There are more than 230 thousand species of butterflies in the world of which we only know the status of about 1%, so the Friend of the Earth organization seeks to change this through the help of the world’s population with something as simple and easy as a photograph.
The project consists of taking a close-up photo of the butterfly, avoiding disturbing it, and sending it to Whatsapp (+39 351 252 2520) together with the position coordinates, later the name of the species will be made known and the information will be archived on an interactive map interactive and a database.
Better conservation measures
This will allow the creation of statistics to implement better conservation measures, in addition, that each month the butterfly conservation hero who has provided the highest number of images will be awarded.
Habitat loss is one of the main causes of species decline, with a recent study even revealing that butterfly populations halved in the last decade alone. For example, the population of the western monarch butterfly was reduced by 98%. So far, the census has revealed a large number of butterfly species outside their original habitat. Currently, 1,110 photographs of butterfly and moth species have been received from 14 countries around the world.
Natural habitats threatened
According to the World Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Italy is the European country with the largest variety of butterflies, around 60% of the total species present on the continent, of which 4% are unfortunately at risk of extinction due to intensive agricultural practices that threaten their natural habitats and the consequences of climate change.
Among the initiatives in which Friend of the Earth has ventured to protect some species of vulnerable butterflies, is through their ex situ reproduction and their subsequent reintegration into nature. Paolo Bray, director and founder of the World Sustainability Organization, said that this environmental initiative seeks to involve as many people as possible around the world, so that they join this census that wants to discover more species of butterflies and create conservation policies
