The Natural History Museum's Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) estimates how much of a region’s natural biodiversity is still left on average.
The BII measures biodiversity change using abundance data on plants, fungi and animals worldwide. The Index shows how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human pressures such as land use change and intensification.
Biodiversity indicators such as the BII are essential tools for understanding, monitoring and communicating biodiversity changes and tracking our progress towards goals. The Index uses the most comprehensive evidence base of its kind alongside robust, peer-reviewed methodology.
Why is understanding biodiversity important?
Earth is changing quickly in response to human activities. Biodiversity loss is one of the clearest warning signs that we are facing a planetary emergency. An estimated USD$44 trillion of economic value is threatened by biodiversity declines and ecosystem collapse – equal to over half of the world's total GDP (World Economic Forum, 2021). At the same time, moving to nature-positive investments offers opportunity. To date, there have been two major difficulties that make it hard for businesses and policymakers to think about biodiversity loss:
- How to measure something as complex as biodiversity (there is no simple, granular and universal biodiversity metric).
- How to use that evidence to inform management decisions.
The Natural History Museum's work on Biodiversity Indicators offers solutions to both these problems.
![A global map of the Biodiversity Intactness Indess](/content/dam/nhmwww/our-science/Data/biodiversity-indicators/global-map-bii-two-column.jpg.thumb.1920.1920.jpg)
Estimated Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII) in the year 2020 at 0.25 degree resolution. Only the darkest areas have retained enough natural biodiversity to be within the proposed planetary boundary (where BII is above 90%).
More information
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Explore the data
View and download the Biodiversity Intactness Index data to see past, current and future biodiversity changes for a particular area.
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Meet the PREDICTS team
Learn more about the team behind the creation of the Biodiversity Intactness Index.
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Commercial
Learn about the commercial uses of the Biodiversity Intactness Index.
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Science
Discover the science behind the Biodiversity Intactness Index.