Biodiversity Indicators

This briefing note summarises the different suites of biodiversity indicators used in the UK to monitor progress towards global and European targets to reduce and stabilise the loss of biodiversity.

Governments around the world are committed to reducing the current rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010, while governments in Europe are committed to a resolution to halt the loss of biodiversity at all levels by the year 2010. Biodiversity indicators measure progress towards these targets.

The UK has a national suite of 18 indicators to measure its own progress towards the 2010 target. Some of these are used in different policy schemes (e.g. UK Biodiversity Action Plan, Public Service Agreements, UK Sustainable Development Strategy). They can also be used at a local level, in council Local Area Agreements.

Broadly speaking, these indicators can be broken down into three types:

Unlike other areas in environmental science, such as air pollution, there is no single monitoring programme for biodiversity. Limited data exist in a fragmented fashion across institutions and Non-Governmental Organisations, with a lack of common standards. Lack of funding and co-ordination has been identified as a key problem.

For some indicators, there are enough data (e.g. birds) at a sufficiently fine resolution to be useful. For others, data are only available for some species and at a coarse global or regional level. Many areas of biodiversity are data poor, e.g. genetics, and this is compounded by an incomplete knowledge of ecological systems. 

 

Dated 30/07/2008

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Owning Organisation

Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology - http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_offices/post.cfm

Data Type

Research Report

Spatial Coverage

UK, EU, Global

Theme

Environment