The CBD Ad Hoc Technical Expert Group (AHTEG) on Indicators considered that the key issue reflected in the need for this indicator is how human activities reduce the resilience of ecosystems to withstand or recover from disasters, whether natural or human-induced disasters. There is no current work on developing such an indicator for global reporting. Some of the examples of human-induced ecosystem failure include:

•From the collapse of some marine fisheries stocks due to overfishing, with no subsequent recovery once fishing was halted or reduced. A well known example is the collapse of the Newfoundland cod stock.

• When soil erosion and land degradation reach levels beyond which plant growth and soil formation are not possible

• Bleaching or die-off of coral reefs due to high temperatures or pollution

• Aquatic and marine dead zones, caused by chemical nutrients from fertilisers and erosion, resulting in eutrophication and harmful algal blooms. When the algal blooms die off oxygen is used to decompose the algae and oxygen levels in the water are too low to permit life