Science Letters - Prioritize Wild Species Abundance Indicators

A letter written by academic researchers from Denmark, Uganda, UK, Austria and China was published in Science on Thursday 11th May.

This letter argues that to meet the objectives of the new CBD Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), a species abundance indicator needs to be added to the list of headline indicators.  The current metrics do not adequately align with the GBF’s Goal A, one of the four overarching GBF goals, which states that “the abundance of native wild species [should be] increased to healthy and resilient levels.”  The emphasis on the abundance of wild species is appropriate as it constitutes a fundamental aspect of biodiversity.  However, a corresponding abundance metric is not among the 25 “headline indicators,” on which the parties are required to report.  These are intended to capture the overall scope of and progress toward the goals and targets of GBF, at both global and national levels.  To meet the GBF’s objectives, we argue that abundance should be added to the list of headline indicators – and point to the LPD/LPI!

 Reference: Geldmann J, Byaruhanga AB, Gregory RD, Visconti P & Xu H. (2023). Prioritize wild species abundance indicators. Science 380: 591-592 (6645) https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh4409.