Biodiversity indicators miss local and short-term change: A blank space waiting to be filled

Katherine Hébert , Maximiliane Jousse, Janaína de Andrade Serrano , Dirk Karger, Guillaume Blanchet, Laura J. Pollock

The year 2030 is rapidly approaching. Building, monitoring, and reporting indicators to evaluate the 2030 targets in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) is a major challenge that requires, at minimum, nations to assess their progress at least once within the next five years. To effectively capture this progress, we need indicators that capture fast-paced, on-the-ground biodiversity change, alongside slower, more diffuse biodiversity trends at national scales. We gathered a group of biodiversity scientists and practitioners to evaluate how well common types of indicators cover the space-time continuum of biodiversity changes. We highlight a striking, nearly unanimously agreed upon, gap in the available indicator toolbox in our ability to capture on-the-ground biodiversity changes. To fill this blank space, we call for investment in local-scale and short-term monitoring, research on how to optimize this monitoring for rapid detection, and urgent development of indicators at these more actionable scales.