Dragonfly Species Threatened Due to Wetland Destruction

Dragonflies play a large role in disease management by eating mosquitos and their larvae. But according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a number of dragonfly species are being threatened with extinction because their wetland habitats are being destroyed at a rapid rate. 

The IUCN found that 16% of the 6,000+ dragonfly species are at risk. Scientists say dragonflies are an indicator of the health of wetlands. A report published in 2018 by the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands found that between 1970 and 2015, approx 35% of the world’s wetlands were lost to agriculture and urbanization.

Craig Hilton-Taylor, head of IUCN’s Red List Unit, told Reuters, ‘There is this perverse attitude around the world that wetlands are there to be reclaimed and made more habitable for humans. That’s not reclamation, that’s destruction.’