Monday 1 June 2015

IUCN Red List


  • Founded in 1964
  • It is the largest and most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species
  • According to IUCN (1996), the stated goals of the Red List are to
    1. Provide science based information on status of species and subspecies at a global level
    2. Draw attention to the magnitude and importance of threatened biodiversity
    3. Influence national and international policy and decision-making
    4. Provide information to guide actions to conserve biological diversity
  • Species are classified by the IUCN Red List into nine groups on criteria such as:
    1. Rate of decline
    2. Population size
    3. Area of geographic distribution
    4. Degree of population and distribution fragmentation.
  • 9 groups are:
    1. Extinct (EX) – No known individuals remaining.
    2. Extinct in the wild (EW) – Known only to survive in captivity, or as a naturalised population outside its historic range.
    3. Critically endangered (CR) – Extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
    4. Endangered (EN) – High risk of extinction in the wild.
    5. Vulnerable (VU) – High risk of endangerment in the wild.
    6. Near threatened (NT) – Likely to become endangered in the near future.
    7. Least concern (LC) – Lowest risk. Does not qualify for a more at risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.
    8. Data deficient (DD) – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction.
    9. Not evaluated (NE) – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria.
  • When discussing the IUCN Red List, the official term "threatened" is a grouping of three categories (See above Image)

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