Overview of assessment of change for all indicators
Updated 14 December 2022
The table below (Table 1) summarises traffic light assessments for 24 indicators and their component measures, with updates for:
- A4. Global biodiversity impacts
- B5a. Air pollution
- C1. Protected areas
- C6. Butterflies
- D1c. Pollinating insects
- E2. Biodiversity expenditure
In addition, Indicator C4a (Status of priority species: relative abundance) will be updated in early 2023 as soon as the data become available. We do not anticipate that this will lead to missing data for the indicators which are not updated this year; data which would have been published in 2022 will be available in 2023.
For each indicator, its number, title, and measures (where applicable) are shown. Indicators are numbered according to the Strategic Goal with which they most closely link.
The indicators
 Improving |
 Deteriorating |
 Little or no overall change |
 Insufficient or no comparable data |
Overview of assessment of change for all indicators.
Table 1. Assessment of change for all indicators.
Download an accessible version of the following table.
The UK Government is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and is committed to the biodiversity goals and targets agreed in 2010 and set out in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020.
The targets are known as 'Aichi Targets', after the province in Japan where they were agreed. The Strategic Plan has five goals (A to E), each with a number of targets (the focus of each goal is shown by the words in bold type below):
- Address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society.
- Reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use.
- Improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity.
- Enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystems.
- Enhance implementation through planning, knowledge management and capacity building.
A new set of global biodiversity targets is being negotiated under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) – it is anticipated that these will be agreed in December 2022.
The individual assessments for each measure can be combined to produce an overall picture of progress made. The charts (figures 1 to 3) below display the numbers of measures that have shown an improvement, deterioration, little or no overall change, or that have insufficient/no comparable data for an assessment to be made.
As well as an overall summary, based on all measures in the indicator set, separate summaries for Strategic Goals B and C are shown, which are based on the indicators and measures linked to those goals (B1 to B7; C1 to C9). Strategic Goals A, D and E currently have fewer measures; separate charts are therefore not shown.
Assessment of change: all measures.
Figure 1. Assessment of change: all measures
The UK biodiversity indicators set comprises 24 indicators and 52 measures. Of these, ten measures are not assessed in the long-term, and 13 in the short term, as the measures are either under development, or analytical methods for short-term assessment need to be refined. In this 2022 publication, six indicators have been updated.
Twenty-one of the 42 measures assessed over the long term show an improvement, compared to 14 of the 39 measures that are assessed over the short term. Fourteen measures show a decline in the long term, and 13 a decline in the short term. Measures that improved or deteriorated in the long term have not necessarily continued to improve or deteriorate respectively in the short term.
The 14 measures showing an improvement in the short term are:
A2. Taking action for nature: volunteer time spent in conservation
B1a. Area of land in agri-environment schemes
B2a. Proportion of fish stocks harvested sustainably
B5. Pressure from pollution (three measures)
C1b. Total area of protected sites: at sea
C8. Mammals of the wider countryside (Bats)
C9a. Animal genetic resources (two measures)
C9b. Plant genetic resources
D1b. Greenhouse gas removals by forests
E1. Biodiversity data for decision making (two measures)
The 21 measures which have improved in the long term are:
A2. Taking action for nature: volunteer time spent in conservation
B1a. Area of land in agri-environment schemes
B1b. Area of forestry land certified as sustainably managed
B2. Sustainable fisheries (two measures)
B5. Pressure from pollution (marine)
C1. Protected areas (three measures)
C5e. Wintering water birds
C8. Mammals of the wider countryside (Bats)
C9a. Animal genetic resources (three measures)
C9b. Plant genetic resources
D1b. Greenhouse gas removals by UK forests
E1. Biodiversity data for decision making (two measures)
E2. Expenditure on biodiversity (three measures)
The 13 measures showing a decline in the short term are:
B2b. Biomass of stocks at full reproductive capacity
C1c. Condition of A/SSSIs
C3. Status of threatened habitats and species (two measures)
C5. Birds of the wider countryside and at sea (two measures)
C9a. Animal genetic resources (two measures)
D1a. Fish size classes in the North Sea
D1c. Pollinators
E2a. Expenditure on biodiversity (three measures)
The 14 measures showing long-term deterioration are:
B6. Pressure from invasive species (three measures)
C3. Status of threatened habitats and species (two measures)
C4a. Status of UK Priority species (relative abundance)
C5. Birds of the wider countryside and at sea (three measures)
C6a. Insects in the wider countryside (butterflies) (Semi-natural habitat specialists)
C9a. Animal genetic resources (two measures)
D1a. Fish size classes in the North Sea
D1c. Pollinators
Key changes to the indicator set since the previous publication are:
i. Update of the experimental indicator on Global biodiversity impacts of UK economic activity / sustainable consumption (A4) to increase the number of countries covered and the sectors analysed.
ii. Methodological change in how the air pollution indicator is calculated, meaning that the length of the time series is reduced. (B5a).
iii. Extension of the NGO spending on biodiversity measure (E2b) so that a long term assessment is possible as there are ten years of data.
Assessment of change: Strategic Goals B and C.
Goal B: Reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use.
Figure 2. Assessment of change for measures under Goal B.
The indicators under Strategic Goal B (seven indicators and 13 measures prefixed 'B' in the summary table) show long-term progress is being made to address the pressures on biodiversity (e.g. in the proportion of fish stocks harvested sustainably, in the area of land in agri-environment schemes, and in marine pollution). However, there has been a long-term increase in the prevalence of invasive species, reflecting a pattern of continuing or growing threat to biodiversity in the UK. In the short term there is little or no overall change in the area of forestry land certified as sustainably managed, and in surface water status
Goal C: Improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity.
Figure 3. Assessment of change for measures under Goal C.
There were long-term declines for nine measures under Strategic Goal C (nine indicators and 26 measures prefixed 'C' in the summary table, covering status of biodiversity), reflecting the declines in many species populations seen in the 1970s and 1980s. There is some evidence that some of the previous declines have slowed, with some measures assessed as deteriorating in the long term showing little or no overall change in the short term (e.g. semi-natural habitat specialist butterflies and the abundance of priority species). In total, five measures have shown improvement over the short term, including extent of protected areas at sea, and bats. These conclusions should be viewed with some caution as changes are more difficult to assess reliably over the short term.
1 Long term – an assessment of change since the earliest date for which data are available, although if the data run is for less than ten years a long-term assessment is not made.
2 Short term – an assessment of change over the latest five years. For a very few indicators the short-term change is over a longer time-period as a result of the frequency of update of the data upon which the indicators are based. Indicators C3a and C3b have a six year short-term assessment.
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