Destruction of wetlands puts 16% of dragonfly species at risk of extinction

The warning comes in the latest update of the IUCN Red List of threatened species – which for the first time now has more than 40,000 species at risk of extinction

The assessment of 6,016 species of dragonflies and damselflies finds that 16% are threatened as freshwater breeding grounds, such as marshes, swamps and free-flowing rivers, increasingly deteriorate. Picture: Andre Guenther/PA

Destruction and damage to wetlands and rivers is putting one in six dragonfly species at risk of extinction, the first global assessment of them has found.

The warning comes in the latest update of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species – which for the first time now has more than 40,000 species at risk of extinction.