Framework · Glossary
State of nature
Also: state-of-nature, state of nature metrics
Definition
The condition and extent of ecosystems together with species population size and extinction risk: the composite picture of nature that the disclosure frameworks ask organisations to baseline and track. Two of its components, condition and extent, are ecosystem-level; the third is species-level.
The state of nature is the composite measure the nature-disclosure frameworks are built around. TNFD defines it as the condition and extent of ecosystems plus species population size and extinction risk, noting that this builds on the approach of the UN SEEA. It is the thing the Science Based Targets Network asks companies to baseline before setting targets, and the thing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework’s Goal A is written to protect.
The bodies standardising the measurement are converging on a consistent shape. As of 2026, the Nature Positive Initiative has settled on four headline state-of-nature indicators: ecosystem extent, ecosystem condition at the site level, ecosystem condition at the landscape level, and species extinction risk. Two of the four are condition.
The recurring pattern across the frameworks is extent, condition and species, every time, with the metric for condition always left to the preparer to source. EcoIntel addresses the two ecosystem-level halves directly: extent through parcel geometry, and condition through the Land Health Score. The species half is the job of a field survey or an environmental-DNA sample, which a continuous condition layer makes more affordable and better targeted.