Living Planet Index

Indicators and the role of the LPI in policy

The LPI database contains thousands of population time series for birds, mammals, fish, reptiles and amphibians, which are gathered from a variety of sources such as journals, online databases and government reports. Using a method developed by ZSL and WWF, these species population trends are aggregated to produce the Living Planet Index.

The index can be disaggregated to measure trends in different thematic areas and regions. This includes assessing the changes in different taxonomic groups, looking at species trends at a national or regional level, identifying how different threats affect populations and providing an insight into how conservation intervention can promote species recoveries.

Both the Living Planet Index and database play a vital role in policy. Some of the regional and thematic indicators could be used in the post-2020 global biodiversity framework or for monitoring progress towards targets for other Conventions.

Living Planet Index

The Living Planet Index (LPI) is a measure of the state of global biological diversity based on population trends of vertebrate species from around the world. It does this in much the same way that a stock market index tracks the values of a set of shares or a retail price index tracks the cost.

National and Regional Indicators

The Living planet database and LPI methodology can be used to look at species trends at regional, National and Sub-nations levels.

Thematic Indicators

The Living Planet Index can be disaggregated to measure trends across different thematic areas and species groups.

LPI in Policy

The LPI is a leading global biodiversity indicator and has been used to inform global, regional and national policy. It is now component and complementary indicator in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. In addition to the CBD, the LPI has also been included as an indicator within the Ramsar Convention and the Convention on Migratory Species.

LPD in Policy

The LPD is directly related to the Target 20 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, as it is a source of “relevant knowledge”. The database is publicly available and widely used in research.