Transcript Developing Biodiversity Indicators

Developing Biodiversity
Indicators
Measuring Conservation Impact at
Global and Project Scales
Valerie Kapos
Unprecedented change:
Terrestrial Ecosystems
• 5-10% area of five
biomes converted between
1950 & 1990
• >2/3 of the area of two
biomes, & >1/2 of the area
of four others converted by
1990
• Conversion of further
>20% of potential area of
tropical and sub-tropical
moist forests projected by
2050.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005
Global starting points…
• Convention on Biological Diversity –
– 1992,
– now 188 governments
• Millennium Development Goals
• CBD Strategic Plan, adopted by the
Conference of Parties at its sixth
meeting
• Hague Ministerial Declaration, adopted by Ministers responsible for
CBD implementation
• Plan of Implementation adopted by the World Summit on Sustainable
Development
How are we doing?
• Process-based
indicators
• Biodiversity indicators
• Outcome-oriented
programmes of work
Performance can be monitored at
several levels:
• Input - have you spent the money?
 Activity - what did you do with it?
 Output - what did it get you? How good
was it?
 Outcome - what effect has it had on the
problem (cf. what would have happened
without it?)
 Impact - what is happening to the
ecosystems/habitats/species/populations
Common issues and concerns
• Clearly stated biodiversity objectives often
lacking
• Assumptions rarely explicitly stated
• More biodiversity objectives increases
monitoring burden.
• Long time frames – outside normal project cycles
• Many impacts unanticipated
• ‘Control’ data useful but costly
2010 Target
“ . . .achieve a significant reduction in of the
current rate of biodiversity loss at global,
national and regional levels as a
contribution to poverty alleviation and to the
benefit of all life on earth.”
CBD indicator framework
Framework for targets and indicators:
• biodiversity components
• sustainable use
• threats to biodiversity
• ecosystem integrity, good and services
• traditional knowledge, innovations, practices
• access and benefit sharing
• resource transfers, both ODA and technology
Proposed global indicators
Status and trends of components, e.g.:
• extent of selected habitats
• abundance and distribution of species
• change in status of threatened species
• trends in genetic diversity of domesticated
species
• coverage of protected areas
Locations undergoing high rates of land
cover change in the past few decades
Biodiversity: Living Planet Index
Tropical and Temperate Forest Species
Trends over time in an average species population in each of the forest types.
1.2
1.0
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
1970
1975
Tropical
forests
1980
1985
Temperate
forests
1990
1995
Biodiversity Decline:
Red List Index
Measures changes in number of species in each Red List
category and number changing categories between successive
threat assessments. Butchart et al. (2004).
Growth in Protected Areas Worldwide
Cumulative Growth in Protected Areas by 5 Year Increment
Number of sites
18,000,000
90,000
16,000,000
80,000
14,000,000
70,000
12,000,000
60,000
10,000,000
50,000
8,000,000
40,000
6,000,000
30,000
20,000
4,000,000
10,000
2,000,000
0
0
1872
1887
1902
1917
1932
1947
Year
1962
1977
1992
2003
Area (km 2)
Number of sites
Area of sites
100,000
Proposed global indicators
Sustainable use, e.g.:
• area of forest, agriculture and aquaculture
ecosystems under sustainable management
• proportion of products derived from sustainable
sources
Threats to biodiversity, e.g.:
• nitrogen deposition
• numbers and cost of alien invasions
Atmospheric nitrogen deposition
1860
1993
Proposed global indicators
Ecosystem integrity, goods and services, e.g.:
• trophic indices (marine and potentially others)
• connectivity/fragmentation
• water quality in aquatic ecosystems
• biodiversity used in food and medicine
Ecosystem Services and Human Wellbeing
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2003
Habitat loss – extent and fragmentation
Proposed global indicators
Indicators concerned with:
• status of traditional knowledge, innovations, and
practices
• status of access and benefit sharing
• status of resource transfers, including both ODA
and technology transfer
GEF funded project (FSP)
• Building a partnership to track progress at
the global level in achieving the 2010
biodiversity target (www.twentyten.net)
• PDF B ($500K), and two full project stages:
• 2006-2009 - Indicator development and testing ($6m)
• 2009-2012 - Reporting and looking ahead ($6m)
Monitoring and indicators
- many partners and scales
Communicating 2010 indicators
• Supporting the regular
delivery of global 2010
biodiversity indicators
through web and other
media
• Reporting to the CBD
through GBO, and other
audiences through a
range of mechanisms
and process.
• Opportunity for key link
with C2010.
www.twentyten.net
Marine Trophic Index
3.6
Mean trophiclevel
3.55
North Atlantic
3.5
3.45
3.4
Global coastal
3.35
3.3
3.25
3.2
1950
1960
1970
1980
Year
1990
2000