2: The center of each round graphs is the already-known number of species in each individual taxonomic group

findings of the FY2008 survey, it is estimated that the average dioxins intake from food and the environment per capita per day is around 0.94pg-TEQ per 1kg of body weight. This numeric value is not far removed (in terms of g/L) from the declining trend of previous years, and is less than the tolerable daily intake (Figures 1-4-3, 1-4-4).

The deterioration in children’s health in various countries has been reported in recent years (Figure 1-4-5, 1-4-6). In an ongoing effort, investigators are attempting to establish a clear relationship between health and the surrounding environmental conditions. In Japan, the Japan Environment & Children’s Study was officially launched in FY2010 to survey and track children continuously from birth to age around 13 in an attempt to prevent environmental factors from adversely impacting children’s health.

Source: International Clearinghouse for Birth Defects Surveillance and Research(ICBDSR)

## 5 Status of Biodiversity

## (1) Status of Global Biodiversity

It is said that the earth holds around 30 million species of living organisms, including those unknown to science. Among them, we know only around 1.75 million. The Red List of threatened species published in November, 2009 by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) shows that 17,291 species out of the 47,677 assessed species of wildlife, or around 36% of the total species evaluated, are identified as endangered.

Note 1: Endangered species are designated as Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), or Vulnerable (VU).

3: In parentheses is percentage of endangered species within the number of assessed species

4: Vascular plants are a total of the ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms that appear in the IUCN Red List categories.

Source: Produced by the Ministry of the Environment from the IUCN "Red List 2009"

Figure1-5-2 Trends shown by agreed indicators of progress towards the 2010 Biodiversity Target in the Global Biodiversity Overview, Third Edition (GBO-3)

Priority areas	Headline indicators	Indicator changes
Status and trends of the components of biological diversity	Trends in extent of selected biomes, ecosystems, and habitats	↗
Trends in abundance and distribution of selected species	↗
Changes in status of threatened species	↗
Trends in genetic diversity in domesticated animals, cultivated plants, and fish species of major socio-economic importance	↗
Coverage of specified protected areas	↗
Ecosystem integrity and ecosystem goods and services	Marine Trophic Index	↗
Connectivity-fragmentation of ecosystems	↗
Water quality of aquatic ecosystems	↗
Threats to biodiversity	Nitrogen deposition	↗
Trends in invasive alien species	↗
Sustainable use	Area of forest, agricultural and aquaculture ecosystems under sustainable management	↗
Ecological footprint and related concepts	↗
Status of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices	Status and trends of linguistic diversity and number of speakers of indigenous languages	↗
Status of access and benefit sharing	Indicator of Access and benefit sharing to be developed	?
Status of resources transfers	Official development assistance (ODA) provided in support of the Convention	↗

✓: Negative changes

: Positive changes

No clear global trend. Positive and negative changes are occurring depending on the region or biome considered

? : Insufficient information to reach a definitive conclusion

Source: Produced by the Ministry of the Environment from the "Global Biodiversity Outlook" (GBO-3) published by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity