State Indicators

Mexican species at risk

Due to the paucity of data on the state of the populations of plant and animal species living in a given country or region, lists of threatened and endangered species 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 actual or potential loss of biodiversity in a country or region (GESAMP, 1995; UNCSD, 1995). The Number of Mexican species at risk is used as an indicator of the state of the country’s biodiversity; this sort of indicator is widely recommended by international organizations (e. g., UN, 2007; OECD, 2008) and government environmental agencies of many countries, including Mexico.