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This table includes additional information to the above visualized indicators, i.e. a short definition of this indicator and a description of the politically determined target values as well as explaining the political intention behind selecting this indicator.

Definition

The indicator shows the population development for 51 selected bird species in the form of an index.

Target and intention

Having a wide variety of animal and plant species is a fundamental prerequisite for a healthy natural environment and an important foundation for human life. To preserve biodiversity and simultaneously safeguard quality of life for humans, the provisional goal of the Federal Government is an index value of 100 by 2030 – a target that was originally meant to be achieved by 2015. This target value is currently being reviewed as part of a research project and may be amended in future on the basis of new findings.

Data status

The data published in the indicator report 2022 is as of 31 October 2022. The data shown on this platform is updated regularly, so that more current data may be available online than published in the indicator report 2022.

Text from the Indicator Report 2022 

Other species besides birds rely on landscapes with intact, sustainably used habitats, which means that the indicator also indirectly reflects the development of many other species in the landscape and the sustainability of land use.

The calculations for this indicator are based on changes in the populations of 51 bird species, which together represent the most important types of landscape and habitat in Germany: ten species each for the sub-indicators farmland, settlements, inland waters, and coasts and seas, as well as eleven species for forests. The Alpine landscape is not currently taken into account, because of uncertainty of data.

The population size of each species is calculated annually from the results of bird-monitoring programmes by the Federation of German Avifaunists in cooperation with the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and is expressed in relation to the target population size. The target value for each species is defined by a panel of experts – initially for 2015. The historical values for 1970 and 1975 are reconstructed.

Each sub-indicator represents the arithmetic mean of the degrees of success achieved across the 10 or 11 selected avian species. The overall indicator is derived from a weighted summation of the sub-indicators. The weighting relates to the proportion of German territory which each main habitat or landscape type covers. On a provisional basis, the target values for the sub-indicators and the overall indicator have been applied unchanged to the 2030 target year.

In 1990, the indicator for biodiversity and landscape quality was significantly lower than the reconstructed values for 1970 and 1975. The indicator value stagnated over the last ten reporting years (2006-2016), reaching 70.5 % of the target value in 2016 compared with 70.2 % in 2006. If this trend continues, the goal for 2030 will not be achieved.

During the same period, however, the sub-indicators for the various types of habitat did not follow uniform trajectories. The farmland and coasts and seas sub-indicators fell during the last ten reporting years, to 60.5 % and 58.0 % of their target values in 2016 respectively. The equivalent values in 2006 were 68.0 % for farmland and 63.2 % for coasts and seas.

In contrast, the forest, settlement and inland-waters sub-indicators moved in a positive direction over the last ten reporting years. The forest sub-indicator reached 87.5 % of its target value in 2016, compared with 78.6 % in 2006. The settlement sub-indicator rose from 65.1 % in 2006 to 75.5 % in 2016. The figure for inland waters was 75.0 % of the target value in 2016, compared with 63.1 % in 2006.

The synoptic table provides information about the evaluation of the indicator in previous years. It shows if the weather symbol assigned to an indicator was rather stable or volatile in the past years. (Evaluation of the Indicator Report 2022 )

Indicator

15.1 Biodiversity and landscape quality

Target

Reach the index value of 100 by 2030

Year

2013

2014

2015

2016

Evaluation <p>Blitz</p>
<p>Blitz</p>
<p>Wolke</p>
<p>Wolke</p>