2014
SCIENCE
A mid-term analysis of progress towards international biodiversity targets
DP Tittensor, M Walpole, SLL Hill, DG Boyce, GL Britten, ND Burgess, SHM Butchart, PW Leadley, EC Regan, R Alkemade, R Baumung, C Bellard, L Bouwman, NJ Bowles-Newark, AM Chenery, WWL Cheung, V Christensen, HD Cooper, AR Crowther, MJR Dixon, A Galli, V Gaveau, RD Gregory, NL Gutierrez, TL Hirsch, R Höft, SR Januchowski-Hartley, M Karmann, CB Krug, FJ Leverington, J Loh, RK Lojenga, K Malsch, A Marques, DHW Morgan, PJ Mumby, T Newbold, K Noonan-Mooney, SN Pagad, BC Parks, HM Pereira, T Robertson, C Rondinini, L Santini, JPW Scharlemann, S Schindler, UR Sumaila, LSL The, J Van Kolck, P Visconti, Y Ye.
Abstract
In 2010, the international community, under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, agreed on 20 biodiversity-related “Aichi Targets” to be achieved within a decade. We provide a comprehensive mid-term assessment of progress toward these global targets using 55 indicator data sets. We projected indicator trends to 2020 using an adaptive statistical framework that incorporated the specific properties of individual time series. On current trajectories, results suggest that despite accelerating policy and management responses to the biodiversity crisis, the impacts of these efforts are unlikely to be reflected in improved trends in the state of biodiversity by 2020. We highlight areas of societal endeavor requiring additional efforts to achieve the Aichi Targets, and provide a baseline against which to assess future progress.