Plants for life: - Sacred Seeds Sanctuary

Annex 6: The 2007 IUCN Red List of threatened species categories (basic definitions)Extinct (EX)Extinct in the Wild (EW)Critically Endangered (CR)EvaluatedThe structure of the categories (2001 Categories and Criteria, version 3.1)EX – ExtinctA taxon is Extinct when there is noreasonable doubt that the last individualhas died. A taxon is presumed Extinctwhen exhaustive surveys in known and/orexpected habitat, at appropriate times(diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout itshistoric range have failed to record anindividual. Surveys should be over a timeframe appropriate to the taxon’s life cycleand life form.EW – Extinct in the wildAdequate dataA taxon is Extinct in the Wild when it isknown only to survive in cultivation, incaptivity or as a naturalized population (orpopulations) well outside the past range.A taxon is presumed Extinct in the Wildwhen exhaustive surveys in known and/orexpected habitat, at appropriate times(diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout itshistoric range have failed to record anindividual. Surveys should be over a timeframe appropriate to the taxon’s life cycleand life form.CR – Critically EndangeredNot Evaluated (NE)A taxon is Critically Endangered when thebest available evidence indicates that itmeets any of the criteria for CriticallyEndangered and it is therefore consideredto be facing an extremely high risk ofextinction in the wild.ThreatenedData Deficient (DD)EN - EndangeredA taxon is Endangered when the bestavailable evidence indicates that it meetsany of the criteria for Endangered and itis therefore considered to be facing avery high risk of extinction in the wild.VU - VulnerableEndangered (EN)Vulnerable (VU)Near Threatened (NT)Least Concern (LC)A taxon is Vulnerable when the bestavailable evidence indicates that it meetsany of the criteria for Vulnerable, and it istherefore considered to be facing a highrisk of extinction in the wild.NT – Near threatenedA taxon is Near Threatened when it hasbeen evaluated against the criteria butdoes not qualify for Critically Endangered,Endangered or Vulnerable now, but isclose to qualifying for or is likely to qualifyfor a threatened category in the nearfuture.LR – Lower risk (from the 1994Categories and Criteria, version 2.3)A taxon is Lower Risk when it has beenevaluated, does not satisfy the criteria forany of the categories CriticallyEndangered, Endangered or Vulnerable.Taxa included in the Lower Risk categorycan be separated into threesubcategories:1. Conservation Dependent (cd). Taxawhich are the focus of a continuingtaxon-specific or habitat-specificconservation programme targetedtowards the taxon in question, thecessation of which would result in thetaxon qualifying for one of thethreatened categories above within aperiod of five years.2. Near Threatened (nt). Taxa which donot qualify for ConservationDependent, but which are close toqualifying for Vulnerable.3. Least Concern (lc). Taxa which do notqualify for Conservation Dependent orNear Threatened.LC – Least concernA taxon is Least Concern when it hasbeen evaluated against the criteria anddoes not qualify for Critically Endangered,Endangered, Vulnerable or NearThreatened. Widespread and abundanttaxa are included in this category.DD – Data deficientA taxon is Data Deficient when there isinadequate information to make a direct,or indirect, assessment of its risk ofextinction based on its distribution and/orpopulation status. A taxon in thiscategory may be well studied, and itsbiology well known, but appropriate dataon abundance and/or distribution arelacking. Data Deficient is therefore not acategory of threat. Listing of taxa in thiscategory indicates that more informationis required and acknowledges thepossibility that future research will showthat threatened classification isappropriate. It is important to makepositive use of whatever data areavailable. In many cases great careshould be exercised in choosing betweenDD and a threatened status. If the rangeof a taxon is suspected to be relativelycircumscribed, and a considerable periodof time has elapsed since the last recordof the taxon, threatened status may wellbe justified.Plants for life: Medicinal plant conservation and botanic gardens 45