Box 1 Eleven Guiding Principles for microbiome research, based on ethical analysis

1. Establish common ethical codes-of-conduct for microbiome applications, considering whole ecosystems, keeping in mind the planetary health concept; stimulate and strengthen public research and knowledge sharing; place knowledge in the public domain; increase awareness

2. Consider the human gut microbiome as global common heritage; seen as a continuum to the FAO International Treaty on plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, where 64 major food crops hold this status

3. Facilitate the deposition of microbiome sequences as open-source, accessible for all; establish a sequence database of microbial diversity for the health of man, animal, and plants; for improved resilience to climate change challenges and pandemics

4. Provide open access microbiome-relevant culture collections as a source of not-patented, safe-to-use, key microbiome species/specimens/consortia, available for microbiome-improvement of soils and for strengthening resilience in humans, crops, trees, and animals (including wildlife)

5. Stimulate international scientific collaboration within microbiome research, technologies, innovations and uses, including all parts of the world, public and private, for the benefit of health and well-being of humanity; contributing to planetary health

6. Stimulate public–private collaboration within microbiome research and innovation, enabling products available and accessible for improved microbiome diversity within food ecosystems. IP-protection should be by claiming specific inventive steps only; no broader microbiome use claims

7. Use microbiome insight for gut health-promoting products also where most needed. Climate change threatens food security in drought-stricken Sub-Saharan Africa; affordable food, made from local residues or processing side-streams can in a fair and just manner improve public health

8. Stimulate microbiome research with a holistic approach, spanning across different microbiome systems; microbiome research silos delay conceptually new microbiome insight, delaying potentially life-saving innovations and use

9. Stimulate microbiome research, elucidating conducive conditions for the serious, widespread global obesity and malnutrition pandemics as well as for solutions to support sustainable and responsible agricultural production

10. Stimulate soil–plant microbiome research, for increased carbon sequestration and N and P (re)cycling, and for monitoring biodiversity (at species and habitat level), identifying climate change-induced changes in microbiome composition and function

11. Prioritize microbiome research for early warning of pandemics