Question 6.11

The farmland bird index is rather stable in recent years. Thus the target (to halt the decline of biodiversity) has been achieved.

Answer

One should be careful to formulate such conclusions. In recent years, the relative stability of the European farmland bird indicator could be seen as a positive signal for conservation and even as indicating a halt to the loss of biodiversity in European agricultural landscapes. However, when the long-term trend is considered, and 1980 is taken as a reference year rather than in recent years, then the populations of farmland birds seem to be depleted. Furthermore, models based on the risk assessment framework suggest that a further decline of the farmland bird index in Europe is expected soon (Butler et al., 2010).