Science
10 October 2014 vol 346, issue 6206, pages 137-276
http://www.sciencemag.org/current.dtl

Report
A mid-term analysis of progress toward international biodiversity targets
Derek P. Tittensor1,2,*, Matt Walpole1, Samantha L. L. Hill1, Daniel G. Boyce3,4, Gregory L. Britten2, Neil D. Burgess1,5, Stuart H. M. Butchart6, Paul W. Leadley7, Eugenie C. Regan1, Rob Alkemade8, Roswitha Baumung9, Céline Bellard7, Lex Bouwman8,10, Nadine J. Bowles-Newark1, Anna M. Chenery1, William W. L. Cheung11, Villy Christensen11, H. David Cooper12,
Annabel R. Crowther1, Matthew J. R. Dixon1, Alessandro Galli13, Valérie Gaveau14, Richard D. Gregory15, Nicolas L. Gutierrez16, Tim L. Hirsch17, Robert Höft12, Stephanie R. Januchowski-Hartley18, Marion Karmann19, Cornelia B. Krug7,20, Fiona J. Leverington21, Jonathan Loh22,
Rik Kutsch Lojenga23, Kelly Malsch1, Alexandra Marques24,25, David H. W. Morgan26, Peter J. Mumby27, Tim Newbold1, Kieran Noonan-Mooney12, Shyama N. Pagad28, Bradley C. Parks29,
Henrique M. Pereira24,25, Tim Robertson17, Carlo Rondinini30, Luca Santini30, Jörn P. W. Scharlemann1,31, Stefan Schindler32,33, U. Rashid Sumaila11, Louise S.L. Teh11, Jennifer van Kolck8, Piero Visconti34, Yimin Ye9
Abstract
Editor’s Summary
In 2010, the international community, under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, agreed on 20 biodiversity-related “Aichi Targets” to be achieved within a decade. We provide a comprehensive mid-term assessment of progress toward these global targets using 55 indicator data sets. We projected indicator trends to 2020 using an adaptive statistical framework that incorporated the specific properties of individual time series. On current trajectories, results suggest that despite accelerating policy and management responses to the biodiversity crisis, the impacts of these efforts are unlikely to be reflected in improved trends in the state of biodiversity by 2020. We highlight areas of societal endeavor requiring additional efforts to achieve the Aichi Targets, and provide a baseline against which to assess future progress.