Measuring biodiversity: research into approaches

Main Findings

Scotland has a suite of biodiversity indicators that assess broad trends in biodiversity at the national level and measure progress against biodiversity targets. However, at present there is no single agreed Scottish biodiversity metric or measurement tool to assess biodiversity at the site, or project, scale. An agreed Scottish approach to measuring biodiversity would allow for consistent and comparable assessment of losses or gains in biodiversity across sites and allow comparison and trading across sectors.

The development of a biodiversity metric or measurement tool in Scotland has potential use across four main policy areas: natural capital markets, planning and development, biodiversity conservation and monitoring and agriculture. These policy areas are all at different stages of engagement with approaches to measuring biodiversity and are working largely independently within different policy landscapes. It is therefore important that research on a Scottish biodiversity metric evaluates the options that best serve Scottish interests and assesses the priorities across policy areas.

The main research findings include:

• To meet the needs of all four sectors, a framework, or standard, is needed that integrates multiple metrics or tools to monitor biodiversity.
• This framework needs to provide consistent results, while allowing flexibility in its application so metrics and tools within the framework could be tailored depending on different user or policy needs.
• Priority biodiversity indicators include the extent, condition and distinctiveness of habitats; species; ecological connectivity; presence of irreplacable habitat; and ecosystem health and function.
• It is important that the approach to biodiversity metrics be accessible, understandable, and flexible in how it is applied across different uses or spatial scales.
• Biodiversity metrics for Scotland should be clear, concise and transparent, and scientifically robust in terms of measurability.
• Biodiversity metrics for Scotland may benefit from certain elements from existing metrics, but existing metrics do not address the full list of priority criteria identified by stakeholders.
• With refinement, Natural England's Biodiversity Metric 3.1 could be adapted for planning and development use, and as part of a wider set of metrics within a biodiversity framework. These refinements include the coverage of habitats, and adjustments to condition assessment and mutlipliers to reflect Scottish contexts.