Release of the 2003 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

The Red List Consortium and Donors

The Consortium

To help increase significantly the number of species assessments for the Red List, a Red List consortium has been formed involving IUCN and its Species Survival Commission, BirdLife International, Conservation International's Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, and NatureServe.

IUCN-THE WORLD CONSERVATION UNION AND ITS SPECIES SURVIVAL COMMISSION (SSC)

Founded in 1948, IUCN brings together 75 states, 108 government agencies, 755 NGOs, 35 affiliates, and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. Its mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.

SSC compiles and manages the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species which is one of IUCN's flagship products. Through its Specialist Groups, SSC assesses the conservation status of species, identifies, and prioritizes action to reduce threats to biodiversity, conducts research and on-ground conservation action, contributes to global conservation policy, and provides advice to decision-makers and international conventions.

THE CENTER FOR APPLIED BIODIVERSITY SCIENCE AT CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL (CI-CABS)

The Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (CABS) at Conservation International has established a Biodiversity Assessment Unit, which merges SSC's ability to collect biodiversity with its own analytical strengths. As part of a worldwide biodiversity assessment to be produced every four to five years, the unit will pioneer the use of the Red List in assessing trends in the status of species between geographical regions, biomes and taxonomic groups. It will also help expand the taxonomic base of the Red List with new SSC networks responsible for assessing the species within their remits, making the Red List much more representative of the whole of global biodiversity. The creation of the SSC/CABS partnership is an exciting move in global conservation. By maximizing Red List coverage and completing the Species Information Service to give users around the world access to the most up-to-date information, it will revolutionize the way in which biodiversity assessments are carried out.

BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL

BirdLife International is the Listing Authority for birds on the IUCN Red List and through its partnership of NGOs and Secretariat, works closely with the IUCN/SSC Specialist Groups and a worldwide network of thousands of experts and other organizations in this capacity. For over 20 years, BirdLife has published information on globally threatened bird species in regional Red Data Books (Africa in 1985, Americas in 1992, Asia in 2001) and global Red Lists (1988, 1994 and 2000), such that birds are recognized as the best documented group of all species. BirdLife can therefore play an important role in pioneering and testing new ideas relating to the development and application of the IUCN Red List as an indicator of biodiversity trends. BirdLife makes its information on globally threatened birds available on the World Wide Web, supported by a dynamic database - the World Bird Database. This wealth of information lays the foundation for BirdLife's work and guides its priorities for action, notably through the development and implementation of Species Action Plans, and the identification and management of Important Bird Areas.

NATURESERVE

NatureServe, a non-profit conservation organization, plays an active role in the Red List consortium. NatureServe is a leader in providing the scientific basis for effective conservation, and serves as the secretariat for the network of natural heritage programmes and conservation data centres. This network now includes 76 independent biodiversity inventory programmes operating throughout the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. For nearly 30 years NatureServe and its member programmes have been assessing the condition and distribution of species and ecosystems, and maintain comprehensive databases on North American vertebrates, vascular plants, and selected invertebrate groups. They also have significant data holdings for selected regions and species in Latin America. NatureServe is coordinating the Red List's amphibian assessments in the western hemisphere under the Global Amphibian Assessment, and will be actively involved in assessment efforts for other animal and plant groups in that region.

Donors

The Red List Programme is extremely grateful for the support of a number of donors (see the Red List website for the full list) in particular, The Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation.