"Currently no single, agreed list of species is available.".
Yet there's still a lot of discussion and debate about what kind of criteria should be used for listing species on such a unified list.
A species having its name on a list matters – just like it matters who is on a school register or a guest list for a music gig.
"But it's an important step in managing and conserving all the world's species, great and small, for this and future generations."