Regional Red List

A Regional Red List (RRL) is a report of the threatened status of species within a certain country or region. It is based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, an inventory of the conservation status of species on a global scale. Regional Red Lists assess the risk of extinction to species within a political management unit and therefore may feed directly into national and regional planning. This project is coordinated by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and partners in national governments, universities and organizations throughout the world.

Regional Red Lists may assist countries or regions in:

The IUCN Categories and Criteria were initially designed to assess the conservation status of species globally, however there was a demand for guidelines to apply the system at the regional level. In 2003, IUCN developed a set of transparent, quantitative criteria to assess the conservation status of species at the regional and national level. This approach is now being applied in many countries throughout the world.

Recently, Regional Red Lists have been completed for Mongolian Mammals and Fishes. These have also been accompanied by Summary Conservation Action Plans, detailing recommended conservation measures for each threatened species.

A Regional Red List may be created by any country or organisation by following the clear, repeatable protocol. The process is as follows:

Summary of 2006 IUCN Red List categories.

In April 2002 at the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 188 nations committed themselves to actions to “…achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national levels…”.

When a Regional Red List is compiled at regular intervals, it can provide information about how the status of the region’s biodiversity is changing over time. This information may be useful to policy makers, conservationists, and the general public, as it may assist countries in meeting their obligation to the CBD.

Currently, a global network of countries and individuals working on Regional Red Lists is being developed. This will include a centralised online database where Regional Red List assessments and Action Plans can be stored, managed, and made accessible. With this regional network there will be opportunities to learn from each other’s experiences in applying the IUCN Categories and Criteria and in using this information for conservation planning and priority setting.

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