IPBES GLOBAL/REGIONAL INDICATOR FACTSHEET

This factsheet is intended to provide the authors of IPBES assessments with the necessary information to include this indicator.

Indicator Name Global Index of Linguistic Diversity and Language Threat Level IPBES Global Chapter 1: introduction and setting the stage Assessment Chapter Chapter 2: status and trends; indirect and direct drivers of change Chapter 3: progress towards meeting major international objectives related to and services Chapter 4: plausible futures of nature, nature's benefits to people and their contributions to a good quality of life Chapter 5: scenarios and pathways towards a sustainable future Chapter 6: opportunities and challenges for decision makers

IPBES Regional Chapter 1: scope and methodology Assessment Chapter Chapter 2: nature’s benefits to people and its impacts on quality of life Chapter 3: status, trends of biodiversity and underpinning nature’s benefits to people Chapter 4: direct and indirect drivers of change in the context of quality of life Chapter 5: interactions of nature and people and the role of institutions and governance Chapter 6: options for decision making across scales and sectors

Link to IPBES 1. Institutions and governance and other indirect drivers conceptual 2. Direct drivers (natural/anthropogenic) framework 3. Nature (biodiversity and ecosystems, Mother , systems of life, intrinsic values) 4. Nature’s benefits to people (ecosystem goods and services, nature’s gifts) 5. Good quality of life (human well-being, living in harmony with nature, living-well in balance and harmony with Mother Earth) 6. Anthropogenic assets

Drivers-Pressure- Drivers / Pressure / State / Impact / Response State-Impact- Response (DPSIR) framework Aichi Target Aichi Target 18

Indicator summary The Index of Linguistic Diversity is an indicator of global trends in language loss; specifically it measures changes in the share of the global or a regional population that speaks each language on average. A decline in the indicator shows a loss of global linguistic diversity as a result of language shift from smaller, indigenous, geographically restricted languages to larger, globally or regionally dominant languages. Language loss is also a proxy for the loss of indigenous and traditional knowledge relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Temporal resolution, Annual / Less than annual / Single temporal data point extent available Years available: 1970 - 2010 Temporal resolution, 1970 – 2010 although an update may become available within the next year, up to extent willing/able 2015 to provide Spatial resolution, Global / IPBES region/ IPBES sub-region / Country / Sub-country extent available Finest resolution available: Regional

Spatial resolution, Country, provided that there are adequate data and funding available extent willing/able to provide Global storyline The Index of Linguistic Diversity shows that linguistic diversity declined globally by about 30% between 1970 and 2009. This is about the same average rate of decline as populations of vertebrate species between 1970 and 2008, as measured by the WWF/ZSL Living Planet Index. However, there are regional differences in the rate of diversity loss.

Global Index of Linguistic Diversity and Living Planet Index Source: Loh and Harmon, 2014

Regional Indices of Linguistic Diversity Source: Loh and Harmon, 2014 The fastest declines in linguistic diversity have taken place in the Americas, where the ILD fell by about 75% between 1970 and 2009, and Australia, where the ILD plummeted 85%. Languages spoken in Africa, Asia and Europe are faring better, where the ILD declined by about 20% (Africa) to 30% (Asia and Europe) between 1970 and 2009. For biodiversity, the fastest rates of decline have occurred in the Indo-Pacific (65% between 1970 and 2008), Latin America (50%), and Sub-Saharan Africa (40%). Species populations in North America, Europe and northern Asia have been more stable. In other words, biodiversity has declined rapidly in the tropics, but remained steady in temperate regions, while linguistic diversity has declined rapidly in the new world, but more slowly in the old world.

Global caveats

Data and methods The ILD depends on estimates of speaker numbers, which are known to vary widely in quality. The ILD uses data-filtering techniques to try to eliminate those data points that are most likely to be anomalous.

Sample size and Global ILD is based on a sample of about 1000 languages; 95% confidence intervals uncertainty are calculated by bootstrapping.

Regional Regional definitions used in the ILD are slightly different: Africa/ Americas/ Asia (incl. considerations M.E.)/ Europe (incl. Russia)/ Pacific (incl. PNG and Aus)

Partners Jonathan Loh, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, UK David Harmon, George Wright Society, USA

Reference See below

Links to further Loh, J. and Harmon, D. 2014. : threatened species, information endangered languages. WWF Netherlands, Zeist, the Netherlands. Download from http://bit.ly/28YcwZF

For further information on the Index of Linguistic Diversity visit http://www.bipindicators.net/ild

Harmon, D. and Loh, J. 2010. The Index of Linguistic Diversity: A New Quantitative Measure of Trends in the Status of the World's Languages. Language Documentation and Conservation 4: 97-151.The paper is downloadable from: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/ldc/2010/

Additional information about and data sources for the ILD can be found at: www.terralingua.org/linguisticdiversity

Contact point for Name: Jonathan Loh further inquiry Email: [email protected]