Updated 14 December 2022 (revised 25 May 2023)
A reduced set of indicators was updated in 2022 and published on 14 December 2022, with a further update of an additional indicator (C4a) on 25 May 2023.
The following UK and their associated England indicators were published, chosen based on data availability, user needs and timeliness:
- A4. Global biodiversity impacts
- B5a. Air pollution
- C1. Protected areas
- C6. Butterflies
- D1c. Pollinating insects
- E2. Biodiversity expenditure
- C4a. Status of priority species: relative abundance – published on 25 May 2023.
We do not anticipate that publication of a reduced set of indicators will lead to missing data for the indicators which are not updated this year; data which would have been published this year will be available in 2023.
The UK indicators are being comprehensively reviewed during 2022/23 to ensure that that best possible data are available, and in response to the development of the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed through CoP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in December 2022.
The review is due to be published in late spring/early summer 2023. For more information on the review, visit the gov.uk website.
The next full update of the UK Biodiversity Indicators is planned to take place in late 2023.
The UK is fortunate in having lots of information about its biodiversity, collected across a broad spread of species and habitats both by professionals and by expert volunteers. This information provides an essential source of evidence for reporting biodiversity change and the impact of policies and actions to conserve biodiversity.
Full updates for each individual indicator are available online – this includes charts, assessments and access to background information and resources, including data and technical background documents. A summary booklet is also available for download.
Biodiversity policy is a devolved responsibility in the UK; England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have each developed, or are developing, their own biodiversity or environment strategies. Indicators are being developed to track progress with the respective commitments in each country. The UK indicators have a specific purpose for international reporting and were selected following consultation and agreement between the administrations. The indicators provide a flexible framework and a common set of methodologies which in some cases can also be used for country reporting. The indicators may be subject to further review as necessary.
The UK indicators were comprehensively reviewed during 2011 and 2012 to ensure they continued to be based on the most robust and reliable data available; and remained relevant to the new international goals and targets.
Since then, the indicators have been refined to improve their relevance/quality, and new indicators developed to fill gaps. In this version of the publication, as many as possible of the indicators have been updated with new data. In some cases, however, development work is ongoing, and where this is the case, the work to develop them has been described briefly. Two of the indicators previously earmarked for development (A3 and B3) will no longer be taken forward because it has not been possible to develop suitable measures.
A further review of the indicators is being undertaken in 2022/23 to take account of the new post-2020 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed through COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. For more information on the review, visit the gov.uk website.
The UK Biodiversity Indicators are dependent on a wide variety of data, provided by government, research bodies, and the voluntary sector – in total nearly 100 organisations are involved. The presentation and assessment of the indicators has been verified by the data providers, and the production and editing of the indicators has been overseen by government statisticians.
There are two processes for sign-off of the UK biodiversity indicators:
- Options for new UK biodiversity indicators may be developed through a number of routes, for example, under contract to Defra or JNCC, or by JNCC working with the statutory agencies and public bodies and/or relevant NGOs. The UK Biodiversity Indicators Steering Group (BISG) is responsible for agreeing that any such option is appropriate to the subject of a biodiversity indicator, and that the presentation is fit-for-purpose (a change to the subject area has to be signed off by the four countries in the UK). Once an indicator has been agreed through BISG, it is the responsibility of the Indicator Project Group (Defra and JNCC) to implement it. The Project Group will make decisions as necessary about detailed presentation or technical issues without referring back to the Steering Group. However, if as a result of changes in the context in which the indicators are presented a new measure or indicator seems to be warranted, the Project Group will bring that back to the Steering Group for further discussion and/or a final decision.
- Once agreed through the Steering Group, both new and existing indicators and measures will be incorporated into the annual update process for the biodiversity indicators (noting that some measures can only be updated at less regular intervals). This process is managed to comply with the provisions of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007; essentially this means ensuring that only those who need to be involved see the details of the data before the indicators are published. The work proceeds through a series of steps:
- for each of the indicators, one of the Project Group members takes a lead role;
- once data have been sourced, the lead prepares the graphical presentation and assessment, and updates the rest of the fiche as necessary;
- their work is then checked by another member of the project group;
- where appropriate, the revised fiche is sent back to the data providers for quality assurance, to ensure that the data have been correctly presented and objectively interpreted, and that appropriate examples have been incorporated within the fiche text;
- further edits are then made by JNCC and Defra as necessary in order to incorporate feedback from the quality assurance process; and
- a finalised fiche is published on the JNCC website, with links from GOV.UK.
View links to the full detail of each of the previous editions.
This is a Defra National Statistics compendium (see Annex for further details and enquiries about indicators or this publication).
Published: .
Pages in UK Biodiversity Indicators 2022
A
- A1. Awareness, understanding and support for conservation
- A2. Taking action for nature: volunteer time spent in conservation
- A3. Value of biodiversity integrated into decision making
- A4. Global biodiversity impacts of UK economic activity / sustainable consumption
- A5. Integration of biodiversity considerations into business activity
B
- B1a. Area of land in agri-environment schemes
- B1b. Area of forestry land certified as sustainably managed
- B2. Sustainable fisheries
- B3. Climate change adaptation
- B4. Pressure from climate change (Spring Index)
- B5a. Air pollution
- B5b. Marine pollution
- B6. Pressure from invasive species
- B7. Surface water status
C
- C1. Protected areas
- C2. Habitat Connectivity
- C3a. Status of UK habitats of European importance
- C3b. Status of UK species of European importance
- C4a. Status of UK priority species – Relative abundance
- C4b. Status of UK priority species – Distribution
- C5. Birds of the wider countryside and at sea
- C6. Insects of the wider countryside (butterflies)
- C7. Plants of the wider countryside
- C8. Mammals of the wider countryside (bats)
- C9a. Animal genetic resources – effective population size of Native Breeds at Risk
- C9b. Plant genetic resources – Enrichment Index