Living Planet Index for the Netherlands, 1990-2013

LPI Netherlands

The Dutch Living Planet Index (LPI, first tab page) provides an assessment of the average population trend for mammals, breeding birds, reptiles and amphibians together. Since 1990, this group has grown by 22%. The increase is mainly due to the fact that, during this period, mammals, birds and reptiles increased in numbers, despite the fact that amphibians, as a group, have not grown.
Although there are some differences, the calculation method of the Dutch LPI largely corresponds to the Living Planet Index of the World Wide Fund for Nature, WWF. The most obvious difference is the absence of the species group of fish in the Dutch version.

LPI in a global perspective

In an international perspective, the LPI is one of the most widely accepted indicators for global biodiversity (second tab page). It includes data of populations of more than 3,000 vertebrate species (mammals, breeding birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish); 1970 is the first year, data are available. The global LPI has fallen by 52% and also after 1990 (the beginning of the Dutch time series), the trend has continually been downwards. This global trend appears to be at odds with the Dutch trend.

LPI by national income

However, if the LPI is broken down by groups of countries with different income levels (according to World Bank criteria, third tab page), the LPI for countries with a high income level has in fact increased (by 9.7%), which corresponds to the Dutch trend. According to the WWF, this increase indicates recovery after the severe loss of biodiversity which partly occurred prior to 1970 and the recovery of nature is possible because, today, rich countries are more prepared to invest in projects to recovery nature. Rich countries also often import goods from low-income countries and the production of these goods may have a negative effect on the biodiversity in these low-income countries.

LPI and RLI

The LPI results are consistent with the results of the Red List Indicator. The RLI confirms that many species have come under threat between 1950 and 1995 and that subsequently some recovery has set in. The LPI also includes the increase and decrease of non-threatened species and shows that the populations of vertebrates have grown since 1990.

• Red List Indicator