State Indicators

Mexican cetacean species at risk

Due to the paucity of data on the state of populations of plant and animal species living in a given country or region, lists of species at risk have often been used by government agencies, international organizations and NGOs as indicators of the state of biodiversity. Under this scheme, threatened and endangered species represent the current or potential loss of biodiversity in a given country or region (GESAMP, 1995; UNCSD, 1995). The Number of Mexican cetacean species at risk is used as an indicator of the conservation state of the cetacean species inhabiting the country’s seas; this sort of indicator is widely recommended by international organizations (e. g., ONU, 2007; OECD, 2008) and environmental ministries of many countries, including Mexico.

State of the gray and humpback whales and vaquita populations

Among the various indicators that can be used to describe the conservation state of wild animal and plant populations, the changes in abundance over time might be most useful to show trends in the state of these populations. In this sense, the indicator Population size of humpback and gray whales and vaquita denotes the conservation state of populations of these species in the country’s waters.