Volunteer observers working for organisations conducting wildlife surveys

There has been a major increase in the past decade in the number of volunteers carrying out wildlife surveys for organisations.

Trends

Volunteer-based wildlife organisations keep track of the distribution of flora and fauna and of trends in their numbers. The number of active volunteers working for these organisations has increased over the past decade and now stands at more than 13 000.

Such organisations play a major role in the Ecological Monitoring Network, the partnership between bodies working to develop and maintain wildlife monitoring networks in the Netherlands.

Technical note

The indicator gives the number of active volunteers involved in the survey projects run by the following organisations (with the relevant species group between brackets): SOVON Vogelonderzoek Nederland (birds), VZZ (Vereniging voor Zoogdierkunde en Zoogdierbescherming; mammals), NMV (Nederlandse Mycologische Vereniging; fungi), Stichting Anemoon (marine animals), Stichting RAVON (reptiles, amphibians and fish), EIS (European Invertebrate Survey Nederland; invertebrates), the Vlinderstichting (Lepidoptera and dragonflies) and FLORON (Stichting Floristisch Onderzoek Nederland; higher plants). The information (May 2001) is from the umbrella organisation VOFF (Vereniging voor Flora en Fauna Onderzoek).

The sharp increase in the number of SOVON volunteers in 2001 was largely due to the introduction of a different way of classifying those who regularly conduct ornithological surveys and those who only do so occasionally.