India’s Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) score.

According to a new study, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka host a large share of India’s threatened and endemic species of amphibians, birds and mammals.

Key findings of the study:

• The three states (Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka) account for 51 per cent of the country’s species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) score.

• India’s total score: India’s total national STAR score was 41,817, of which 11,585 was for mammals, 10,843 for birds and 19,389 for amphibians.
• Global score: The global STAR score for the three species groups combined was 1,223,500.
• India's national STAR score represented
• 4 per cent of the global STAR
• 7 per cent for mammals
• 9 per cent for birds
• 6 per cent for amphibians
• The top 20 per cent of all 36 states contributed 80 per cent to the national STAR score.
• These include Kerala (20 per cent)
• Tamil Nadu (18 per cent)
• Karnataka (13 per cent)
• Arunachal Pradesh (6 per cent)
• Assam (5 per cent)
• Maharashtra (5 per cent)
• Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Indian Ocean (12 per cent)
• Lowest scoring: In contrast, the 20 states with lower STAR scores contributed only 6 per cent to the national STAR score.
  • This is because several of them are small in area and host few threatened species. 
  • Several bigger states such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Telangana, however, contributed less than 1 per cent to the national STAR score

What are the threats?

• Annual and perennial non-timber crop production.
  • Such threats alone account for 44 per cent of the total Indian STAR score.
• The next important threats are biological resource use
  • hunting and collecting birds and animals, logging and wood harvesting
  • residential and commercial development