Large share of India’s threatened endemic species in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka: Study

Large share of India’s threatened endemic species in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka: Study

Subject: Environment

Context- Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka host a large share of India’s threatened and endemic species of amphibians, birds and mammals, according to a new study.

Concept-

• The three states account for 51 per cent of the country’s species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) score, noted the study published in Environmental Research Letters April 25, 2022.
• A higher STAR score indicates greater presence of threatened species.

About STAR Score

• The species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) score is a measure of the contribution that investments can make to reduce species extinction
• It can help national and subnational governments, cities and other entities target their investments and activities to achieve conservation outcomes- International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• STAR was previously known as the Biodiversity Return on Investment Metric (BRIM).
• The STAR shows ex-ante (potential) and ex-post (achieved) impacts of investments at a range of scales and over a range of timeframes.
• The STAR shows how interventions deliver reductions in pressure that can result in changes to the Red List Index (RLI), which is used as the biodiversity indicator for the Sustainable Development Goals, the Aichi Targets and the United Nations System for Environmental-Economic Accounting.