Log in

You will be redirected to IUCN Accounts to input your credentials. After log in you will be redirected back to this site.

Rest assured your personal data resides with IUCN and IUCN only. For more information please review our Data policy.

WCC 2012 Res 017 - Activity Report

Submitted by hiltonc on Sat, 09/05/2015 - 13:50
General Information
Enhancing the usefulness of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
IUCN Constituent: 
Cambridge Office
IUCN Constituent type: 
IUCN Secretariat
Period covered: 
2015
Geographic scope: 
Global
In implementing this Resolution your organization has worked/consulted with...
IUCN Members: 
BirdLife International / United Kingdom
Conservation International ( CI ) / United States of America
NatureServe / United States of America
New Zealand Conservation Authority / New Zealand
7D5022D1-B6A3-E011-96D3-002655853524
Wildscreen / United Kingdom
Zoological Society of London ( ZSL ) / United Kingdom
IUCN Commissions: 
IUCN Species Survival Commission 2013-2016 (SSC)
IUCN Secretariat: 
Yes
Implementation
Indicate and briefly describe any actions that have been carried out to implement this Resolution: 
ActionDescription
Capacity-buildingA Training Red List Trainers workshop was held in Cambridge, UK in July 2015. There were 9 participants at the workshop bring the total number of trained trainers up to 45 people. Almost half (21) of these are in the SSC network with the other half being in the Species Programme (8), Regional Offices (6) and Red List Partners (7).
Convene stakeholders/NetworkingThe Red List Committee and other relevant SSC Conservation Sub-Committees met during 2015 and reviewed progress with the Red List Strategic PLan 2013-2020; targets were updated and revised where relevant. Overall there is good progress towards achieving the targets.
Convene stakeholders/NetworkingThe process to renew the Red List Partnership has started and options to expand the Partnership are under consideration.
Scientific/technical activitiesMost of the global assessments on the IUCN Red List are now available as PDF accounts each with its own unique DOI number. The IUCN Red List has thus effectively become an online journal. The work to do this has resulted in additional information being made available in the species accounts both in the PDFs and the species fact sheets on the website.
Scientific/technical activitiesSupport is being provided to national Red List initiatives in Bangladesh, Jordan and South Africa and support for regional assessments continues in Europe (through a new Life+ project) and in the Mediterranean.
Scientific/technical activitiesThe Red List continues to grow (77,340 species) and the taxonomic coverage is improving with an emphasis on plants, invertebrates, marine organisms and fungi. The Red List Index has been calculated for cycads and the one for conifers is underway. All Cactaceae have been assessed and a publication highlighting threats to arid-land species is in press.
Scientific/technical activitiesThere are ongoing enhancements to the Species Information Service database, but the most notable new change was the development of a Data Uploader function. This will enable assessments held in external database systems to be imported into SIS. The development was done in close collaboration with RBG Kew using the Brahms database that they use as a pilot test case.
Please report on the result /achievement of the actions taken: 
Draft guidelines on the harvesting of threatened species have been prepared and circulated for comment. Once finalised and accepted, these will be incorporated as an Annex into the SSC Guidelines for Appropriate Uses of IUCN Red List Data. The network of trained Red List Trainers continues to grow. The Red List Strategic Plan 2013-2020 is under review and all targets are being updated and revised where necessary; overall there has been good progress despite very limited resources. This is shown through the continued growth of the number of species on the IUCN Red List and the growing numbers of plants, invertebrates, marine organisms and fungi that are being assessed. A major achievement in 2015 was the creation of PDF accounts for all global assessments on the IUCN Red List each with a unique DOI number making them permanently citable and retrievable. The SIS database system has been enhanced through the development of a Data Uploader function to expedite bulk uploads of assessments from external database systems; this is a significant new development to help us reach the 160,000 barometer of life target. National and regional assessment initiatives are supported where possible.
What challenges have you encountered in implementing this Resolution and what measures have you taken to overcome them?: 
Fund raising efforts as part of the 50th Red List Anniversary celebrations in 2014 have helped to bring in some much resources to help address some of the items under the 2nd Operative Recommendation. The Red List Committee has agreed on the allocation of these funds to achieve diferent components of the Strategic Plan and the funds should be made available in late 2015.
Identify and briefly describe what future actions are planned for the implementation of this Resolution: 
Future ActionDescription
Convene stakeholders/NetworkingA meeting between members of the Red List Standards & Petitions Subcommittee with the proponents of the clause about insular and island endemics is due to take place in late November 2015 in Sydney, Australia. The aim of this meeting is to work through and resolve the issues raised.
Convene stakeholders/NetworkingThe draft guidelines on harvesting of threatened species will be presented and discussed at the IUCN SSC Leaders Meeting taking place in Abu Dhabi in mid-September 2015, after which any further comments will be incorporated and a final version prepared for incorporation as an Annex to the SSC Guidelines for Appropriate Uses of IUCN Red List Data.
FundraisingA concerted effort is required to secure the funding needed to undertake all the technological changes and improvements to both SIS and the Red List website. These efforts will seek to build financial sustainability for the IUCN Red List
Scientific/technical activitiesActivities to review, revise and implement the Red List Strategic Plan are planned for the rest of the quadrennium. The working group looking at the consistent listing of Extinct and Possibly Extinct species still has to complete the work it started, but significant progress is being made.
Scientific/technical activitiesFurther testing of the Data Uploader function will be carried out using data sets from potentially South Africa (through SANBI), the USA (through NatureServe) and possibly Brazil (CNCFlora or ICMBio).
Scientific/technical activitiesThe SSC Climate Change Specialist Group is preparing Guidelines on the methodology for identifying species with life history traits that make them more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. These Guidelines will be used by the Red List Standards & Petitions Subcommittee to modify or improve the climate change guidelines for the Red List assessment process.
Scientific/technical activitiesThe creation of PDFs and allocation of DOIs will be continued for the remaining global assessments and for all regional assessments published on the IUCN Red List.