Indicator 15.9.1 (a) Number of countries that have established national targets in accordance with or similar to Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 in their national biodiversity strategy and action plans and the progress reported towards these targets; and (b) integration of biodiversity into national accounting and reporting systems, defined as implementation of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting

Indicator 15.9.1: (a) Number of countries that have established national targets in accordance with or similar to Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020 in their national biodiversity strategy and action plans and the progress reported towards these targets; and (b) integration of biodiversity into national accounting and reporting systems, defined as implementation of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting

Target 15.9: By 2020, integrate ecosystem and biodiversity values into national and local planning, development processes, poverty reduction strategies and accounts

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)

Definition:

The indicator measures the progress towards national targets established in accordance with Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020: By 2020, at the latest, biodiversity values have been integrated into national and local development and poverty reduction strategies and planning processes and are being incorporated into national accounting, as appropriate, and reporting systems.

The indicator is divided in two sub-indicators:

• 15.9.1(a): Number of countries that established national targets in accordance with Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 in their national biodiversity strategy and action plans and the progress reported towards these targets.
• 15.9.1(b): Integration of biodiversity into national accounting and reporting systems, defined as implementation of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting.

Concepts:

Biodiversity

The 1992 United Nations Earth Summit defined "biological diversity" as "the variability among living organisms from all sources, including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part: this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems".

Aichi Biodiversity Target 2

Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 is under Strategic Goal A of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020, which addresses the underlying causes of biodiversity loss by mainstreaming biodiversity across government and society.

Aichi Biodiversity Target 2: By 2020, at the latest, biodiversity values have been integrated into national and local development and poverty reduction strategies and planning processes and are being incorporated into national accounting, as appropriate, and reporting systems.

NBSAPs

In accordance with Article 6 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Parties are obligated to develop national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and integrate biodiversity considerations into relevant sectoral or cross-sectoral plans, programmes and policies. The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) is intended to define the current status of biodiversity, the threats leading to its degradation and the strategies and priority actions to ensure its conservation and sustainable use within the framework of the socio-economic development of the country.

National Reports

In accordance with Article 26 of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Parties are obligated to provide information on measures taken towards the implementation of the Convention and its strategic plans, as reflected in the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), as well as on the effectiveness of these measures. The format for the sixth national reports requested that Parties, among other things, provide an assessment of their progress towards their national targets and/or the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. These national reports are publicly available on the Convention’s Clearing-House Mechanism, which is constantly being improved to enhance usability by Parties and better contribute to assessment of the implementation of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 and the achievement of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

The system of environmental-economic accounting is presented by two international statistical standards: the System for Environmental-Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA-CF), adopted in 2012, and the System for Environmental-Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA), adopted in 2021.

SEEA-CF

The System for Environmental-Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA-CF) is an international statistical standard for measuring the environment and its relationship with the economy. It integrates economic and environmental data to provide a more comprehensive and multipurpose view of the interrelationships between the economy and the environment and the stocks and changes in stocks of environmental assets, as they bring benefits to humanity.

SEEA-EA

The System for Environmental-Economic Accounting-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) is an integrated statistical framework for organizing biophysical data, measuring ecosystem services in physical and monetary terms, tracking changes in the condition and extent of ecosystem assets and linking this information to economic and other human activity. The SEEA-EA takes the perspective of ecosystems and considers how individual environmental assets interact as part of natural processes within a given spatial area.

The Global Assessment of Environmental-Economic Accounting and Supporting Statistics

The Global Assessment of Environmental-Economic Accounting and Supporting Statistics is a survey administered by the UNSD under the auspices of the UN Committee of Experts on Environmental Economic Accounting (UNCEEA). The aim of the Global Assessment is to assess the progress in reaching the implementation targets of the UNCEEA.

For time series characterising the world or regions: number.

For time series characterising selected countries: identification “1” meaning presence, or “0” meaning not present.

For indicator 15.9.1a, the “number” represents the number of countries that established national targets in accordance with Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 of the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 in their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans.

For indicator 15.9.1b, the “number” represents the number of countries with integrated biodiversity values into national accounting and reporting systems, defined as implementation of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting.

