Indicators on the Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity in Germany—Data Driven or Meeting Political Needs?
1
Technische Universität Berlin, Institut für Landschaftsarchitektur und Umweltplanung, Fachgebiet Landschaftsplanung und Landschaftsentwicklung, Sekr. EB5, Straße des 17. Juni 145, 10623 Berlin, Germany
2
Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Dresden, Fakultät Landbau/Umwelt/Chemie, Professur Landschaftsökologie, Pillnitzer Platz 2, 01326 Dresden, Germany
3
Bundesamt für Naturschutz, Fachgebiet II 1.3 „Monitoring“, Konstantinstraße 110, 53179 Bonn, Germany
*
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Sustainability 2018, 10(11), 3959; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10113959
Received: 21 September 2018 / Revised: 25 October 2018 / Accepted: 25 October 2018 / Published: 31 October 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Scenarios and Indicators for Sustainable Development–Towards A Critical Assessment of Achievements and Challenges)
When developing new indicators for policy advice, two different approaches exist and may be combined with each other. First, a data-driven, bottom-up approach determines indicators primarily by the availability of suitable data. Second, indicators can be developed by a top-down approach, on the basis of political fields of action and related normative goals. While the bottom-up approach might not meet the needs of an up-to-date policy advice, the top-down approach might lack the necessary data. To discuss these problems and possible solutions, we refer to the ongoing development of an indicator system on impacts of climate change on biodiversity in Germany, where a combination of both approaches has been successfully applied. We describe suitable indicators of this system and discuss the reasons for the remaining gaps. Both approaches, mentioned above, have advantages, constraints, and shortcomings. The scientific accuracy of the indicators, the availability of data and the purpose of policy advice have to be well-balanced while developing such indicator systems.
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Keywords:
indicators; climate change; biodiversity; data needs; monitoring; policy advice; Germany
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MDPI and ACS Style
Schliep, R.; Walz, U.; Sukopp, U.; Heiland, S. Indicators on the Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity in Germany—Data Driven or Meeting Political Needs? Sustainability 2018, 10, 3959. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10113959
AMA Style
Schliep R, Walz U, Sukopp U, Heiland S. Indicators on the Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity in Germany—Data Driven or Meeting Political Needs? Sustainability. 2018; 10(11):3959. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10113959
Chicago/Turabian StyleSchliep, Rainer, Ulrich Walz, Ulrich Sukopp, and Stefan Heiland. 2018. "Indicators on the Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity in Germany—Data Driven or Meeting Political Needs?" Sustainability 10, no. 11: 3959. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10113959
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