A biodiversity-crisis hierarchy to evaluate and refine conservation indicators

Area of Science:

• Conservation science
• Environmental policy
• Biodiversity studies

Background:

• The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and its Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 are central to global conservation efforts.
• Despite widespread adoption, the CBD's Aichi Targets are unlikely to be met, indicating inadequate progress in curbing biodiversity loss.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the scope of current biodiversity indicators in measuring the drivers of the biodiversity crisis.
• To identify major gaps in monitoring key factors contributing to biodiversity loss.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a biodiversity-crisis hierarchy as a conceptual model to link drivers of change to biodiversity loss.
• Assessed the extent to which current indicators monitor these drivers.

Main Results:

• Found that many critical drivers of biodiversity loss are poorly evaluated or lack indicators altogether.
• Identified significant monitoring gaps concerning governments, human population size, corruption, and threat-industries.

Conclusions:

• Current indicators inadequately address the multifaceted drivers of the biodiversity crisis.
• An expanded set of indicators, guided by the biodiversity-crisis hierarchy, is needed to monitor human behavior and institutions driving biodiversity loss and impede progress toward global targets.