IUCN - The World Conservation Union, through its Species Survival Commission (SSC) has for more than four decades been assessing the conservation status of species, subspecies, varieties and even selected subpopulations on a global scale in order to highlight taxa threatened with extinction, and therefore promote their conservation. Although today we are operating in a very different political, economic, social and ecological world from that when the first IUCN Red Data Book was produced, the SSC remains firmly committed to providing the world with the most objective, scientifically-based information on the current status of globally threatened biodiversity. The taxa assessed for the IUCN Red List are the bearers of genetic diversity and the building blocks of ecosystems, and information on their conservation status and distribution provides the foundation for making informed decisions about conserving biodiversity from local to global levels.
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on taxa that have been globally evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. This system is designed to determine the relative risk of extinction, and the main purpose of the IUCN Red List is to catalogue and highlight those taxa that are facing a higher risk of global extinction (i.e. those listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable). The IUCN Red List also includes information on taxa that are categorized as Extinct or Extinct in the Wild; on taxa that cannot be evaluated because of insufficient information (i.e. are Data Deficient); and on taxa that are either close to meeting the threatened thresholds or that would be threatened were it not for an ongoing taxon-specific conservation programme (i.e. are Near Threatened).
Taxa that have been evaluated to have a low risk of extinction are classified as Least Concern. The Least Concern assessments did not appear on IUCN Red Lists produced before 2003 (except for 225 cases in 1996) because the main focus has been on threatened species. However, for the sake of transparency and to place threatened assessments in context, all Least Concern assessments are now included. Unfortunately, there has not been a formal reporting process in place to capture all Least Concern assessments; hence the list provided is incomplete. A process to capture the Least Concern listings has begun (at the species level only), but this is likely to take several years to complete.
Search the 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species here.
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