The indicator aggregates global data on a set of keywords sourced from twitter, online newspapers, and google trends. The indicator can be calculated across various temporal and spatial scales. There are 22 keywords collected across 31 languages.
The indicator is designed to allow policymakers to examine how the public in a given country has engaged with various biodiversity-related themes over time and in comparison to other countries. For example, the indicator detected spikes in public engagement for terms like “Biodiveristy” and “Climate Change” across many different platforms and countries on world biodiversity day and with the release of the October 2018 IPCC special report.
The indicator was funded in mid 2017, and throughout 2017 was developed and prototyped. By November 2017, a dashboard was established to officially display and calculate the indicator at BiodiversityEngagementIndicator.com. After data had been collected for several months, the indicator was published in early 2019 in Biological Conservation (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.12.004).