Editorial: Nature conservation, biodiversity protection and ecological risk assessment: Three worlds apart in need of connection

Nature conservation, biodiversity protection and ecological risk assessment: three worlds apart in need of connectionThe protection of our natural environment with its human-induced declining biodiversity calls for a multidisciplinary effort aimed at halting the decline and restoring nature from what is left.This effort is hampered by fragmentation of the scientific disciplines supporting nature conservation.In a somewhat stereotypic division, we see the field divided into three worlds:• The classical nature conservation approach with an emphasis on landscapes and vegetation.• The approach of biodiversity protection, aimed at conserving species with high appeal, such as butterflies and birds.• Ecological risk assessment, with its emphasis on contamination as a factor prohibiting successful nature restoration programsWe initiated the Research Topic Connecting Biodiversity Protection, Nature Conservation Assessment, and Ecological Risk Assessment from the observations that there seems to be a disconnect between Biodiversity Protection, Nature conservation Assessment and Ecological Risk Assessment and that they are worlds apart.All three "worlds" have their own governance and culture, basic principles and assumptions, vocabulary and terminology, with GBI, IUCN, and SETAC as prominent representatives and signboards.