Biodiversity Indicators in Your Pocket - BIYP
Updated 2008
The first version of 'Biodiversity Indicators in Your
Pocket' was published in June 2007. The
publication includes an introduction to and overview of the set of
indicators, and further includes the graph and headline
messages for each indicator. The indicators
within these webpages provide, in addition, updated data for
several of the indicators as at March 2008, detailed
assessments of the data and trends for each indicator, as well as
background and web links for further information.
Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth. It includes not
only the variety of individual species but also the genetic
diversity within species and the range of ecosystems that support
them. The UK Government has committed to two important
international targets to protect biodiversity:
- In 2001, European Union Heads of State or
Government agreed that biodiversity decline should be halted with
the aim of reaching this objective by 2010 (for more information
see http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature).
- In 2002, Heads of State at the United Nations
World Summit on Sustainable Development committed themselves to
achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of
biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level, as a
contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life
on Earth (for more information see http://www.bond.org.uk/wgroups/wssd/index.htm
and http://www.biodiv.org/2010-target/default.shtml).
A suite of biodiversity indicators for the UK was first
published in June 2007. The indicators show changes in aspects of
biodiversity such as the population size of important species or
the area of land managed for wildlife. They will be used as part of
the evidence to assess whether the targets set out above have been
achieved.
In 2007 eighteen UK biodiversity indicators were published,
although four were under development and presented without
data. It was the intention that the indicators would be
further developed and updated periodically as new data is made
available to provide a full set of indicators for assessing the
2010 targets: The first such update took place in March 2008 when
several of the indicators were updated to reflect new data, and a
further indicator was added. The indicators are grouped under
the six focal areas identified by the Convention on Biological
Diversity and the European Council:
- Status and trends in components of
biodiversity
- Sustainable use
- Threats to biodiversity
- Ecosystem integrity and ecosystem goods and
services
- Status of resource transfers and use
- Public awareness and participation
Whilst indicators are useful mechanisms for summarising
messages, they can never describe all the changes in the UK’s
biodiversity. They are best seen, as their name suggests, as
indicative of the general state of biodiversity. Whilst they
will form the basis of the UK’s assessment of progress towards the
biodiversity targets, other factors and sources of information will
also need to be taken into account.