Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what was the rate of biodiversity decline in England in each year between 2010 and 2022; and what estimate they have made of the rate of biodiversity decline by 2030.

There is no single way to measure the health of our biodiversity, so we use a number of indicators to pick up changes in the status of species and habitats. Taken together, they provide a more holistic picture of the state of nature. A summary of these indicators is available at https://oifdata.defra.gov.uk/, specifically in the wildlife section D. A wider range of biodiversity related indicators is available in the England Biodiversity Indicators publication.

Defra’s range of species indicators track changes in relative distribution and abundance. One of the indicators, which is still in development, measures change in relative abundance of widespread species in England. Analysis of this indicator was presented in Defra’s Biodiversity Targets Evidence Report. Based on data for 670 terrestrial animal species in England, analysis indicated a decline in species abundance of 2.8% per year on average between 2012 and 2018.

Whilst we expect some continued decline in species abundance we cannot reliably predict the rate of decline as species will be impacted by changing conditions which we cannot anticipate with any certainty. However, through the Environment Act 2021 we have set world-leading legally binding targets to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030 and then to increase species abundance by at least 10% by 2042, ensuring levels are greater than in 2022.