National statistics

Defra and JNCC review of the Biodiversity Indicators

Updated 14 November 2023

The Biodiversity Indicators are published jointly by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and were first published in 2007. Since then, they have been continually updated and adapted to best meet the needs of evolving biodiversity policies and strategies, and to maximise the value of new data sources and methods as they become available.

The indicators were last reviewed in 2012, and since then much has changed, such as the passing of the Environment Act 2021 which includes a new species abundance target. As we move towards the vitally important Convention of Biological Diversity (CBDCOP15), we are conducting a thorough review of our suite of biodiversity indicators. This will ensure that the best possible data are available, helping to inform the best possible decisions on biodiversity policy into the future.

This 2022 review began with early contact with data providers and key users to highlight the need for the review, and to understand the impacts of the review on publishing the biodiversity indicators in 2022. Provider and user needs were considered, and it was decided to produce a reduced set of indicators in 2022 in order to deliver a comprehensive review.

The review will report in two parts, in December 2022 we will necessarily report on work in progress for the work packages concerning UK and England strategies / targets as they continue to emerge, whilst other work packages can report in full. The aforementioned work packages will be further reported on in spring 2023.

The work packages are as follows:

1. Ensuring fit with post 2020 CBDCOP15 targets and England biodiversity strategy – at both the UK and England levels the review project team will liaise with Policy colleagues through regular meetings, to iteratively identify emerging indicator needs; to identify which current indicators will continue; which will continue but in a modified form; which might no longer be needed; and where there are gaps, which will need to be filled. We will not be developing new indicators during the period of the review.

2. UK indicators consistency – mapping of the UK indicators to existing country indicators (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) highlighting where gaps exist within individual countries datasets. This work package has a particular focus on marine indicators given the current bias towards terrestrial data.

3. Data provider consultation – an in depth consultation exercise with data providers to gather feedback on the publication process, the quality of the data, alternative sources of data, future collaboration and any impacts of producing a reduced biodiversity indicators publication in 2022.

4. User feedback and engagement – this component of the review has two aspects: a consultation with known users; and consideration of current user engagement practices. We have launched a detailed survey of users, gathering views on a range of issues. The results of this survey will in part feed into a strategic long-term strategy for ongoing user engagement. This will allow us to incorporate feedback from our users into the development of the indicators over coming years and formalise a user engagement strategy to ensure maximum public value from the indicator suite.

5. Individual indicator review – an in-depth review of each indicator by the Biodiversity Indicators production team, including their continued fit to the Code of Practice for Statistics, availability of alternative indicators elsewhere, meeting wider user needs, including in terms of dissemination and accessibility. This will ensure that the indicators we present have public value, are high quality, are trustworthy and are presented in the clearest possible way.

6. Experimental & Official statistics strategy – within the biodiversity indicator suites there is not a clear strategy for deciding whether a statistic is Official or for changing statistics status to Official from Experimental. This component of the review is to establish such a strategy, by implementing all applicable regulatory guidance into the publication of our statistics. This will allow users to be confident that they are using high quality statistics.

7. Presentation and accessibility – review of the presentation of the indicators to increase consistency across the suite, and to ensure that they meet current accessibility guidance.