News Finding: The indicator finds that less than 3 percent of the 7,000 evaluated species are presently classified as "low priority" or "sufficiently conserved."
Paper Finding: While the indicator is robust in that it uses well-established taxonomic, occurrence, and eco-geographic information as inputs, and employs popular open-source software, a number of vulnerabilities of the method should be mentioned.
News Context: The indicator finds that less than 3 percent of the 7,000 evaluated species are presently classified as "low priority" or "sufficiently conserved." This is worrying, say the authors, since the indicator was designed to measure countries' progress toward ambitious conservation goals that are supposed to be met by 2020, including the Convention on Biological Diversity Aichi Target 13 and Sustainable Development Goal 2.5. "This indicator underscores the urgency to protect the world's useful wild plants.
Paper Context: Therefore, it could serve as a useful complement to existing and proposed indicators for Aichi 13, GSPC 9, SDG 2.5, and Article 5 of the ITPGRFA. While the indicator is robust in that it uses well-established taxonomic, occurrence, and eco-geographic information as inputs, and employs popular open-source software, a number of vulnerabilities of the method should be mentioned. First, the quality of the results is highly dependent on the comprehensiveness and the degree of ongoing curation of the data and technologies used.