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  Biodiversity indicators in national forest inventories »

  Assessments of forest biodiversity - the diversity within forest species, between species and of forest ecosystems - are essential if forest resources are to be effectively conserved and sustainably managed (Hunter, 1999). Assessments are needed to provide information necessary to support biodiversity-related decision-making in forest policy and management. However, assessment of forest biodiversity presents a number of challenges. First, because of the complexity of biodiversity, information about it needs to be assembled and expressed based on simplified variables, typically in the form of indicators (Noss, 1990, 1999). Second, since decisions relating to forests are made at a variety of scales, biodiversity data and indicators need to be aggregated across different scales for monitoring and reporting purposes (Noss, 1990; Turner, 1995).

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  GLOBIO3: A Framework to Investigate Options for Reducing Global Terrestrial Biodiversity Loss »

  The GLOBIO3 model has been developed to assess human-induced changes in biodiversity, in the past, present, and future at regional and global scales. The model is built on simple cause–effect relationships between environmental drivers and biodiversity impacts, based on state-of-the-art knowledge. The mean abundance of original species relative to their abundance in undisturbed ecosystems (MSA) is used as the indicator for biodiversity.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  Biodiversity trends in Europe: development and testing of a species trend indicator for evaluating progress towards the 2010 target »

  This paper presents a trial of a species population trend indicator for evaluating progress towards the 2010 biodiversity target in Europe, using existing data. The indicator integrates trends on different species (groups), and can be aggregated across habitats and countries. Thus, the indicator can deliver both headline messages for high-level decision-making and detailed information for in-depth analysis, using data from different sources, collected with different methods.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  Measuring the extent and effectiveness of protected areas as an indicator for meeting global biodiversity targets »

  This paper reviews the current global extent of protected areas in terms of geopolitical and habitat coverage, and considers their value as a global indicator of conservation action or response. The paper discusses the role of the World Database on Protected Areas and collection and quality control issues, and identifies areas for improvement, including how conservation effectiveness indicators may be included in the database to improve the value of protected areas data as an indicator for meeting global biodiversity targets.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  Biodiversity Trends and Threats in Europe - Can We Apply a Generic Biodiversity Indicator to Forests? »

  At the 9th meeting of the SBSTTA of the CBD a recommendation was made to begin testing of five biodiversity indicators in order to measure progress towards the 2010 target. This paper considers one of these indicators for Pan-Europe. The basic principle of the index is to calculate the average trend in abundance of a set of ecosystem-representative species. The index is considered to be generic, i.e. applicable to all ecosystem types including forests. It can produce both headline messages for high-level policy and communication, and detailed information for in-depth analysis. This paper describes the conceptual framework of the index and explores the data availability for the index in Pan-Europe.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  Forest Biodiversity Indicators. Tools for Policy-making and Management »

  This is a brief introduction to biodiversity indicators in a forest environment - their definition, source, presentation and uses.

  Resource Type: Reports
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  Bamboo diversity: the need for a Red List review »

  This review focuses on woody bamboos with the highest diversity recorded in the Asia-Pacific region where bamboos play a major role in ecosystem dynamics in many forests.

  The genetic diversity of the remaining forest bamboos, of which many are highly susceptible to deforestation, is of great concern and an accurate information base is required as a foundation for policy and management decisions affecting bamboo. A programme to strengthen the Red List assessments of bamboo species status is also needed, one that prioritizes the assessment of species with the smallest estimated geographical ranges and least remaining habitat.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  Guidance for National Biodiversity Indicator Development and Use »

  This guidance is designed to help the development of biodiversity indicators at the national level for uses such as reporting, policy-making, environmental management, and education. It is intended principally for the people who produce biodiversity indicators, whether they are in government agencies, academia or NGOs. In some cases biodiversity indicators are developed on a ‘one-off’ basis to meet the needs for a particular study or report, or they can be developed for long-term reporting and decision-making. This guidance can be used for both situations.

  Resource Type: Reports
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  Global Biodiversity: Indicators of Recent Declines »

  In 2002, world leaders committed, through the Convention on Biological Diversity, to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. We compiled 31 indicators to report on progress toward this target. Most indicators of the state of biodiversity (covering species’ population trends, extinction risk, habitat extent and condition, and community composition) showed declines, with no significant recent reductions in rate, whereas indicators of pressures on biodiversity (including resource consumption, invasive alien species, nitrogen pollution, overexploitation, and climate change impacts) showed increases. Despite some local successes and increasing responses (including extent and biodiversity coverage of protected areas, sustainable forest management, policy responses to invasive alien species, and biodiversity-related aid), the rate of biodiversity loss does not appear to be slowing.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers
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  The Living Planet Index: using species population time series to track trends in biodiversity »

  The Living Planet Index was developed to measure the changing state of the world's biodiversity over time. It uses time series data to calculate average rates of change in a large number of populations of terrestrial, freshwater and marine vertebrate species. The dataset contains about 3,000 population time series for over 1,100 species. Two methods of calculating the index are outlined: the chain method and a method based on linear modelling of log-transformed data.

  Resource Type: Journal Papers