The pressures on biodiversity continue to mount and the trends in global biodiversity are of extreme concern.The target set by parties to the CBD of reducing the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010 is broadly acknowledged not to have been met.Furthermore, reliable information on many of the proposed indicators was not available at a global scale.The 2020 Aichi targets, however, are providing new opportunities for biodiversity monitoring.A report by the Group on Earth Observations Biodiversity Observation Network (GEO BON) on the Adequacy of Biodiversity Observation Systems to support these targets, revealed that evidence-based indicators were technically feasible for most of the targets, but were only in place at a global scale for a minority.A broadly-based understanding is emerging of the need for a comprehensive and integrated observation system, for understanding the status of, and trends in, biodiversity.Better biodiversity data will improve the scientific assessments that, in turn, inform biodiversity policy and management at the global, national and local levels.GEO BON has as its aim the integration of existing local and regional biodiversity monitoring initiatives and facilitation of the development of new monitoring programs.GEO BON is furthermore defining a set of Essential Biodiversity Variables (EBVs) as an analogue to the Essential Climate Variables defined by the Global Climate Observing System.They represent a relatively small set of variables that should be measured both on the ground and by remote sensing to track biodiversity change.The presentation will elaborate on these initiatives and highlight some of the activities that GEO BON has been involved with in China.