Odonata

The Eastern Mediterranean region supports just over 4.4% of the global human population yet contains only 1.1% of its renewable water resources, which are under constant threat from the impacts of unsustainable water withdrawal, dam development and climate change.

Our knowledge of species diversity within the inland waters of Indo-Burma is poorly documented and the region remains relatively under-surveyed.

This report presents a review of the conservation status of 165 species of dragonflies found in the Mediterranean basin, according to the criteria of the regional IUCN Red List.

One of the main reasons cited for inadequate representation of biodiversity in the development processes is a lack of readily available information on inland water taxa.

This assessment is the first overview of the conservation status of 877 northern African freshwater species belonging to five taxonomic groups—fish, molluscs, dragonflies and damselflies, freshwater crabs and aquatic plants—in accordance with the IUCN regional Red List guidelines.

This volume gives the most up-to-date information on the distributions and conservation status of species in all inland water ecosystems across mainland continental Africa and the reasons behind their declining status.

Dragonflies, those beautiful and colourful creatures which can often be seen hovering above water, pre-date dinosaurs. Today, some 5,000 species have been described and many more await discovery and description.