1. Introduction to the England Biodiversity Indicators
Updated 10 December 2024
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2024
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/england-biodiversity-indicators/introduction-to-the-england-biodiversity-indicators
Data last updated: December 2024
1. Contact details
Responsible Statistician: Clare Betts
Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at:
enviro.statistics@defra.gov.uk
or by post to:
Environmental Statistics and Reporting team
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Mallard House
Kings Pool, 1-2 Peasholme Green
York
YO1 7PX
2. Introduction
Biodiversity is the variety of all life on Earth. It includes all species of animals and plants, and the natural systems that support them. Biodiversity matters because it supports the vital benefits we get from the natural environment. It contributes to our economy, our health and wellbeing, and it enriches our lives.
In 2021 the Environment Act was passed into law, this required Defra to set a suite of legally-binding targets, and in 2023 the Environment Improvement Plan (EIP) was published. During 2022 and 2023 the UK and England Biodiversity Indicators were assessed alongside the EIP, and the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework targets. Consequently, many of the indicators in both suites contain development plans which detail our plans to adapt the indicators to better align with domestic and international commitments. This includes developing many new indicators from first principles.
The Biodiversity Indicators are dependent on a wide variety of data, provided by government, research bodies, and the voluntary sector. As Official Statistics, the presentation and assessment of the indicators has been verified by the data providers, and the production and editing of the indicators has been overseen by government statisticians in Defra.
The England and UK Biodiversity Indicators are accredited official statistics compendiums, otherwise known as National Statistics. These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in February 2012. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.
Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.
See Official statistics for further details.
3. Global Biodiversity Framework - Convention on Biological Diversity
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) 15th Conference of the parties (CoP15) took place in Montreal in December 2022, where the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) was agreed. This consists of a set of global goals and targets, indicators to measure progress against these, and a monitoring framework. The key elements of this are 4 goals to be achieved by 2050 and 23 targets to be achieved by 2030. All Parties to the CBD will be expected to report on their progress towards these goals and targets in the 2026 and 2029 national reports.
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) have worked alongside Defra and the devolved governments and Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies to review the GBF goals, targets and headline indicators against the current suite of UK Biodiversity Indicators, England Biodiversity Indicators, and other indicators to propose a new set of UKBIs to report progress towards the GBF goals and targets. The revised set of UKBIs will be based on the recommendations from the review and the latest guidance published on indicator methodologies for GBF reporting, with advice on indicator development also provided by the Biodiversity Indicators Steering Group.
4. Environment Improvement Plan
The England Biodiversity Indicators (EBI) were designed to assess progress with delivery of Biodiversity 2020: A strategy for England’s wildlife and ecosystem services.
The development of Environment Act targets and indicators began in 2021 and were laid in parliament in December 2022. The Environmental Improvement Plan, which lays out the governments plan for improving the state of the environment, was published in January 2023. The England Biodiversity Indicators are currently being adapted to better align with the EIP. Some of the England Biodiversity indicators feed into the Outcome Indicator Framework, a set of indicators describing environmental change related to the ten goals within the 25 year Environment Plan. As part of the Outcome Indicator Framework, this data contributes towards the evidence base used to prepare the annual progress report for the Environmental Improvement Plan.