Launch of new guidelines for National Red Listing at IUCN Regional Conservation Forum

To strengthen the quality of the process of National Red Listing, new guidelines were officially launched by the IUCN SSC Red List Committee during the IUCN Regional Conservation Forum in Brugge, on Monday 30^th of September. Additionally, a renewed website managed by the Zoological Society London was launched which gives users the opportunity to exchange the data for various National Red List data sets and publications.

Header photo: Sericomyia superbiens © David Tempelman

National Red List crucial in national nature conservation policy

As the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) asks countries to report on trends of species extinction risk in national reporting to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), they must ensure that the creation of Red Lists of Threatened Species at the national scale is prioritised as part of the national implementation of the GBF in the so-called National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and that national red listing programmes of work are established or strengthened.

National Red List assessments allow countries to accurately track the status of species for which they are responsible by producing National Red List Indices (RLIs). The RLI tracks how species’ extinction risk changes over time by undertaking repeated assessments for a standard set of taxonomic groups.

‘National Red Lists are the scientific starting point for national legislation to enforce the protection of endangered species. An example are the national red lists of pollinators (bees, bumble bees and hoverflies) which contribute significantly to national and regional (EU) nature conservation policy’, says Sander van Andel, Nature Conservation expert at IUCN NL.

New guidelines for national Red Lists

Therefore, the IUCN National Red List Working Group has recently developed and updated these “guidelines for best national red listing”. The Zoological Society of London has taken the initiative to serve national red list focal points worldwide through the website which is used to exchange the data for various national Red list datasets and publications. This information is essential for policy makers, scientists, conservation practitioners and other actors that have a role in species conservation. 

‘The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has a key role in reporting progress within CBD’s Biodiversity Plan: for Life of Earth. Indeed, the Red List Index has been identified as a headline indicator for this plan’, said Jon Paul Rodríguez, Chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. ‘A major emphasis of the Plan is strengthening the capacity of countries to create and maintain their own datasets, such that biodiversity monitoring is independent, autonomous and driven by local knowledge and expertise. Here lies the fundamental importance of these new guidelines: to empower CBD parties to develop their own national red lists and be able to share with the world their progress in improving the status of biodiversity.’

Benefits of National Red Lists

Multiple additional benefits are gained when countries produce national Red Lists since the information included in the assessments provides the evidence base to guide species conservation planning and policies. Red Lists also provide essential spatial data for area-based prioritisation including to support the identification of Key Biodiversity Areas, and the setting of retention targets for species in spatial biodiversity planning.

National Red Lists generate the data required to ensure species considerations are included in Environmental Authorisation processes, thereby influencing planning for any changes in land, freshwater and marine resource use. Although we do not know the exact number of national red lists worldwide, some publications suggest that only within the European Union there are more than three thousand national red lists published, often prepared with different Red List methodologies (categories and criteria). The new guidelines for national red listing help to further harmonise the preparation of national red lists and make them more consistent and comparable.

In order to ensure consistency and data sharing between different national Red Lists and between national Red Lists, the regional Red Lists, for example at the level of the European Union and the global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, the use of common methodologies is essential. The two most important being the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria version 3.1, and the Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels. These have been made available for a wide range of users in three languages (English, Spanish and French). Many countries have expressed an interest in developing their own RLIs and have reached out for support.

Expert workshop

To discuss the updated guidelines and how they are relevant for various species groups and countries, on Friday 27^th September a workshop was organised with more than 160 live and online participants and speakers from all over Europe and North and Central Asia, at the Institute of Forest and Nature in Brussels. The workshop that was titled “Best Practice of National Red Listing” and the outcomes of this workshop were presented at a session during the IUCN Regional Conservation Forum in Bruges on Monday 30 September.

The outcomes of the workshop covered a recommendation for more harmonisation of national red listing in the different regions with attention for:

1. The use of IUCN Categories & Criteria (C&C) vs 3.1.
2. The use of regional application guidelines
3. The inclusion of endemic species
4. The accessibility of the national red lists on the web
5. The availability of the data used for national red listing on the web
6. The language of the red list in terms of available translations
7. The use of the red list for the enforcement of national legislation to protect species

The workshop and the RCF event are organised as an initiative of the IUCN Interregional Committee for Europe, North, and Central Asia (ICENCA), as well as the IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands, the Zoological Society of London , IUCN SSC, IUCN Red List Unit Cambridge, IUCN National Red List Working Group, The Leo foundation and the Belgian Biodiversity Platform (INBO).