Overview of assessment of change for all indicators
Updated 14 November 2023
The table below (table 1) summarises assessment results for 24 indicators and their component measures, with updates for 18 indicators.
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
Overview of assessment of change for all indicators.
Notes for Overview of assessment of change for all indicators:
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.
Alignment with the Convention on Biological Diversity
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.
The UK Biodiversity Indicators are aligned to these goals and the 'Aichi Targets'. However, these have recently been replaced by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), which was agreed by the 15th Conference of the parties (CoP15) in Montreal in December 2022. Work is currently underway to better align the UK Biodiversity Indicators with the new goals and targets in the KMGBF. Results of this realignment are expected to be finalised in 2024.
The individual assessments for each measure can be combined to produce an overall picture of progress made. The charts 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 for 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 are not assessed in the short term, as the measures are either under development, or analytical methods for short-term assessment need to be refined. In this 2023 publication, 18 indicators have been updated.
Twenty-two of the 42 measures assessed over the long term show an improvement, compared to 13 of the 39 measures that are assessed over the short term. Fourteen measures show a decline in the long term, and 14 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 13 measures showing an improvement in the short term are:
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)
C9b. Plant genetic resources
D1b. Greenhouse gas removals by forests
E1a. Cumulative number of records in the NBN
E2. Expenditure on UK and international biodiversity (three measures)
The 22 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 (three measures)
C1. Protected sites (three measures)
C5e. Wintering water birds
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)
E2. Expenditure on UK and international biodiversity (three measures)
The 14 measures showing a decline in the short term are:
A2. Taking action for nature: volunteer time spent in conservation
C3. Status of threatened habitats and species (two measures)
C5. Birds of the wider countryside and at sea (four measures)
C9a. Animal genetic resources (five measures)
D1a. Fish size classes in the North Sea
E1b. Proportion of records publicly available at 1 km2 or better resolution
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)
C6. 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
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, three 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.
Assessments by type of indicator
The indicators are all categorised as showing Pressure, State, Response or Benefits. Some of the indicators can fit into more than one category – for example, C9a (Animal Genetic Resources) measures both the state of the native breeds at risk, and are measures of benefits received by humankind. The figure below shows the relationships between the categories, how they map onto the goals in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, and the sorts of policy questions that the different parts of the framework address.
Figure 4. Pressure-state-response diagram.
Long term assessments by type of indicators
Figure 5. Long-term assessment of change for measures by indicator type.
The majority of the measures relate to the 'state' category. There are approximately equal numbers showing improvement and deterioration across the categories in the long term, with the exception of the response category, where there are no measures showing deterioration.
Short term assessments by type of indicator
Figure 6. Short-term assessment of change for measures by indicator type.
In contrast to the long-term picture, the short-term overview is that for state indicators, there are more deteriorating than improving, and there are more across the board that show little or no overall change. This may be in part due to the choice of a five year interval for the short-term trend.
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