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The pan-European initiative, SEBI 2010 (Streamlining European 2010 Biodiversity Indicators), was launched in 2004 to develop a European set of biodiversity indicators for assessing and informing about progress in halting biodiversity loss. The Agency has worked on developing this set since 2005, in collaboration with countries, international organisations, non-governmental organisations, the European Commission and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). What is now ready is a detailed description of each of the indicators, complete with methodological data, i.e. how to calculate and use them.
Some of the indicators such as the abundance and distribution of selected species directly track the impact on a part of Europe's biodiversity. Others reflect threats to biodiversity such as the presence of invasive alien species. Some, like the status of commercial fish stocks look at sustainable use of biodiversity resources and some, like fragmentation of natural and semi-natural areas, address the issue of ecosystem integrity. Taken as a whole, the set can help policy-makers assess the impact that various economic sectors and sectoral policies have on Europe’s biodiversity.
One challenge when developing the set of indicators has been to find indicators with good geographical coverage, that is to say indicators which can be calculated for many pan-European countries. Other challenges have been to boil the set down to a manageable number of indicators, and to choose the ones that are most helpful to reach policy objectives.
As the availability of data from public bodies varies, use has been made of data from non-governmental environmental organisations (NGOs). Monitoring, conservation and assessment of biodiversity depend to a much greater degree on NGO activities than what other environmental issues do. Funding for biodiversity monitoring also lags behind national investments in other environmental issues, like air and water quality, and air emissions. The Agency hopes that the existence of the set of biodiversity indicators and the recognition in the Biodiversity Declaration will motivate countries to improve their data collection.
Fifteen years after the adoption of the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992, the recognition of biodiversity loss has gained in political profile both at global, national and regional levels. This has resulted in commitments for action by heads of states, initiated in 2001 in the European Union. While at global level, the target is 'to achieve a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss', the one set at EU and pan-European level is even more ambitious, namely to 'halt the loss of biodiversity' by 2010.
The SEBI 2010 activities are relevant in several policy contexts:
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/new-toolkit-for-biodiversity-conservation-sebi-2010-set-of-indicators-launched or scan the QR code.
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