IUCN Red List


The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
Formation1964
HeadquartersUnited Kingdom
Region served
International
Official language
English
Parent organization
International Union for Conservation of Nature
AffiliationsSpecies Survival Commission, Birdlife International, Conservation International, NatureServe, Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Texas A&M University, Sapienza University of Rome, Zoological Society of London, Wildscreen
Websitewww.iucnredlist.org Edit this at Wikidata

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological species.[1] It uses a set of precise criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies. These criteria are relevant to all species and all regions of the world. With its strong scientific base, the IUCN Red List is recognized as the most authoritative guide to the status of biological diversity. A series of Regional Red Lists are produced by countries or organizations, which assess the risk of extinction to species within a political management unit.

The aim of the IUCN Red List is to convey the urgency of conservation issues to the public and policy makers, as well as help the international community to reduce species extinction. According to IUCN the formally stated goals of the Red List are to provide scientifically based information on the status of species and subspecies at a global level, to draw attention to the magnitude and importance of threatened biodiversity, to influence national and international policy and decision-making, and to provide information to guide actions to conserve biological diversity.[2]

Major species assessors include BirdLife International, the Institute of Zoology (the research division of the Zoological Society of London), the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and many Specialist Groups within the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC). Collectively, assessments by these organizations and groups account for nearly half the species on the Red List.

The IUCN aims to have the category of every species re-evaluated at least every ten years, or every five years if possible. This is done in a peer reviewed manner through IUCN Species Survival Commission Specialist Groups, which are Red List Authorities responsible for a species, group of species or specific geographic area, or in the case of BirdLife International, an entire class (Aves).[3]

The number of species which have been assessed for the Red List has been increasing over time.[4] As of 2019, of 105,000 species surveyed, 28,338 are considered at risk of extinction because of human activity, in particular overfishing, hunting, and land development.[5]

  1. ^ "Background & History". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  2. ^ CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), Joint Meeting of the Animals and Plants Committees, Shepherdstown (United States of America), 7–9 December 2000, Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  3. ^ "Red List Overview". IUCN Red List. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Archived from the original on 30 June 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ Lovejoy, Thomas E. (8 August 2017). "Extinction tsunami can be avoided". PNAS. 114 (32): 8840–8841. Bibcode:2017PNAS..114.8440L. doi:10.1073/pnas.1711074114. PMC 5559057. PMID 28747527.
  5. ^ Aguilera, Jasmine (18 July 2019). "Almost 30,000 Species Face Extinction Because of Human Activity". Time. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.

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