Indicate which actions have been carried out to implement this Resolution :
Fundraising
Policy influencing/advocacy
Scientific/technical activities
Describe the results/achievements of the actions taken:
The Red List Index (RLI) was reinstated as a Tier 1 indicator for Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15 on Life on Land and it was included in the 2017 SDG reports (see links below); the main report is available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese and Russian.
Red List data and the RLI and various disaggregations of the RLI have been included in the First Order Draft of the IPBES Global Assessments and in a number of the Regional Assessments. The results of the IPBES Global Assessment together with information from national reports submitted by CBD Parties and an evaluation of global indicators will feed into the the fifth edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook report (GBO-5).
The RLI's have been disaggregated to national-level and included in the 'country profiles' on the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool (IBAT) and made available to CBD national focal points and others for incorporation into National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), Programmes of Work on Protected Areas (PoWPA), and CBD national Reports (see link below).
What challenges/obstacles have been encountered in the implementation of this Resolution and how were they overcome :
Maintaining the data used to calculate the Red List Index in a set of spreadsheets was inefficient and difficult to maintain and update. The Species Information Service (SIS) database used to store all the Red List assessment information has been modified to include the necessary fields to store and maintain the RLI data. The amphibian and mammal data have been entered into SIS but a number of issues need following-up. The coral and cycad data are partly entered. RLI data for conifers has been compiled using SIS and the RLI for this taxonomic group will soon be available.
Calculating the RLI, particularly country disaggregations of the RLI, is a slow and tedious manual process. However, R code has been developed to automate much of the process.
The main challenge to the delivery of an updated RLI is the lack of funding and priority afforded to reassessments. The completion of the mammal reassessment which was due in 2016 has been delayed due to lack of resources and the reliance on the efforts of a volunteer network. At present about 1,460 of the 5,674 mammal species still need to be reassessed. The 2nd amphibian assessment is still many years away, with about 4,000 of the 7,799 species to be reassessed plus another 1,200 new species waiting to be assessed for the first time. At present, the amphibian team are assessing about 500 species per year (based on submissions for publication) hence their efforts, particularly resources, need to be rapidly scaled up.
Briefly describe what future actions are needed for the implementation of this Resolution:
Further promotion of the policy uptake of the RLI is required, including through IPBES, the SDGs, GBO-5, etc.
Current RLI data entry into SIS will be completed in 2018 and the datasets checked for any issues. Further refinements need to be made to SIS to make the RLI data available through an API and to see how this can be used to automate calculation of the RLI and various disaggregations of the RLI via a new RLI interface on the IUCN Red List website. Some funding for this work has been secured.
Calculation of the Conifer RLI needs to be completed and made available for use and the results incorporated into the recalculation of the overall RLI.
The reassessment of mammals should be completed in 2018, enabling the mammal RLI and the overall RLI to be recalculated by 2019 at the latest.
Action to increase the pace of amphibian reassessments is urgently required and efforts to raise funding for this work are underway.
Efforts are underway to raise funds for a reassessment of reef-building corals as part of a joint initiative to also assess the status of coral reef ecosystems. Given the high profile of the coral RLI in the 2017 SDG Report and the fact that 2018 is International Year of the Coral Reef, confidence is high that the necessary resources will be found to complete the reassessment of corals by 2020.
Are these actions planned for yet:
