§ Mrs. Helen ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (1) what action 797W the Government is taking to promote a biodiversity indicator for Europe to measure progress towards halting biodiversity decline by 2010; [186130]
(2) whether the Government intends to make representations to the European Commission to include a biodiversity indicator on the shortlist of indicators presented in its synthesis report to the 2005 EU Spring Summit. [186131]
§ Mr. BradshawThe Department has worked with the Commission, other Member States and stakeholders to agree a set of fifteen headline indicators to be used to measure progress towards the target of halting biodiversity loss in Europe by 2010. At the Council meeting in June, European Environment Ministers welcomed these proposals and urged the Commission to develop, test and finalise this set by 2006. Officials and experts from the UK are now engaged in a process led by the European Environment Agency to develop and test these indicators using the data which are currently available. The Government has advocated that one of the fifteen headline indicators should be used to represent biodiversity in the list of structural indicators reported to the Spring Council of Ministers.
§ Mrs. Helen ClarkTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the robustness of the Pan-European Common Bird Index as an indicator of biodiversity; and whether she will promote this index as the biodiversity indicator for Europe. [186132]
§ Mr. BradshawMy officials, and statutory advisors, will review the suitability of indicators proposed by the Commission with regard to their scientific validity, relevance to the 2010 biodiversity target and public appeal. Provisional versions of a Pan-European Common Bird Index seen by officials appear to offer strong potential and present a similar picture for Europe as the UK farmland bird index.