Ian D. Rutherford
In Chapter 3 of Biodiversity Indicators for Policy-Makers (World Resources Institute, Washington 1993) Reid, McNeely, Tunstall, Bryant and Winograd present a set of 22 indicators providing information useful for national and international policy-makers. Thirteen of the indicators deal with wild species and genetic diversity, four with community diversity, and five with domesticated species. Together, they comprise a basic set of indicators that can be used to better understand how well the goals of biodiversity conservation are being met, whether at local, national, regional, or global levels. They are shown in Table 1.
These indicators are discussed in some detail in terms of their justification on scientific grounds and also in terms of the availability of data in order to calculate them for the national and global levels. Although a considerable amount of data is available, there are major gaps. Suggestions are given for their use in terms of planning for biodiversity conservation. They would need to be supplemented with detailed site-specific management and economic information to set priorities or to make specific decisions for protection.