Available and potential indicators reported by 52 Parties and other Governments between May 2001 and February 2003

Indicators for general application

• Total area of protected areas (use IUCN definition of protected areas)
• Percentage of protected area to total area
• Size and distribution of protected areas
• Percentage area in strictly protected status
• Number of endemic/threatened/ endangered/vulnerable species by group
• Soil quality
• Existence of institutional capacity, policy and regulatory framework for the planning, management and conservation of biological diversity
• Species threatened with extinction (number or percent)
• Endemic species threatened with extinction
• Endemic species in protected areas
• Threatened species in protected areas
• Diversity of native fauna
• Species with decreasing populations
• Species richness (number, number per unit area, number per habitat area
• Density of road network
• Recorded species present by group
• Species used by local residents
• Population growth and fluctuation trends of special interest species
• Threatened species in ex-situ collections
• Species group: total number versus threatened species
• Temporal change in number of species (increase/decrease)
• Species with stable or increasing populations
• Species threatened with extirpation
• Sex ratio, age distribution and other aspects of population structure for sensitive species, keystone species, and other special interest species
• Indigenous species present by group
• Change in number and/or distribution of keystone or indicator species
• Threatened species with viable ex-situ populations
• Change in habitat boundaries
• Number of introduced species and genomes
• Change in composition of species over time
• Non-indigenous species present by group
• Changes in average size of a particular habitat type
• Change in presence, location, area, numbers of invasive plant or animal species
• Quantity of specimens or species of economic/scientific interest removed from the environment
• Changes in limiting factors for key species e.g. nest holes for parrots, fruit bat roosting trees
• Slope failure (landslides)
• Diversity in total area of a particular habitat type
• Spatial differences in the number of rare vs. common species
• Changes in largest block of a particular habitat type
• Species risk index
• Species with small populations vs. larger population size
• Spatial differences in the restricted vs. wide range species
• Percentage of area dominated by non-domesticated species
• Representativeness of intra-specific variability of endangered and economically important species
• Volcanic unrest
• Presence of taxa on environmental integrity
• Karst activity
• Relative wilderness index
• Change in mean nearest distance between blocks of a particular habitat type
• Degree of connectivity of food web
• Change in average width of break in an identified habitat corridor
• Percentage of area dominated by non domesticated species occurring in patches greater than 1,000 km2
• Frozen ground activity

Indicators of forest biodiversity

• Total forest area
• Total forest area as a percentage of total land area
• Percentage forest cover by forest type (primary, secondary or plantation)
• List of flora and fauna
• Percentage protected area of total forest area
• Reforested and afforested areas
• Forest area change by forest type (primary, secondary or plantation)
• Number of extinct, endangered, threatened, vulnerable and endemic forest dependent species by group (e.g. birds, mammals, vertebrates, invertebrates)
• Number and size of forest fires
• Change in land use, conversion of forest land to other land uses (deforestation rate)
• Contribution of forest sector to GDP
• Area and percentage of forest area affected by anthropogenic effects (logging, harvesting for subsistence)
• Absolute and relative abundance, density, basal area, cover, of various species
• Percentage forest managed for wood production
• Existence of procedures for identifying endangered, rare, and threatened species
• Number of threatened, keystone, flagship species
• Existing strategies for in situ/ex situ conservation of genetic variation within commercial, endangered, rare and threatened species of forest flora and fauna.
• Percentage protected area with clearly defined boundaries
• Annual volume and area of timber harvested-indigenous and plantation
• Area and percentage of forest area affected by natural disasters (insect attack, disease, fire and flooding)
• Number and extent of invasive species
• Percentage forest protected areas (by forest type, age, class, and successional stage)
• Wood harvesting intensity
• Managed forest ratio
• Changes in the proportions of stands managed for conservation and utilization of genetic resources (gene reserves, seed collection stands, etc.)
• Per capita wood consumption
• Extent of mixed stands
• Estimate of carbon stored
• Percentage forest land managed for recreation and tourism to total forest area
• Number of forest dependent species whose populations are declining
• Fragmentation of forests
• Threatened tree species as a percentage of the 20 most used for commercial purposes
• Area and extent of degraded lands reclaimed through forest operations
• Area and percentage of forests managed for catchment protection
• Self-regenerating area as a percentage of total area
• Population levels of representative species from diverse habitats monitored across their range
• Self-regenerating area per habitat type
• Ratio between exotic species and native species in plantation area
• Forest conversion affecting rare ecosystems by area
• Area and length and numbers of biological corridors
• Relationship between forest cover and frequency of flooding

Indicators of agricultural biodiversity

• Use of agricultural pesticides
• Agricultural area by crops (cereal, oil crops, forage, woodlands)
• Change in area of agricultural land (conversion to or from agriculture)
• Agricultural area (intensively farmed, semi-intensively farmed and uncultivated)
• Species diversity used for food
• Intensification and extensification of agricultural land use
• Erosion/Loss of genetic diversity patrimony
• Replacement of landraces with few imported ones
• Crops/livestock grown as a percentage of number of 30 years before
• Replacement of indigenous crops
• Number of species threatened by agriculture by group (e.g. birds, mammals, vascular plants, vertebrates, invertebrates)
• Accession of crops and livestock in ex-situ storage (number or percentage)
• Number of vertebrate species using habitat on agricultural land by species.
• Accessions of crops generated in the past decade (per cent)
• Differences in species diversity and abundance of arthropods and earthworms in organically and conventionally cultivated arable land
• Coefficient of kinship or parentage of crops
• Rate of change from dominance of non-domesticated species to domesticated species
• Inbreeding/outbreeding rate
• Rate of genetic interchange between populations (measured by rate of dispersal and subsequent reproduction of migrants)

Indicators of inland waters biodiversity

• Surface water quality: Nitrogen, Dissolved oxygen, pH, pesticides, heavy metals, temperature
• Ground water quality: nitrates, salinity, toxicants
• Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) on water bodies (re: eutrophication)
• Fish family diversity
• Wetland area
• Groundwater level (water table level)
• Benthic macroinvertebrates: communities
• Stream flow
• Number of inland fish species introduced
• Number of endemic flora and fauna
• Number of extinct, endangered, threatened/endangered/vulnerable/ endemic inland water species by group (e.g. birds, aquatic mammals, invertebrates, amphibians, vascular plants, bottom fauna)
• Macrophytes: species composition and depth distribution
• Threatened freshwater fish species as a % total freshwater fish species known
• Changes in fish catches by species
• Indicator species
• Number of exotic flora and fauna species (e.g. fish, aquatic weeds)
• Changes in distribution and abundance of native flora and fauna
• Species richness (number per unit area, number per habitat)
• Stream sediment storage and load
• Extent of wetland drainage and filling
• Changes in vegetation type along water courses
• Water resource vulnerability index
• Ratio between maximum sustained yield and actual average abundance
• Glacier fluctuations

Indicators of marine and coastal biodiversity

• Change in proportion of fish catches by species per specific season
• Threatened fish species as a percentage of total fish species known
• Escherichia coli counts and nutrient levels as % of baseline levels
• Lake levels and salinity
• Shoreline position
• Percentage coastal zone with populations exceeding 100 inhabitants/km2
• Coral chemistry and growth pattern
• Annual rate of mangrove conversion
• Algae index
• Number of large scale bottom trawling vessels per 1 000 km of coastal area
• Surface displacement
• Frozen ground activity
• Amount of poison chemicals and dynamite used for reef fishing.