Optimizing application of the Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) metric in meeting national biodiversity conservation targets

Abstract The Species Threat Abatement and Restoration (STAR) metric was developed to quantify the contributions that abating threats (STAR-T) and restoring habitats (STAR-R) offer towards reducing global species extinction risk. Currently, global level estimated STAR score is calculated for 5,359 vertebrate species spanning 195 countries, using global level data. Although the STAR metric is scalable across species, threats and geographies, disaggregating the global STAR scores down to national level may be prone to error due to spatial variations in species and threats presence. Thus, verification based on national level data is needed. Yet it may not always be possible to conduct verification due to lack of data in developing countries. Here, we used simple calibration and verification strategies to show how to overcome such setbacks and optimize application of the metric at national scale for Ethiopia. We revised the species and threats lists included in the global level estimated STAR, (re)calculated STAR scores and ranked the threats. Then, we compared consistency of this threat ranking with threat ranking based on national biodiversity experts’ opinions. Our total estimated STAR-T and STAR-R scores for Ethiopia were 12504.65 and 5360.53, respectively. Crop and livestock productions appeared to be the most impactful threats to the species. We found strong correlation in threat ranks between the STAR score and experts’ opinion. We conclude that simple verification processes can optimise the application of the STAR metric at national level to support conservation actions and achieve science-based objectives.