Context: The recently published study of multi-taxon global freshwater fauna assessment has identified Western Ghats as a hotspot of threatened freshwater species.

• It is the first-ever multi-taxon global freshwater fauna assessment for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species led by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Key-findings 

• Coverage – 23,496 Decapod crustaceans, Fishes and Odonates.

• Findings – It revealed that a staggering 1/4th of the freshwater fauna are threatened with extinction, and a record of 89 confirmed and 187 suspected extinctions since 1500 AD.

• Threat in Western Ghats – It harbours over 300 freshwater fish species of which more than 1/3rd face extinction.

• Major Hotspots: Lake Victoria (Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), Lake Titicaca (Bolivia and Peru), Sri Lanka’s Wet Zone, and the Western Ghats (India).

• Key threatened species: Crabs, crayfishes and shrimps are at the highest risk of extinction followed by freshwater fishes 

• At least 4,294 species out of 23,496 freshwater animals are at high risk of extinction.

• Other: Areas with high water stress (where there is high demand and low supply) and areas with more eutrophication are not home to higher numbers of threatened species than areas with lower water stress and less eutrophication.

• Eutrophication refer to an excess of nutrients in the water leads to overgrowth of algae and plants

About Freshwater Landscapes

• Status: These are home to 10% of all known species on Earth.

• Significance: Provides safe drinking water, livelihoods, flood control and climate change mitigation. 

Threat Faced: 

• Pollution: Mainly from agriculture and forestry.

• Degradation: E.g. land conversion for agricultural use, water extraction and the construction of dams. 

• Other: Overfishing and the introduction of invasive alien species.

About Western Ghats

• Western Ghats is the only region in Asia with 2 endemic families of freshwater fishes which are exclusively found in groundwater and subterranean systems.

• The iconic Humpbacked mahseer, a critically endangered megafish that can grow up to weigh 60 kg, was found in Western ghats.

About IUCN (1948)

• Objective:  provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

• Membership: It is a membership Union composed of both government and civil society organisations.

• HQ: Gland, Switzerland