Biodiversity can now be monitored globally

17-01-2013  A group of scientists has put forth a proposal for monitoring global changes in biodiversity. This proposal will be published in the scientific journal Science today. It will be presented at a conference in Bonn at the end of January. Rob Jongman from Alterra Wageningen UR and Carlo Heip from the Royal Dutch Institute for Sea Research have contributed to this proposal.

There is currently no global measuring system for related observations to monitor changes in biodiversity. Scientists often use their own measuring methods and in many areas biodiversity is not monitored at all. An international team of 30 scientists is now pleading for a single monitoring system that can be put to use worldwide. These scientists are all members of the Group on Earth Observations - Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON). They have drawn up a list of 50 essential monitoring variables that are required for revealing possible changes in biodiversity.

This list of variables can serve as a guideline for gearing existing monitoring programmes to one another and for launching new research programmes. Examples of monitoring variables include numbers of endangered species, genetic variation within species and nutrients within an ecosystem. Adequate spatial coverage requires that field observations are supplemented with information from satellite images.

It is necessary to monitor changes in biodiversity worldwide to meet the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 2020, which includes reducing by at least a half (and preferably by 100 per cent) the speed with which the natural environment is currently deteriorating. If biodiversity cannot be adequately monitored, changes in biodiversity cannot be documented either.

The proposal will be presented during the first meeting of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), held from 21 to 26 January. Henrique M. Pereira, the leader of the research group, emphasises the importance of this: 'The most important deficiencies in the current monitoring activities are formed by data from developing countries, regions with most pressure on the environment. A large part of this is caused by Western countries, which is why it is crucial that this responsibility is shared internationally by launching a global system.’

Photograph: Egmont National Park in New Zealand: the protected forest (dark green) at the foot of the Taranaki volcano is surrounded by meadows (light green) in a deforested area.
Source: NASA-Aster Science Team.

The full Science article can be downloaded.

http://www.earthobservations.org/geobon.shtml