The German Cabinet adopted the Indicator Report 2014 under the National Strategy on Biological Diversity today. The report shows that there is a wide gap between the present situation and the target values for almost all indicators, despite the many efforts that have already been made in this area. One of the largest deficits was found for the central indicator "species diversity and landscape quality". For this indicator, the gap between the actual situation and the target value continues to widen.
Federal Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks commented: "Without additional activities we are very unlikely to reach the targets set in the National Strategy on Biological Diversity. We must and will do more to fully implement the Strategy. The Federal Environment Ministry will launch an initiative this year based on the results of the Indicator Report to ensure additional action is taken in areas where the report has revealed particularly pronounced deficits in the implementation of the Strategy."
In the National Biodiversity Strategy, the German Government has set itself ambitious targets for the conservation and improvement of biological diversity and its sustainable use in order to halt the loss of species, habitats and genetic diversity.
A set of indicators serves to evaluate the progress made in implementation every two years. These indicators cover a wide range of subjects, for example species diversity and landscape quality, threats to wild species and domestic farm animal breeds, and strictly protected areas. They also provide information on the impact of settlements, transport, economic uses such as agriculture and forestry and climate change on biological diversity. The "species diversity and landscape quality" indicator was developed as a key indicator to measure the sustainability of different land uses in the context of the National Sustainable Development Strategy.