Biodiversity

IUCN monitors species and ecosystems, and steers policy and action to protect and restore the natural world.

EXPLORE TOPICS

banner image

About biodiversity

Biodiversity is crucial to human well-being, and is increasingly threatened.  Habitat destruction, invasive species, overexploitation, illegal wildlife trade, pollution and climate change put the survival of species worldwide at risk. IUCN is at the forefront of global efforts to halt the extinction crisis and to sustainably manage, conserve and restore ecosystems. We provide the methodologies, data and expertise to guide decision makers and conservation action, using approaches that benefit nature and people’s lives and livelihoods. 

Heading
11,500+

Description

experts in IUCN’s Species Survival Commission and IUCN’s Commission on Ecosystem Management

Heading
157,190+

Description

species assessed for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ - the world’s most comprehensive information source on global extinction risk

Heading
16,356

Description

Key Biodiversity Areas identified

Our work

There is great room for optimism, underpinned by clear evidence. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species reveals that trends in species extinction risk would have been at least 20% worse in the absence of conservation action. 

– IUCN Nature 2030 Programme

IUCN promotes strategies that integrate the sustainable management of land, water and biodiversity with human health and well-being. We provide tools like The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, IUCN Red List of Ecosystems and the Integrated Biodiversity Assessment Tool to inform conservation projects, business, national and international policy. Our aim is to conserve and restore species and ecosystems, and secure the ecosystem services on which humanity depends