The biodiversity intactness index may underestimate losses.
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Publication Date
2019-06Journal Title
Nature ecology & evolution
ISSN
2397-334X
Volume
3
Issue
6
Pages
862-863
Language
eng
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Physical Medium
Print
Metadata
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Martin, P., Green, R., & Balmford, A. (2019). The biodiversity intactness index may underestimate losses.. Nature ecology & evolution, 3 (6), 862-863. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0895-1
Abstract
The Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) is a high-profile metric of an area’s average abundance of wild species relative to that in pre-modern times1 or in primary vegetation under current climatic conditions2. It has been endorsed by the Group on Earth Observations of the Biodiversity Observation Network, adopted by the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services as a "core" indicator of progress towards the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi targets 12 and 14, and accepted by the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership as an indicator for Aichi target 5. We strongly support development of spatially-explicit indicators such as the BII, which can be used to prioritise areas for conservation interventions. However, it is important that the metric is as robust as possible, and we have noticed several unusual features of the BII that concern us.
Keywords
Conservation of Natural Resources, Biodiversity
Sponsorship
MAVA Fondation pour la Nature (14077)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0895-1
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/291820
Rights
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