Indicators of change and changing the indicators: the National Biodiversity Monitoring Framework

Abstract

The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) is mandated to monitor and report on the status of biodiversity in South Africa. SANBI meets part of this mandate through the National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA), which reports on the status and trends of biodiversity and ecosystems on a 5-7 year cycle. The NBA focusses specifically on high-level indicators such as threat status and protection level for species and ecosystems. SANBI is developing a biodiversity monitoring framework with the aim of linking the high-level biodiversity monitoring in the NBA with the wide range of biodiversity-related monitoring and reporting processes that exist nationally and internationally. The overall objective is to comprehensively address national-scale biodiversity monitoring and clarify the potential roles and responsibilities of the various partners and contributors. SANBI and the Department of Environmental Affairs have started the process by seeking alignment of the biodiversity indicators used in national and international reporting processes linked to the NBA, South Africa’s Environmental Outlook (SAEO), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) (including the Aichi targets), the Intergovernmental Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This top-down approach will be balanced by a bottom-up survey of current and historical biodiversity monitoring programmes and projects; with the aim of identifying gaps in the biodiversity monitoring network. In 2018, a second phase of the project will focus on a plan to address the gaps.