| Operational Indicator |
Population trends of habitat dependent species in each major habitat type |
| Communication Question |
Pressures and underlying causes - Why are we losing biodiversity? |
| Strategic Goal |
B |
| Headline Indicator |
Trends in pressures from direct and underlying drivers |
| Indicator Sub-topics |
Trends in degradation of natural habitats |
| Most Relevant Aichi Target |
5 |
| Other Relevant Aichi Targets |
6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15 |
| Operational Classification |
Priority and ready for use globally |
| Status of development |
Available globally for vertebrates in each major habitat type (Living Planet Index) and regionally for habitat-specialist birds in each major habitat type (Wild Bird Index) and for butterflies in European grasslands. Under development for habitat-specilaist birds in other regions. Available at national or subnational scale in some cases. Generally derived from data for better studied species (eg LPI), but in some cases based on systematic surveys at randomised sites for all species in particular taxonomic groups (eg Wild Bird Index). Habitat degradation is difficult to assess using remote sensing for many habitats. Trends in the status of populations and species that are characteristic of, dependent on, or specialists in, each habitat can be usefully used to assess degree of degradation. The latter can be measured in terms of trends in the extinction risk of sets of species using the Red List Index, providing a useful complement to the fomer for which population trends can be measured using the Living Planet Index, Wild Bird Index and similar indicators. Extinction risk indicators and population trend indicators are complementary because they measure different levels of biodiversity (species vs populations), have different levels of sensitivity (high for populaiotn trends, moderate for extinction risk) and different levels of geographic & species coverage (comprehensive for extinction risk for a number of taxonomic groups; much lower for population trends, which are based on better studied species). |
| Sensitivity (can it be used to make assessment by 2015?) |
High |
| Scale (global, regional, national, sub-national) |
G, R, N, S |
| Scientific Validity |
High |
| How easy can it be communicated? |
High |
| Data Sources |
Living Planet Index database, Wild Bird Index databases etc |
| Data Requirements |
Time series of population trends linked to habitat types |
| Who's responsible for measuring? |
ZSL/WWF; BirdLife/EBCC/USNABCI |
| Other conventions/processes using indicator |
SEBI |
| Related Links |
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