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Concern amphibian updates), as well as an ongoing review of
62 assessments made locally for Cuban species, to ensure
their compatibility with the global IUCN Red List and the
participation of the Amphibian RLA.
More IUCN Red List Assessments are prepared at
national and, where appropriate, at regional scales
(The ongoing development of national and regional
Red Lists is catalysed)
The IUCN Global Species Programme is working on regional
assessment projects in Europe (involving GSP staff in the RLU,
MBU, HQ and at the Brussels office) and in the Mediterranean
(in collaboration with colleagues in the IUCN Centre for
Mediterranean Cooperation in Malaga, Spain). Marine regional
assessments are being conducted by the MBU and are
reported on elsewhere.
Europe: IUCN is currently producing European Red Lists for
pollinators (2,000 bees), 300 priority medicinal plants, 1,200
marine fishes and 520 birds (in collaboration with BirdLife). In
the last two updates, 253 bee assessments were published
(67 global) as well as 99 plant assessments (only three global).
The focus on medicinal plants and pollinators underscores the
value of The IUCN Red List in providing vital information on
factors that inform the state of human well-being.
Country factsheets showcasing the proportion of species that
are threatened at the European level were developed for the 27
EU Member States, based on the results of the European Red
Lists completed so far. These factsheets were useful in
promoting the use of the European Red List data and inform
governments about their responsibility to take action to protect
European threatened species.
Mediterranean: Red List work in the Mediterranean is still
very much in the initial phases of data compilation. Work is
underway on a diverse range of taxonomic groups including:
1,420 endemic plants (mostly monocots) which will be a
significant contribution to The IUCN Red List once completed,
222 dung beetles, 550 saproxylic beetles, and 164 anthozoans
(not just corals but also sea anemones and other related
species). A workshop involving 30 experts was held in Malaga
in February 2013 to assess 468 butterflies. Work to finalize
these assessments is underway. In addition, 500 species of
freshwater fishes, molluscs and aquatic plants from the
Eastern Mediterranean were assessed during a workshop held
in Jordan in April, 2013.
Reassessments of all the world’s amphibians, birds and
mammals are underway to enable the next IUCN Red List Index
data point to be calculated. A number of the reassessment and
assessment projects are starting to use online discussion
forums to help speed up the process and reduce the costs of
holding expensive workshops; these forums are reported on
elsewhere. Each update of The IUCN Red List includes these
reassessments as they are completed, rather than being held
back as in the past, to be published altogether at one time. The
2013.1 update included many conifer reassessments,
completing the second complete reassessment of all conifer
species. The calculation of the Red List Index is underway and
this will be published in 2014. Initial results show that there are
significant declines in this taxonomic group with the proportion
threatened having increased from 30 to 34% since 1998, partly
as a result of the emergence of new diseases.
The IUCN Red List is a scientifically rigorous tool for
conservation (The IUCN Red List contains the necessary
information to make it a reliable tool for informing
biodiversity conservation)
A number of the key documents supporting The IUCN Red List
process have been revised or updated since September 2012.
Many of these changes were required to ensure that all
documents conformed with ‘The Rules of Procedure: IUCN
Red List Assessment Process 2013–2016’, which were
approved by the SSC Steering Committee. The IUCN Red List
Categories and Criteria booklet was republished with revised
Annexes (in all three official languages); the Guidelines for
Using The IUCN Red List Categories version 10.1 was released
in September 2013 (this key document is being translated into
French and Spanish); the Guidelines for Application of IUCN
Red List Criteria at Regional levels ver. 4 was finalized and
published (in all three official languages); the ‘Documentation
Standards and Consistency Checks for IUCN Red List
Assessments and Species Accounts’ has been completely
revised and updated and the draft of version 2.0 is available.
All the key documents about The IUCN Red List processes
and policies concerning use of the data, etc. are now
available through a new Key Documents page on The IUCN
Red List website.
Yvonne Sadovy, Co-Chair of the IUCN SSC Grouper and Wrasse Specialist
Group, studying the Near Threatened Camouflage Grouper (Epinephelus
polyphekadion) in a spawning aggregation. © Eric Clua.
Marine Biodiversity Unit: Four regional workshops were
completed or will be completed in 2013, including fishes of the
Caribbean, Eastern Central Atlantic, European, and Persian
Gulf, to assess approximately 1,620 species. The Caribbean
and Eastern Central Atlantic initiatives are nearly complete: out
of a combined total of over 2,600 species, less than 500
remain unevaluated. The European and Persian Gulf initiatives
represent geographic expansions of the MBU in 2013.
IUCN Red List Index (Wide use of the Red List Index
(RLI) as an indicator for monitoring trends in the status
of species groups is developed and promoted)
12 IUCN species Annual Report 2013