Dr. Liam Lysaght:

The short answer is that is probably not realisable yet, but we are just at the cusp of being able to do this type of analysis. Any analysis like that must be done correctly and with sound science. If we produce a map that is not based on science, we will get everybody discrediting it. However, once we mobilise data and have digital data, we are really at the cusp of being able to do that. It is probably a bit premature, but perhaps that will happen in another year or two. There is a technique called biodiversity hotspot analysis and we can begin to use that for the data that we have mobilised, but there are many gaps. It is an imperfect world, but we are nearly there. Seven years ago, we were at the back of the European class in terms of infrastructure for managing wildlife information.