In Spain, according to data from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, there are currently a total of 193 critically endangered species, 418 endangered species, and 498 vulnerable species. Given this scenario, the Macaronesian Species Survival Center (CSSM) of Loro Parque Fundación, and the Spanish Committee of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, have published the report “State of Biodiversity in Spain 2023.”
The objective of this comprehensive document is to collaborate in the implementation, throughout the national territory, of the so-called Conservation Cycle defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A series of actions that represent hope for the preservation of threatened species.
The 2019 report of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) warns unequivocally of the very real possibility of the disappearance of one million species in the coming decades. An ecological and environmental disaster that even the World Economic Forum has incorporated into its global risk report for the world economy this year.
In this context, May 22, International Day for Biological Diversity, has been chosen to present the report and the project that will give visibility to the situation of critically endangered species in all autonomous communities. In the case of Andalusia, the project has the collaboration of the Spanish Committee of the IUCN, the Córdoba Zoo Conservation Center, Oasys MiniHollywood and the Seville Aquarium, which will develop the educational and conservation project.
An essential catalog for developing actions to defend the natural environment
The creation of this exhaustive catalog represents an enormous step in the work towards developing protection actions for threatened species as it involves a unification of existing scientific data and criteria. When comparing the threatened species according to the IUCN Red List with those protected by the National Catalog of Threatened Species or by the catalogs belonging to the autonomous communities, it is observed that,
globally, there is a 65% discordance. In other words, more than half of the species considered threatened by the IUCN are not classified in the national or regional catalogs, or they are classified with a different category than those established by the Red List. This discrepancy makes evident the need to update the scientific information on these species in the Red List and re-evaluate them, so that the need to update or not the catalogs can be substantiated, and thus harmonize the indicators of biodiversity loss with their conservation tools.
The hotspots of species loss in Spain
Several hotspots of critically threatened biodiversity have also been detected within our territory. These are the areas where a greater number of critically endangered species are concentrated, according to the IUCN, which require greater attention and protection. Among them, the Doñana National Park (Andalusia), the Serranía de Cuenca Natural Park (Castilla la Mancha), the Sierra de Espadán Natural Park (Valencia), the Jandía Natural Park
(Fuerteventura, Canary Islands), the Doramas Natural Park (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands), the Garajonay National Park (La Gomera, Canary Islands), Tibataje and Las Playas (El Hierro, Canary Islands) stand out.
Finally, the report also compares the protected spaces at the regional/national/international level with the Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), which are areas designated by the IUCN for significantly contributing to the global persistence of biodiversity. As a result of the analysis, a 64.4% overlap was found between both figures, indicating that almost two-thirds of the areas designated as KBAs are within the different figures of territory protection, and just over a third would be outside.
The situation in Andalusia
In Andalusia, there are 59 Critically Endangered species and 147 Endangered species. The most threatened taxonomic group (considering the Critically Endangered and Endangered categories) are plants with 74 species, followed by arthropods with 51, and cartilaginous fish with 32. For example, in our community, one of the arthropods that is critically endangered is the fairy shrimp (Linderiella baetica), an endemic crustacean of Andalusia up to 15mm long and discovered in 2007 in temporary
rain pools in Cádiz. This species is found in a single location and is threatened due to increasing urbanization and pollution, which leads to a decrease in the quality of its habitat.
Regarding the comparative analysis between the IUCN Red List and the Andalusian
Catalog of Threatened Species, a 79.6% discordance was found between the two catalogs, with the groups of fish, reptiles, mammals, fungi, and amphibians showing the greatest discordance, meaning that their level of protection does not match the IUCN threat level. Additionally, two biodiversity hotspots critically threatened in Andalusia were identified: Doñana National Park, including the surroundings of the Guadalquivir River, and Sierra Nevada National Park. When comparing protected areas with Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), an overlap of 55.5% was obtained, which means that 45.5% of KBAs in Andalusia are not within protected natural areas.
The citizen science educational project, promoted by the collaborators of this project in Andalusia (Spanish Committee of the IUCN, Córdoba Zoo Conservation Center, Oasys MiniHollywood, and the Seville Aquarium), will be carried out through the iNaturalist application. This program aims to raise awareness and increase public sensitivity to biodiversity, as well as serve as a tool to collect information about threatened species, which will be very useful for their conservation.