Description:

National Statistical Systems and other relevant agencies contribute directly to the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) reporting and to the reporting on SEEA implementation.

Sub-indicator (a): NBSAPs and National Reports.

Sub-indicator (b): Global Assessments of Environmental-Economic Accounting and Supporting Statistics.

1. Ministries of Environment (or similar) through the National Focal Points to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
2. National Statistical Offices through the UNCEEA focal points.

Sub-indicator (a): The assessment of national targets has several limitations stemming from the different approaches Parties have taken in setting national targets and in reporting against them. Parties have mapped their national targets to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets in different ways and based on different information. For example, some have established one national target for each of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, while others have set multiple national targets for one Aichi Biodiversity Target. Some Parties have set process-related targets, some have set outcome-oriented targets, and some have used a combination of the two. This has necessitated different approaches at the national level in evaluating progress. These varying national approaches are not necessarily comparable. Similarly, some countries have set national targets which relate to multiple Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Further, some Parties have chosen to report against the Aichi Biodiversity Targets rather than towards their national biodiversity targets and some have reported against the Aichi Biodiversity Targets as they have not developed distinct national targets. The different approaches in national target-setting and reporting present challenges to undertaking analysis in a systematic manner.

Sub-indicator (b): The SEEA EA was adopted in March 2021, and the way that the SEEA EA is implemented by countries is expected to develop over time. In addition, the extent to which specific SEEA accounts relate to biodiversity differs, and some accounts relate more directly to biodiversity than others. Thus, the extent to which certain SEEA accounts directly integrate biodiversity into national accounting and reporting systems will also differ.

Sub-indicator (a): The sixth national reports provide semi-quantitative information on progress made in achieving the national targets and/or the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which is amenable to the development of a scoring system. The progress assessment for Aichi Biodiversity Target 2 would thus provide critical information for indicator 15.9.1.

Real-time information is available from the Convention’s Clearing-House Mechanism (https://chm.cbd.int/search/reporting-map?filter=AICHI-TARGET-02). The latest analysis is contained in document CBD/SBI/3/2/Add.2 (https://www.cbd.int/doc/c/f1e4/ab2c/ff85fe53e210872a0ceffd26/sbi-03-02-add2-en.pdf). An assessment of the data is also presented in the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-5) (https://www.cbd.int/gbo5).

The CBD Secretariat collects data from the National Reports as follows:

Parties establish national targets based on the Aichi Biodiversity Targets in their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) and report progress against these national targets in their sixth national report. The template for the sixth national reports allows Parties to check one of the progress labels below (the online reporting framework assigns numbers to each of the progress labels as indicated). Hence, the system is based on self-reporting by Parties and is consistent with the established reporting template. See Table 1 below.

Table 1. Progress label for ABT National Target

These will be rescored to be between 0 and 1 as shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Scoring level (0-1) for ABT National Target

In cases where Parties have set multiple national targets, the average of the numeric values of the progress labels is used.

Sub-indicator (b): The Global Assessment of Environmental-Economic Accounting and Supporting Statistics collects information on whether countries are currently planning or implementing SEEA accounts, the specific accounts being implemented and plans for new/future accounts. Sub-indicator (b) is defined as the number of countries, which indicate they have implemented any SEEA Central Framework or SEEA Ecosystem Accounting accounts in their response to the Global Assessment. The sub-indicator uses the definition of implementation put forth by the UNCEEA, which disaggregates implementation into three progressive stages:

1. Compilation: A country falls into this stage if it has compiled at least one account (which is consistent with the SEEA) over the past five years.
2. Dissemination: A country falls into this stage if it has compiled and published at least one account within the past five years.
3. Regular compilation and dissemination: A country falls into this stage if it regularly publishes at least one account. Regularly published accounts are compiled and published according to a scheduled production cycle (which may differ by account).

These stages will be scored as follows:

1. No compilation
2. Compilation
3. Dissemination
4. Regular compilation and dissemination

2024-07-29

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD)

15.a.1, 15.b.1

3