Species - red data listings

Summaries are provided on the conservation status of over 7,000 globally threatened tree species with the 1994 IUCN categories and criteria assigned. The conservation evaluations were carried out in association with members of the IUCN SSC Specialist Groups and a wide range of experts worldwide. The book concludes that 10 per cent of the world's trees are threatened with extinction and calls for a range of measures to reverse the trend of species loss

This represents the most comprehensive compilation of data on threatened vascular plants ever published. It includes the names of some 33,000 plant species determined to be rare or threatened on a global scale. Conservation assessments were provided by the IUCN Species Survival Commission, the National Botanical Institute (South Africa), Environment Australia and CSIRO,.

The "1994 Red List of Threatened Animals" was a major advance on its predecessors in clarity of layout and amount of information presented. This is taken further in the 1996 edition, which is also the first global compilation to use the complete new IUCN red list category system. Also for the first time, all mammal species have been assessed. This group and the birds are the only taxonomic classes where a comprehensive evaluation has been made.

The threatened species categories used in Red Data Books and Red Lists have been in place for almost 30 years. The Red Data Book categories provide an easily and widely understood method for highlighting those species under higher extinction risk, so as to focus attention on conservation measures designed to protect them. This document, incorporating changes recommended by IUCN members, was adopted by the IUCN Council in 1994.

This publication has been scanned by the Biodiversity Heritage Library and Google Books.