Overview of assessment of change for all indicators

The table below summarises traffic light assessments over the longer term and since 2000, for the 24 indicators and their component measures.

Indicator number (Strategic Goal / number), title, and measures where applicable				Long-term change¹	Change since 2000²
A1. Awareness, understanding and support for conservation				Under development, no interim measure(s) available
A2. Taking action for nature: volunteer time spent in conservation
A3. Value of biodiversity integrated into decision making				Under development, no interim measure(s) available
A4. Global biodiversity impacts of UK economic activity / sustainable consumption				Under development, no interim measure(s) available

B1. Agricultural and forest area under environmental management schemes	B1a. Area of land in agri-environment schemes		B1a(i). Higher-level / targeted schemes	1992–2011
	B1a. Area of land in agri-environment schemes		B1a(ii). Entry-level type schemes		2005
	B1b. Area of forestry land certified as sustainably managed				2001
B2. Sustainable fisheries				1990–2010
B3. Integration of biodiversity considerations into business activity				Under development, no interim measure(s) available
B4. Pressure from climate change				Not assessed	Not assessed
B5. Pressure from pollution	B5a. Air pollution	B5a(i). Area affected by acidity		1996–2007
	B5a. Air pollution	B5a(ii). Area affected by nitrogen		1996–2007
	B5b. Marine pollution			1990–2010
B6. Pressure from invasive species	B6a. Freshwater invasive species			1960–2008
	B6b. Marine invasive species			1960–2008
	B6c. Terrestrial invasive species			1960–2008
B7. Water quality				1990–2009

C1. Protected sites	C1a. Total area of protected sites: on land			1980–2011
	C1b. Total area of protected sites: at sea			1980–2011
	C1c. Condition of A/SSSIs				2005-6
C2. Habitat connectivity	C2a. Broad-leaved, mixed and yew woodland				1998
C2. Habitat connectivity	C2b. Neutral grassland				1998
C3. Status of threatened habitats					1999
C4. Status of threatened species					1999
C5. Birds of the wider countryside and at sea	C5a. Farmland birds			1970–2010
	C5b. Woodland birds			1970–2010
	C5c. Wetland birds			1975–2010
	C5d. Seabirds			1970–2010
	C5e. Wintering water birds			1975/6–2009/10
C6. Insects of the wider countryside (butterflies)	C6a. Semi-natural habitat specialists			1976–2011
C6. Insects of the wider countryside (butterflies)	C6b. Species of the wider countryside			1976–2011
C7. Plants of the wider countryside	C7a. Change in plant species richness (arable and horticultural land)			1990–2007	1998
	C7b. Change in plant species richness (woodland and grassland)			1990–2007	1998
	C7c. Change in plant species richness (boundary habitats)			1990–2007	1998
C8. Mammals of the wider countryside (bats)				1978–1992
C9. Genetic resources for food and agriculture	C9a. Native sheep breeds				2001
C9. Genetic resources for food and agriculture	C9b. Native cattle breeds				2001

D1. Biodiversity and ecosystem services (marine – fish size classes in the North Sea)				1982–2010
D2. Biodiversity and ecosystem services (other)				Under development, no interim measure(s) available

E1. Biodiversity data for decision making				Under development, no interim measure(s) available
E2. Expenditure on UK and international biodiversity	E2a. Expenditure on UK biodiversity
E2. Expenditure on UK and international biodiversity	E2b. UK Expenditure on international biodiversity

¹ The earliest available year is used as the baseline for assessment of long-term change. The base year used for each measure is shown in the table. Where data are unavailable, or do not precede 1996, a long-term assessment is not given.

² If no data are available in 2000, the nearest alternative year has been used and is stated next to the trafic light.

Improving

Little or no overall change

Deteriorating

Insufficient or no comparable data

The individual assessments for each measure can be combined to produce an overall assessment. This provides a summary of progress without the need to combine the indicators themselves.

The pie charts below display the numbers of measures that have shown an improvement (green traffic light), a deterioration (red traffic light), little or no overall change (amber traffic light) or that have insufficient data for an assessment to be made (white traffic light). Assessments of change over the longer term and since 2000 are shown.

The UK Government is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and is committed to the new biodiversity goals and targets agreed in 2010 and set out in the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020.³ The Strategic Plan has five goals, each with a number of targets (the focus of each goal is shown by the words in bold type below):

A. Address the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society
B. Reduce the direct pressures on biodiversity and promote sustainable use
C. To improve the status of biodiversity by safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity
D. Enhance the benefits to all from biodiversity and ecosystems
E. Enhance implementation through planning, knowledge management and capacity building

As well as overall summaries based on all measures in the indicators, 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). A number of indicators are under development for Strategic Goals A, D, and E, so they currently have very few measures – separate pie charts are therefore not shown.

Assessment of change: all measures

Assessment of change:all measures

Of the 35 measures used to compile the ‘all measures’ summary chart, 17 (49 per cent) show an improvement since 2000, compared with 11 measures (31 per cent) showing improvement over the longer term. Those showing improvement since 2000 include conservation volunteering, the extent of protected sites both on land and at sea, the percentage of woodland certified as sustainably managed, sustainable fisheries, water quality, and expenditure on both UK and international biodiversity.

Measures showing long-term deterioration include populations of farmland birds and woodland birds, populations of butterflies which are strongly associated with semi-natural habitats, bat populations and plant diversity (in woodland and grassland, and in boundary habitats). Some of these measures have continued to deteriorate in the short term (e.g. farmland birds and the plant diversity of boundary habitats). Bat populations have shown improvement since 2000, whilst butterflies have shown little or no overall change for both semi-natural habitat specialists and butterflies of the wider countryside.

Assessment of change: Strategic Goals

The indicators under Strategic Goal B (indicators prefixed 'B' in the summary table) show progress is being made to address the pressures on biodiversity (e.g. in the proportion of fisheries that are sustainable, in the area of land in agri-environment schemes, and in the area of woodland certified as sustainably managed). There is both long- and short-term deterioration for marine and terrestrial invasive species, reflecting a pattern of continuing or growing threat to biodiversity in the UK.

There were long-term declines for six measures (30 per cent) under Strategic Goal C (indicator number prefixed 'C' in the summary table, covering status of biodiversity), reflecting the declines in plant, bird, butterfly and bat populations seen in the 1970s and 1980s. Since 2000, these long-term declines have generally slowed, with some measures previously assessed as deteriorating showing either improvement (e.g. bats) or little or no overall change (e.g. butterflies, woodland birds, wetland birds, and seabirds) since 2000. These conclusions should be viewed with some caution as changes are more difficult to assess over the short term. One measure within Strategic Goal C, wintering water birds, shows a long-term improvement, but deterioration since 2000.

³ The targets are known as 'Aichi Targets', after the province in Japan where they were agreed.