Costa Rica adds 5,000 species to biodiversity index

More than 5,000 species of plants and animals have been added to Costa Rica’s Biodiversity Index, a catalogue of all flora and fauna found in the country. The addition brings the total number of species living in Costa Rica to approximately 92,000.

Some of the newly listed species were recently discovered for the first time. Others were known, but recently reclassified as new species. 

The new additions include 49 birds, two amphibians, one mammal and more than 650 mushrooms.

“We will use the index as a tool for planning our overall biodiversity strategy for 2014-2020,” Marta Jiménez, executive director of the National Commission for Biodiversity Management, told The Tico Times.

According to Jiménez, the new plan will lay out five strategies to achieve 20 goals for maintaining Costa Rica’s biodiversity. The plan will work to mitigate increasing threats to biodiversity like overpopulation, deforestation, pollution and climate change as well as set guidelines for wildlife and forestry management.

The relatively small country of Costa Rica is home to nearly 4.5 percent of the world’s biodiversity.