The volume and the CD report more than 500,000 distribution data of about 10,000 terrestrial and freshwater species of the Ita- lian fauna. Among them, the project “Checklist and distribution of the Italian fauna”, the results of which are presented and discussed in this volume, represents the most complete knowledge available on the fauna of a given country. For this purpose the Italian Ministry for the Environment and Territory and the Nature Protec- tion Division supported in the last years several projects aimed at the improvement of the scientific knowledge of the various components of biodiversity of Italy. Conservation of biodiversity in general, and of animal biodiversity in particular, can not be obtained without a good knowledge of what we want to protect. Ten years later, in 2002, the World Conference for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg defined a precise target: to reduce the biodiversity loss by 2010, thus the countdown has already started. In fact, Italy together with another 180 countries ratified the Rio de Janeiro Convention on Biodiversity, which in 1992 established at worldwide level the intrinsic value of biodiversity. This high biodiversity is a privilege, but also a responsibility: its protection is one of our challen- ges and is a goal that everybody should take aim at. Italy has a very rich fauna, with more than 57,000 species recorded so far.
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