human health.
The roadmap is outlined in the journal Sustainable Microbiology, with the research paper titled “Safeguarding microbial biodiversity: microbial conservation specialist group within the species survival commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.”
