IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species provides scientific evidence for researchers and policy-makers alike in an effort to preserve biodiversity and prevent extinctions.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is a scientific database that informs researchers and policy-makers alike in their efforts to preserve biodiversity and protect threatened species. This year, the database turned 53 years old.

What is it?

The IUCN Red List plays a valuable role in the conservation and protection of species. At its core, the list is a database tracks population sizes, facts, and threats of species around the world. The database serves as a prioritization guide for conservation and extinction prevention. When the list was initially created, it aimed to show the global status of a species, but now the lists’ criteria also include regional threats to species.

How does it work?

Due to the scientific nature of the list, an extensive set of criteria and data must be evaluated to list a species. Qualifications include the rate of decline, species distribution, number of mature individuals left, and the likelihood of their extinction over a given period of time. These assessments are conducted by experts in the field and then reviewed by peers.

Based on the data collected, species are categorized into one of seven categories from Least Concern to Extinct. From these categories Critically Endangered, Endangered, and Vulnerable are considered “threatened categories”. Threatened categories indicate that if no action is taken to conserve the species, they are likely to go regionally or globally Extinct. Currently IUCN lists 83,000 species that have been assessed. Their goal is to list 160,000 species by 2020.

How does it help?

The value of the Red List lies in the science behind it. It helps to inform conservation efforts of species around the world and to study the biodiversity. For over 50 years, the Red List has worked to monitor the health of species populations and continues to show where there is lacking data. If a species cannot be properly assessed, then more research needs to be done to determine whether it is at risk of Extinction. The Red List is now considered an important tool for the assessment of global biodiversity and informs both researchers and policy-makers in their efforts to prevent extinctions.

Featured photo: Critically Endangered Mona Skink. Credit: Tommy Hall/Island Conservation
Read the original article at The Daily Star