INTERACTIVE TOOLKIT FOR
CROP WILD RELATIVE CONSERVATION PLANNING version 1.0

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Before undertaking Red List assessments using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria  [1] (IUCN 2012a, available in several languages), users are advised to consult the IUCN Red List website for detailed information about the assessment process  [2]. An online IUCN Red List training course  [3] is also freely available.

Assessment of the threatened status of species using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria  [1] (IUCN 2012a) is essentially a four to five-step process:

  1. Collate and document data for each taxon.
  2. (Undertake remedial studies).
  3. Evaluate the taxon against the IUCN Red List criteria.
  4. Collate relevant information about populations of the species in neighbouring countries and apply the IUCN Red List regional criteria, if the taxon is being assessed at regional level (e.g. national assessments of non-endemic species).
  5. Submit global assessments to IUCN for publication.

1. Collate and document data for each taxon

Seven data types should be collated for each taxon (also see Box ‘Summary of data types used in Red Listing  [4]’):

  • taxonomic;
  • distribution;
  • population;
  • habitat and ecology;
  • use and trade;
  • threats;
  • conservation actions.

These data are gathered from a number of sources, including taxon experts, published and grey literature, databases, websites, herbaria and genebanks. If needed, and if possible, field data should also be obtained. To know more about the limitations of using herbarium data in the Red List assessment process (see the Box on 'Use of herbarium data in Red Listing  [5]').

  [6]
Structure of the IUCN Red List categories (IUCN 2012a).

2. [Undertake remedial studies]

If there is not enough data to assess target taxa, further remedial studies in demography, reproductive biology, chorology, genetics etc., could be carried out.

3. Evaluate the taxon against the IUCN Red List criteria

Each taxon is evaluated against the IUCN Red List criteria  [7] (IUCN 2012a) and a Red List category is then selected (see the Figure on the right). There are five main Red List criteria:

(A) population reduction,

(B) geographic range (see the Box on 'Geographic range measurements used in criterion B'  [8]),

(C) small population size and decline,

(D) very small or restricted population,

(E) quantitative analysis indicating the probability of extinction.

Each main criterion includes a number of sub-criteria against which the species is evaluated (see Table below). Use this Red List summary sheet  [9] (also available in French and Spanish), outlining all five criteria, to evaluate if a taxon belongs in an IUCN Red List threatened category. If the species meets the criteria in at least one of the main classes, it is assigned one of the following threatened categories: Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU). If the species meets the criteria in more than one main class, it is assigned the highest category of threat but any other threat categories and criteria that are met are also documented. If the species does not meet any of the criteria A–E needed to evaluate it as threatened, another category is selected. These categories are: Extinct (EX), Extinct in the Wild (EW), Regionally Extinct (RE), Near Threatened (NT), Least Concern (LC), Data Deficient (DD) or Not Applicable (NA) (for definitions of the categories, see IUCN 2001  [7]). Before proceeding with the Red List assessment please read the Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria  [1] (IUCN Standards and Petitions Subcommittee 2016). If the compiled data are insufficient to make a reasoned judgement about the threatened status of a taxon, the taxon is assessed as Data Deficient (DD). These species should be prioritized for further study in order to gather the required data. Look here  [10] for tools that can be used to estimate some of the parameters needed to carry out Red List assessments.

  [11]
Parameters of the subcriteria against which species are evaluated (*requires data from at least two time points) (source: Magos Brehm et al. 2008b) [for more on the measurements of extent of occurrence (EOO) and area of occupancy (AOO) see Box on ‘Geographic range measurements used in criterion B’].

4. Collate relevant information about populations of the species in neighbouring countries and apply the IUCN Red List regional criteria  [7], if the taxon is being assessed at regional level.

  [12]
Basic scheme of how to undertake a regional Red List assessment (from Magos Brehm et al. 2008b and adapted from IUCN 2003).

If the taxon is being assessed at regional—not global—level (e.g. national assessments of non-endemic species), the next step is to collate relevant information about populations of the species in neighbouring countries and assess whether it is necessary to downgrade (or rarely to upgrade) the taxon’s global Red List category. Information may be sourced from Red List assessments and conservation status data from the neighbouring countries, from expert knowledge and available literature and knowledge of the taxon’s breeding and dispersal system, combined with its distribution in the region. For a regional Red List assessment, the taxon is subjected to a series of questions which aim to determine whether the taxon’s regional Red List category should remain the same, be downgraded or upgraded from the global assessment (see Figure on the right). For detailed guidance on the information required to undertake a regional Red List assessment, see Table 3 ‘Checklist for judging whether extra-regional populations may affect the extinction risk of the regional population’ and Figure 15 ‘Conceptual scheme of the procedure for assigning an IUCN Red List Category at the regional level’ in the Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional Levels  [1] (IUCN 2012b). The regional categories are the same as the global ones, but there are two additional categories: Regionally Extinct (RE) and Not Applicable (NA). The category NA is applied for species with marginal populations in the region or when a species is not native to the region. The regional assessments are the result of downgrades (or very rarely upgrades) from global assessments and they are based on a series of questions essentially concerning conspecific populations outside the region and the status of regional populations as sinks.

5. Submit global assessments to IUCN for publication

Global Red List assessments (i.e. species assessed at global level as well as national/regional endemics) can be submitted for publication in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (see here  [2] how the assessment process is generally carried out). The IUCN has developed the Species Information Service (SIS), which is a web application and standalone database for conducting and managing species assessments for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The system is intended for use by IUCN SSC Specialist Group members and other IUCN partners working on global Red List assessments as well as regional assessment initiatives led by IUCN. As such, access to SIS is controlled but the the use of SIS facilitates the Red List assessment procedure. For further information about using SIS, users should consult the IUCN Red List website  [13].

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