KMGBF<\/a>) \u2013 the international agreement guiding action to halt and reverse nature loss. However, until now there has been no standard accepted measurement of ecosystem integrity. This changes with the launch of the Ecosystem Integrity Index, which has been adopted as an indicator to track progress in the delivery of the KMGBF.<\/p>\nFirst comprehensive assessment of ecosystem condition<\/p>\n
The index measures ecosystem integrity on a scale from 0 (low integrity) to 1 (high integrity). The final value takes the lowest score of the three components \u2013 physical structure, species composition, and functioning of natural processes \u2013 which is adjusted to account for the integrity of the other two components. The result is a single, comparable score that can be tracked over time and focussed on specific places of interest.<\/p>\n
The average integrity of the world\u2019s 422 major ecosystem types is 0.68.<\/p>\n
In the UK, a score like this is representative of places like the Yorkshire Dales, which has a mix of villages, low-intensity grazing and large natural areas. Remote Scottish islands, such as the Outer Hebrides, have areas of high integrity around 0.97. In comparison, Piccadilly Circus in central London has an integrity of 0.01.<\/p>\n
In India, within Kaziranga National Park there are areas of high integrity reaching 0.94, whereas on the edges outside the park where nature is more degraded, integrity can be around 0.6. Urban centres such as New Delhi can score 0.02, while rice paddy fields can have integrity of 0.45. A consideration of ecosystem integrity is vital to understand the resilience of ecosystems in supporting human society. High-integrity ecosystems can provide services that support the growth of crops and natural materials, and aid in the cycling of nutrients, water and carbon. Intact ecosystems are important buffers against flooding and wildfires, which are occurring more frequently due to climate change. The lower an ecosystem\u2019s integrity, the greater the potential for the decline or collapse of such benefits to society and the economy.<\/p>\n
This is the first time we’ve been able to measure, consistently and at a global scale, the alarming speed and extent at which ecosystems are being degraded. Losing half the integrity of a fifth of the world’s ecosystems means our planet\u2019s living systems are running on a fraction of their natural capacity to support wildlife, store carbon, clean water and act as a buffer against climate change.<\/p>\n
The Ecosystem Integrity Index will help governments, businesses and communities identify exactly where action will have the greatest benefit for nature, and to assess whether that action is working.<\/p>\n
Dr Samantha Hill, Head of Science at UNEP-WCMC and paper’s lead authorFills large knowledge gaps<\/p>\n
The index is designed to be used at multiple scales and supplies data from the past 20 years, providing insight into how ecosystem integrity has changed across countries, regions and biomes.<\/p>\n
The Ecosystem Integrity Index can be used to understand ecosystem condition from the global scale down to a single farm or small protected area. Companies and financial institutions can use it to assess changing risk in their supply chains. One case study found that US cotton farms changing from conventional to organic practices raised ecosystem integrity scores by around 13 per cent.<\/p>\n
The index can be applied at a much larger scale by the public sector: for understanding ecosystem condition at the national level, and for spatial planning and wider decision-making.<\/p>\n
The Ecosystem Integrity Index brings together 15 earth system datasets, millions of data points and numerous cutting-edge models. It is the product of eight years of work, developed by experts at UNEP-WCMC working in consultation with companies, policymakers, and other ecosystem specialists and data scientists. <\/p>\n
The Ecosystem Integrity Index dataset covering 2000\u20132020 is available with the underlying code here<\/a>.<\/p>\nMain image: Farmland in the Yorkshire Dales, UK. With its mix of villages, low-intensity grazing and large natural areas the Yorkshire Dales has an ecosystem integrity of 0.68. (Image: Adobe Stock #396425731)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ecosystem Integrity Index is the first approach to holistically assess the state of the planet\u2019s terrestrial ecosystemsIt finds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[114,85,46],"class_list":["post-639065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}