IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC)

CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) was opened for signature in Washington DC on 3rd March 1973, and to date has 182 Parties from across the world. If CITES is to remain a credible instrument for conserving species affected by trade, the decisions of the Parties must be based on the best available scientific and technical information.

The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria were developed for classifying species at high risk of global extinction, i.e. for assessment at the global level. Guidelines on the application of the IUCN Red List Criteria at national or regional levels were also developed and this volume presents the revised guidelines, published in 2012.

The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria are intended to be an easily and widely understood system for classifying species at high risk of global extinction. The general aim of the system is to provide an explicit, objective framework for the classification of the broadest range of species according to their extinction risk.

Volume 8 of the Handbook of Mammals of the World (HMW) contains an unusual compilation of important but smaller orders that we now know have either distant or nearly no taxonomic relationships. They include armadillos, sloths and anteaters. 

Les 'espèces envahissantes' (souvent appelées ravageurs, mauvaises herbes ou même maladies) sont des plantes, des animaux, des agents pathogènes et d’autres organismes qui sont délibérément ou involontairement emmenés au-delà de leur aire de répartition naturelle par des personnes et qui deviennent destructeurs de l’environnement ou des moyens de subsistance.

‘Invasive species’ (often called pests, weeds and diseases) are plants, animals, disease agents and other organisms taken beyond their natural range by people, deliberately or unintentionally, and which become destructive to the environment or human livelihoods.