SEBI2010 and its 26 indicators has been selected as one of the TEN BEST IDEAS TO SAVE NATURE in 2008.

EU Biodiversity Indicators – SEBI 2010

SEBI 2010 and its 26 indicators is a pan-European initiative, launched in January 2005 to develop appropriate indicators to assess achievement of the 2010 target at European level - Streamlining European 2010 Biodiversity Indicators – (SEBI 2010).

The first 26 “fact sheets” for the SEBI 2010 biodiversity indicators have been annexed to the Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions "A mid-term assessment of implementing the EC Biodiversity Action Plan ".

SEBI 2010 institutional partners are the European Environment Agency (and its European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity), ECNC (European Centre for Nature Conservation), UNEP-WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Centre), DG Environment of the European Commission, the PEBLDS Joint Secretariat, and the Czech Republic (as lead country for the Kiev Resolution action plan on biodiversity indicators).

The SEBI 2010 process has to a large extent been made possible by the contributions of more than 120 experts from across the pan-European region and from international NGOs and IGOs. A history of the SEBI 2010 process as well as technical specifications of the indicators can be found in EEA Technical report 11/2007 “Halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010: proposal for a first set of indicators to monitor progress in Europe”.

Readers are encouraged to consult this publication if they need detailed information on the methodology for each indicator.

Data are currently available for 22 of the 26 indicators. The fact sheets in this annex contain a summary assessment of the latest data available for each indicator.

26 Indicators

The 26 indicators proposed by the SEBI 2010 process

1	Abundance and distribution of selected species
2	Red List Index for European species
3	Species of European interest
4	Ecosystem coverage
5	Habitats of European interest
6	Livestock genetic diversity
7	Nationally designated protected areas
8	Sites designated under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives
9	Critical load exceedance for nitrogen
10	Invasive alien species in Europe
11	Occurrence of temperature-sensitive species
12	Marine Trophic Index of European seas
13	Fragmentation of natural and semi-natural areas
14	Fragmentation of river systems
15	Nutrients in transitional, coastal and marine waters
16	Freshwater quality
17	Forest: growing stock, increment and fellings
18	Forest: deadwood
19	Agriculture: nitrogen balance
20	Agriculture: area under management practices potentially supporting biodiversity
21	Fisheries: European commercial fish stocks
22	Aquaculture: effluent water quality from finfish farms
23	Ecological Footprint of European countries
24	Patent applications based on genetic resources
25	Financing biodiversity management
26	Public awareness

The SEBI project is a consultative process steered by the European Environment Agency. It is an evolving process, subject to wide consultation through an online commenting tool, hosted on the EC Biodiversity Clearing House Mechanism.

We would like to encourage critical study of the proposed indicators, methods and dataflows and hope you will provide us with constructive feedback or suggestions for further improvements. Please submit your comments via e-mail to SEBI@eea.europa.eu.

Process

The SEBI 2010 process’ institutional partners are the European Environment Agency (and its European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity), ECNC (European Centre for Nature Conservation), UNEP-WCMC (World Conservation Monitoring Centre), DG Environment of the European Commission, the PEBLDS Joint Secretariat, and the Czech Republic (as lead country for the Kiev Resolution action plan on biodiversity indicators). The SEBI 2010 process has to a large extent been made possible by the contributions of more than 120 experts from across the pan-European region and from international NGOs and IGOs.

The initiative was launched following the endorsement of a set of 16 EU Headline indicators at Malahide, the Environment Council in its conclusions of 28 June 2004 (pdf 327KB) "urged the Commission further to develop, test and finalise this set by 2006".

This set was part of the Communication on Halting the Loss of Biodiversity to 2010 and Beyond (COM(2006)216 final) and EU Action Plan to 2010 and Beyond (SEC(2006)621 final) (pdf 348KB), which foresee an annual evaluation of whether, and to what extent, we have met the 2010 commitments and to inform policy decisions by 2010 and beyond based on agreed indicators (as detailed in Annex 2 of the Communication, see above).