Identification, Monitoring, Indicators and Assessments

Identification, Monitoring, Indicators and Assessments

What's New

6 October 2023
Global biodiversity experts gather in Montreal for the conference "Monitoring Biodiversity for Action". More »
4 October 2021
Launch of UN Biodiversity Lab 2.0: Spatial data and the future of our planet. More »
8 May 2019
Statement by Ms. Cristiana Paşca Palmer, Executive Secretary, Convention on Biological Diversity, at the closing of the Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, 4 May 2019. More »

Notifications

15 February 2024 (2024-016)
Regional Dialogues on National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans for African Countries, 30 May to 2 June 2024, Nairobi, Kenya. More »
8 February 2024 (2024-013)
Invitation to participate in a survey on capacity needs of Parties with respect to the headline indicators of the monitoring framework for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. More »
25 January 2024 (2024-009)
Sub-regional Dialogue on National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans, and Workshop on Target 3 of the GBF for the Caribbean Countries, 15-19 April 2024 - Georgetown, Guyana. More »

Upcoming Meetings

18–21 March 2024, Nadi, Fiji
Subregional Dialogue on National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans for the Pacific Countries. More »
15–17 April 2024, Georgetown, Guyana
Subregional dialogue on national biodiversity strategies and action plans for Caribbean countries. More »
11 May 2024, Nairobi, Kenya
Information workshop on the work of the ad hoc technical expert groups on indicators, synthetic biology and risk assessment. More »

Our knowledge of biodiversity is still limited. Only one out of five to ten of all species is known to science. And even among the most well-known taxonomic groups - mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and vascular plants - we do not know the population size, distribution or threat status for many. We still have many questions about the inherent dynamics of ecosystems and their functioning and cannot predict when gradual impact on an ecosystem reaches a threshold at which the state of the ecosystem changes dramatically and irreversibly.
To address these questions the Convention calls upon countries to identify components of biological diversity important for its conservation and sustainable use. It also indicates which components countries might need to focus on when designing biodiversity monitoring programmes:
  • Ecosystems and habitats containing high diversity, large numbers of endemic or threatened species, or wilderness; required by migratory species; of social, economic, cultural or scientific importance; or, which are representative, unique or associated with key evolutionary or other biological processes;
  • Species and communities which are threatened; wild relatives of domesticated or cultivated species; of medicinal, agricultural or other economic value; or social, scientific or cultural importance; or importance for research into the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, such as indicator species; and
  • Described genomes and genes of social, scientific or economic importance.
Moreover, the Convention encourages countries to maintain and organize biodiversity information to facilitate future analyses and assessments. More »