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Environmental Indicators and Biodiversity Conservation Strategies

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Perspectives for Biodiversity and Ecosystems

Part of the book series: Environmental Challenges and Solutions ((ECAS))

Abstract

Humans have always observed their natural surroundings and used signals from the environment—environmental indicators—for survival and wellbeing. This publication provides an overview of the current discussion on environmental indicators, and the way it intersects with biodiversity policy and management at different spatial scales. It considers questions such as what is the meaning of environmental indicators related to biodiversity and ecosystems? How informative are different indicators? How may an environmental indicator help to find solutions for the use and management of ecosystems and the survival of the species it supports?

What current concepts, strategies and measures exist to protect the biodiversity and ecosystems? How effective are these with respect to observation, indication, control, legislation, effectiveness of policies and investment?

The simplest environmental indicators are single measurements such as temperature or sea level. Others are more complex and combine different factors, e.g. to describe the overall sustainability of a country or the so-called ecological footprint of a person. Nevertheless, even if the calculation behind an indicator is complex, the message can be communicated simply e.g. in a symbol such as red, yellow or green traffic light for action.

Some indicators that can be used to interpret environmental conditions, e.g. the World Happiness Index, are only indirectly related to the environment and focus mainly on social aspects and human wellbeing. Others are directly linked to biodiversity such as the Living Planet Index or Red Lists of threatened species.

It is impossible to protect all species on Earth in an equal manner or to accept the status quo as it is now. Based on the assumption that there is a general agreement to protect biodiversity as a whole on Earth, there are many different conservation concepts currently being discussed, developed and applied. This contribution reviews and evaluates some of the most important ones from a global perspective.

The no species loss strategy, the Biodiversity Hotspot strategy and ecological triage are concepts that each integrate more than a single strategy or measure.

Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and Biodiversity Offset Programmes (BOPs) are recent schemes linking development programmes with payments for the restoration of environmental conditions and biodiversity. With respect to the number of annual publications and the amount of money invested, these measures seem to be of increasing interest. However, the programmes are often used/misused to enable and to support the development of buildings, infrastructure and industry. Thus, the value of such investments for the environment and biodiversity is rather ambiguous at the moment.

National Parks and other types of protected areas, zero human influence strategies and wilderness, restoration measures, eradication of invasive species, activities against hunting and trade of rare and threatened species, captive breeding and release into the wilderness and de-extinction comprise multiple specific measures and treatments which are currently being developed and used to protect the biodiversity and ecosystem functions.

Recent trends suggest that the amount of money invested for restoration measures, activities of zoos and botanical gardens, captive breeding, release of threatened species in the wild, and special nature conservation programmes related to certain threatened species will increase in the future.

However, at the moment it is questionable if other tendencies such as the increase in the illegal trade of species and natural products can be limited by stronger regulation and enforcement, or if other measures might be more effective.

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Acknowledgements

I sincerely thank Laura Sutcliffe, University of Göttingen, for valuable comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Ecology and Environmental Education, University of Flensburg (EUF), Flensburg, Germany

    Carsten Hobohm

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Hobohm, C. (2021). Environmental Indicators and Biodiversity Conservation Strategies. In: Hobohm, C. (eds) Perspectives for Biodiversity and Ecosystems. Environmental Challenges and Solutions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57710-0_7

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