New webinar with the European Commission's Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity on genetic indicators

Under the recently adopted Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the 196 Parties have committed to report on the status of genetic diversity for all species. To facilitate this reporting, three genetic diversity indicators have been developed by researchers and practitioners and have been included in the Monitoring Framework of the GBF. These indicators are designed to secure maintenance of genetic diversity within and between populations, and two of them do not require DNA-data. 

The indicators are:

1. The proportion of population within species with an effective population size (Ne) larger than 500 (measures within population genetic diversity),
2. The proportion of populations within maintained within species (measures between population genetic diversity),
3. The number of species and populations being monitored with DNA-based methods. The speakers explained how they developed strategies for measuring these indicators based on already available information and data.

They assessed 919 taxa, representing 5,271 populations across nine countries, including France, Belgium and Sweden as well as megadiverse and developing economies. 83% of taxa assessed had data available to calculate at least one indicator. The results show that 41% of assessed taxa have lost at least one-tenth of their populations, while in 58% of taxa, all populations are too small to sustain genetic diversity. We suggest that these indicators can be applied by other countries to report on genetic diversity trends and discuss ways forward to accomplish this. Speakers represent Coalition for Conservation Genetics, G-BiKE, GEO BON.