The 2010 Target & Indicators

Commonly known as the '2010 target', the commitment to "achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on earth" was adopted by over 190 of the world's governments at the meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002, and endorsed later that year by the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

In decision VII/30 the Conference of the Parties of the CBD adopted a framework to assess and communicate progress towards the 2010 target at the global scale.

The framework includes seven focal areas, each of which encompasses a number of indicators for assessing progress towards, and communicating, the 2010 target at the global level.

In total, 22 indicators were indentified by the Conference of the Parties. Thirteen of these are ready for immediate testing, while others require further development, and this distinction is shown below.

The current set of 2010 Indicators, presented by Focal Areas of the CBD.

These indicators are in the process of being developed at the global scale by a wide range of organizations, including UN agencies, research institutes and universities, and non-governmental organisations, brought together by the 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership project

Other indicator initiatives

Indicators are also being developed for use at regional levels, through initiatives such as SEBI2010 in Europe, Ark 2010 in Latin America, and the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program in the Arctic region. At the national scale, many countries are developing biodiversity indicators to monitor biodiversity at the national level.