| Relevance/rationale of the indicator (resp. why the indicator was chosen to measure the target and how it is suitable for these purposes) |
The safeguard of important sites is vital for stemming the decline in biodiversity and ensuring long term and sustainable use of terrestrial and freshwater natural resources. The establishment of protected areas is an important mechanism for achieving this aim, and this indicator serves as a means of measuring progress toward the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems and their services, in line with obligations under international agreements. |
| Target value of the indicator and its evaluation |
|
| Definition |
The indicator shows temporal trends in the ratio of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity (i.e., those that contribute significantly to the global persistence of biodiversity) that is covered by designated protected areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs). |
| Measuring unit |
% |
| Indicator disaggregation |
By ecosystem type |
| Reference period (resp. the period to which the indicator relates) |
Year |
| Related geographical area |
CZ (NUTS 0) |
| Comment |
Statement of the custodian agency regarding the CR profile on IBAT: The KBAs listed for the Czech Republic cover terrestrial, freshwater, and mountain ecosystems (no marine KBAs present). With 40 terrestrial KBAs in total, 13 within freshwater ecosystems and 18 within mountain ecosystems, this leaves nine sites that do not fall into either of these two ecosystem types but are still categorised as terrestrial. For example, a lowland grassland KBA may not meet the criteria needed to be classified under the freshwater or mountain ecosystem types but would still classify as a terrestrial KBA, in turn contributing towards the overall terrestrial coverage value. These nine KBAs are included within the mean percent coverage of terrestrial KBA by protected areas calculation as displayed on the IBAT country profile page (94.71%), but not when only freshwater/mountain ecosystems are accounted for. Furthermore, there are incidents where KBAs within the Czech Republic are not entirely covered by a protected area (IBAT’s Data Map can be used to identify these areas), and this too will influence the percent coverage values. |
