Celebrating 50 Years of The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Throughout 2014 we are celebrating the significant contribution of The

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in guiding conservation action and

policy decisions over the past 50 years. The IUCN Red list is an

invaluable conservation resource, a health check for our planet - a

Barometer of Life.

The IUCN Red List is the world's most comprehensive information source

on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species

and their links to livelihoods. Far more than a list of species and

their status, the IUCN Red List is a powerful tool to inform and

catalyse action for biodiversity conservation and policy change,

critical to protecting the natural resources we need to survive. It

provides information on population size and trends, geographic range

and habitat needs of species.

Many species groups including mammals, amphibians, birds, reef

building corals and conifers have been comprehensively assessed.

However, there is much more to be done and increased investment is

needed urgently to build The IUCN Red List into a more complete

'Barometer of Life'. To do this we need to increase the number of

species assessed from the current count of 71,576 to at least 160,000

by 2020, improving the taxonomic coverage and thus providing a

stronger base to enable better conservation and policy decisions.

http://www.iucnredlist.org/