Essential Biodiversity Variables

H. M. Pereira; S. Ferrier; M. Walters; G. N. Geller; R. H. G. Jongman; R. J. Scholes; M. W. Bruford; N. Brummitt; S. H. M. Butchart; A. C. Cardoso; N. C. Coops; E. Dulloo; D. P. Faith; J. Freyhof; R. D. Gregory; C. Heip; R. Höft; G. Hurtt; W. Jetz; D. S. Karp; M. A. McGeoch; D. Obura; Y. Onoda; N. Pettorelli; B. Reyers; R. Sayre; J. P. W. Scharlemann; S. N. Stuart; E. Turak; M. Walpole; M. Wegmann

doi:10.1126/science.1229931

Policy ForumEcology

Essential Biodiversity Variables

H. M. Pereira1,*,†,
S. Ferrier2,
M. Walters3,
G. N. Geller4,
R. H. G. Jongman5,
R. J. Scholes3,
M. W. Bruford6,
N. Brummitt7,
S. H. M. Butchart8,
A. C. Cardoso9,
N. C. Coops10,
E. Dulloo11,
D. P. Faith12,
J. Freyhof13,
R. D. Gregory14,
C. Heip15,
R. Höft16,
G. Hurtt17,
W. Jetz18,
D. S. Karp19,
M. A. McGeoch20,
D. Obura21,
Y. Onoda22,
N. Pettorelli23,
B. Reyers24,
R. Sayre25,
J. P. W. Scharlemann26,27,
S. N. Stuart28,
E. Turak29,
M. Walpole26,
M. Wegmann30

¹Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.
²CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Australia.
³CSIR Natural Resources and Environment, South Africa.
⁴Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA.
⁵Alterra, Wageningen UR, Netherlands.
⁶Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, UK.
⁷Natural History Museum, UK.
⁸BirdLife International, UK.
⁹Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Italy.
¹⁰Department of Forest Resource Management, University of British Columbia, Canada.
¹¹Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Italy.
¹²The Australian Museum, Australia.
¹³BioFresh, The Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Germany.
¹⁴The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK.
¹⁵Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Netherlands.
¹⁶Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
¹⁷Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, USA.
¹⁸Yale University, USA.
¹⁹Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University, USA.
²⁰School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Australia.
²¹CORDIO East Africa, Kenya.
²²Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan.
²³Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, UK.
²⁴CSIR Natural Resources and Environment, South Africa.
²⁵U.S. Geological Survey, USA.
²⁶United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, UK.
²⁷School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, UK.
²⁸IUCN Species Survival Commission, UK.
²⁹Office of Environment and Heritage, NSW, Australia.
³⁰Department for Geography and Geology, Würzburg University, Germany.

↵†Author for correspondence. E-mail: hpereira{at}fc.ul.pt

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Science 18 Jan 2013:
Vol. 339, Issue 6117, pp. 277-278
DOI: 10.1126/science.1229931

H. M. Pereira

1Centro de Biologia Ambiental, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.

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For correspondence: hpereira@fc.ul.pt

S. Ferrier

2CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Australia.

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M. Walters

3CSIR Natural Resources and Environment, South Africa.

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G. N. Geller

4Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA.

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R. H. G. Jongman

5Alterra, Wageningen UR, Netherlands.

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R. J. Scholes

3CSIR Natural Resources and Environment, South Africa.

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M. W. Bruford

6Cardiff School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, UK.

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N. Brummitt

7Natural History Museum, UK.

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S. H. M. Butchart

8BirdLife International, UK.

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A. C. Cardoso

9Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Italy.

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N. C. Coops

10Department of Forest Resource Management, University of British Columbia, Canada.

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E. Dulloo

11Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Italy.

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D. P. Faith

12The Australian Museum, Australia.

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J. Freyhof

13BioFresh, The Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Germany.

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R. D. Gregory

14The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, UK.

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C. Heip

15Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Netherlands.

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R. Höft

16Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

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G. Hurtt

17Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Maryland, USA.

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W. Jetz

18Yale University, USA.

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D. S. Karp

19Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University, USA.

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M. A. McGeoch

20School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Australia.

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D. Obura

21CORDIO East Africa, Kenya.

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Y. Onoda

22Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Japan.

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N. Pettorelli

23Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, UK.

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B. Reyers

24CSIR Natural Resources and Environment, South Africa.

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R. Sayre

25U.S. Geological Survey, USA.

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J. P. W. Scharlemann

26United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, UK.

27School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, UK.

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S. N. Stuart

28IUCN Species Survival Commission, UK.

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E. Turak

29Office of Environment and Heritage, NSW, Australia.

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M. Walpole

26United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre, UK.

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M. Wegmann

30Department for Geography and Geology, Würzburg University, Germany.

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Summary

Reducing the rate of biodiversity loss and averting dangerous biodiversity change are international goals, reasserted by the Aichi Targets for 2020 by Parties to the United Nations (UN) Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) after failure to meet the 2010 target (1, 2). However, there is no global, harmonized observation system for delivering regular, timely data on biodiversity change (3). With the first plenary meeting of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) soon under way, partners from the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) (4) are developing—and seeking consensus around—Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) that could form the basis of monitoring programs worldwide.

↵* For complete addresses, see supplementary materials.

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Essential Biodiversity Variables

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