Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity

The Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity (SI) is a self-assessment tool designed to help cities evaluate and monitor their biodiversity conservation efforts over time.

Also known as the City Biodiversity Index (CBI), this tool enables cities to measure their progress against their own baselines, ensuring that conservation actions are effective and targeted.

We developed and launched the Index in 2008 together with our partners in the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Global Partnership for Local and Subnational Action for Biodiversity. The Index was updated in September 2021.

The Index consists of 2 parts:

• "Profile of the City": Background information about the city that sets the context for the application, such as climate, geography, location, size, population and so on.
• 28 indicators: These measure native biodiversity, ecosystem services and biodiversity governance and management.
  • The tool uses a quantitative scoring system, with each indicator scored between 0 and 4 points for a maximum score of 112 points. The first time a city applies the SI establishes a baseline score for future comparison, helping the city track its biodiversity conservation progress over time.

About the Handbook on Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity

Benefits of the Index

Cities that have used the Index have seen benefits such as:

• Capacity building: The process helps build capacity and networking opportunities in biodiversity conservation.
• Guidance for planning: The indicators serve as guidelines for biodiversity conservation and master planning of cities.
• Prioritisation: Quantitative scoring helps set priorities for conservation actions and budget allocation.

Related resources

For more information, explore the following resources:

World Cities Summit 2012 Panel Discussion: discussion by a distinguished panel on what it takes to make cities biodiverse

Singapore: Biophilic City from a video series by the Biophilic Cities Network