For the first time ever, the new State of Nature Indicators and Metrics have established a globally aligned minimum set of measurements for assessing changes in the state of nature.
Developed through a two-year, international consensus-building process involving more than 500 experts and practitioners from business, finance, science, civil society and governments, The State of Nature Indicators and Metrics responds to one of the most significant barriers to action on biodiversity: the absence of a common approach for measuring nature protection efficiency.
Marco Lambertini, Convener at Nature Positive Initiative said: “Nature underpins our economies, our health, our food and water systems, a stable climate and the resilience of businesses and communities worldwide.
“Yet until now there has been no clear consensus on how to measure whether efforts are leading to nature’s recovery.
“The State of Nature Indicators and Metrics plug a critical gap. They provide a practical, science-based, decision-useful and universally applicable way for businesses, financial institutions and other actors to understand their nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and opportunities and, most importantly, to assess whether their actions are helping to put nature on a path to recovery while building their own resilience.”
Following extensive technical review of more than 600 existing state of nature metrics and indices, the scheme will focus on four key questions.
These are ‘Ecosystem Extent’ (Are ecosystems expanding or declining?), ‘Ecosystem Condition’ (Is ecosystem condition improving or declining?), ‘Species Extinction Risk’ (How important is the area to overall species extinction risk?) and ‘Species Populations’ (How healthy are the species populations present?).
Organisations that promote standards and guidance are being encouraged to adopt and embed these metrics where appropriate.
