Establishing IUCN Red List criteria for threatened ecosystems

Jon Paul Rodríguez; Kathryn M Rodríguez-Clark; Jonathan E M Baillie; Neville Ash; John Benson; Timothy Boucher; Claire Brown; Neil D Burgess; Ben Collen; Michael Jennings; David A Keith; Emily Nicholson; Carmen Revenga; Belinda Reyers; Mathieu Rouget; Tammy Smith; Mark Spalding; Andrew Taber; Matt Walpole; Irene Zager; Tara Zamin

doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01598.x

Establishing IUCN Red List criteria for threatened ecosystems

Jon Paul Rodríguez, Kathryn M Rodríguez-Clark, Jonathan E M Baillie, Neville Ash, John Benson, Timothy Boucher, Claire Brown, Neil D Burgess, Ben Collen, Michael Jennings, David A Keith, Emily Nicholson, Carmen Revenga, Belinda Reyers, Mathieu Rouget, Tammy Smith, Mark Spalding, Andrew Taber, Matt Walpole, Irene ZagerTara Zamin

Ecology and Evolution

122 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The potential for conservation of individual species has been greatly advanced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) development of objective, repeatable, and transparent criteria for assessing extinction risk that explicitly separate risk assessment from priority setting. At the IV World Conservation Congress in 2008, the process began to develop and implement comparable global standards for ecosystems. A working group established by the IUCN has begun formulating a system of quantitative categories and criteria, analogous to those used for species, for assigning levels of threat to ecosystems at local, regional, and global levels. A final system will require definitions of ecosystems; quantification of ecosystem status; identification of the stages of degradation and loss of ecosystems; proxy measures of risk (criteria); classification thresholds for these criteria; and standardized methods for performing assessments. The system will need to reflect the degree and rate of change in an ecosystem's extent, composition, structure, and function, and have its conceptual roots in ecological theory and empirical research. On the basis of these requirements and the hypothesis that ecosystem risk is a function of the risk of its component species, we propose a set of four criteria: recent declines in distribution or ecological function, historical total loss in distribution or ecological function, small distribution combined with decline, or very small distribution. Most work has focused on terrestrial ecosystems, but comparable thresholds and criteria for freshwater and marine ecosystems are also needed. These are the first steps in an international consultation process that will lead to a unified proposal to be presented at the next World Conservation Congress in 2012.

Original language	English
Journal	Conservation Biology
Volume	25
Issue number	1
Pages (from-to)	21-29
Number of pages	9
ISSN	0888-8892
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01598.x
Publication status	Published - Feb 2011

Keywords

Biodiversity
Congresses as Topic
Conservation of Natural Resources
Ecosystem
Endangered Species
Extinction, Biological
Risk Assessment

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01598.x

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Rodríguez, J. P., Rodríguez-Clark, K. M., Baillie, J. E. M., Ash, N., Benson, J., Boucher, T., Brown, C., Burgess, N. D., Collen, B., Jennings, M., Keith, D. A., Nicholson, E., Revenga, C., Reyers, B., Rouget, M., Smith, T., Spalding, M., Taber, A., Walpole, M., ... Zamin, T. (2011). Establishing IUCN Red List criteria for threatened ecosystems. Conservation Biology, 25(1), 21-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01598.x

Rodríguez, JP, Rodríguez-Clark, KM, Baillie, JEM, Ash, N, Benson, J, Boucher, T, Brown, C, Burgess, ND, Collen, B, Jennings, M, Keith, DA, Nicholson, E, Revenga, C, Reyers, B, Rouget, M, Smith, T, Spalding, M, Taber, A, Walpole, M, Zager, I & Zamin, T 2011, 'Establishing IUCN Red List criteria for threatened ecosystems', Conservation Biology, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 21-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2010.01598.x

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AU - Burgess, Neil D

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AU - Jennings, Michael

AU - Keith, David A

AU - Nicholson, Emily

AU - Revenga, Carmen

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AU - Smith, Tammy

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AB - The potential for conservation of individual species has been greatly advanced by the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) development of objective, repeatable, and transparent criteria for assessing extinction risk that explicitly separate risk assessment from priority setting. At the IV World Conservation Congress in 2008, the process began to develop and implement comparable global standards for ecosystems. A working group established by the IUCN has begun formulating a system of quantitative categories and criteria, analogous to those used for species, for assigning levels of threat to ecosystems at local, regional, and global levels. A final system will require definitions of ecosystems; quantification of ecosystem status; identification of the stages of degradation and loss of ecosystems; proxy measures of risk (criteria); classification thresholds for these criteria; and standardized methods for performing assessments. The system will need to reflect the degree and rate of change in an ecosystem's extent, composition, structure, and function, and have its conceptual roots in ecological theory and empirical research. On the basis of these requirements and the hypothesis that ecosystem risk is a function of the risk of its component species, we propose a set of four criteria: recent declines in distribution or ecological function, historical total loss in distribution or ecological function, small distribution combined with decline, or very small distribution. Most work has focused on terrestrial ecosystems, but comparable thresholds and criteria for freshwater and marine ecosystems are also needed. These are the first steps in an international consultation process that will lead to a unified proposal to be presented at the next World Conservation Congress in 2012.

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KW - Ecosystem

KW - Endangered Species

KW - Extinction, Biological

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JF - Conservation Biology

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ER -

Establishing IUCN Red List criteria for threatened ecosystems

Abstract

Keywords

UN SDGs

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