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The Red Data Book

• Species judged as threatened are listed by various agencies as well as by some private organizations. The most cited of these lists is the Red Data Book.
• ­It’s a loose-leaf volume of information on the status of many kinds of species. This volume is continuously updated and is issued by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) located in Merges, Switzerland.
•  The red data book was first issued in 1966 by the IUCN’s special Survival Commission as a guide for information, preservation and management of species listed. In this book, information for endangered mammals and birds are more extensive than for other groups of animals and plants, coverage is also given to less prominent organisms facing extinction.
• ­“Red” of course is symbolic of danger that species both plants and animals presently experience throughout the globe.
  • The Pink page in this publication include the critically endangered species. As the status of the species change, new pages are sent to the subscribers.
  • Green pages are used for those species that were formerly endangered, but have now recovered to a point where they are no longer threatened. With passing time the number of pink pages continue to increase. There are pitifully few green pages

Details About IUCN

• IUCN is a membership union composed of both government and civil society organizations.
• It harnesses the experience, resources, and reach of its more than 1,400 member organizations.
• It is a democratic union that brings together the world’s most influential organizations and top experts in a combined effort to conserve nature and accelerate the transition to sustainable development.
• The Red Databook of IUCN is the most cited list of threatened species.
• It classifies the conservation status of individual species based on their probability of extinction.

IUCN Database of Conservation Priority 

1. Extinct (EX): A taxon is extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died. A taxon is presumed extinct when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual.
2. Extinct in Wild (EW): A taxon is extinct in wild when it is known only to survive in cultivation, in captivity or as a naturalized population (or populations) well outside the past range. A taxon is presumed extinct in wild when exhaustive surveys in known and/or expected habitat, at appropriate times (diurnal, seasonal, annual), throughout its historic range have failed to record an individual.
3. Critically Endangered (CR): A taxon is critically endangered when the best available evidence indicates that it meets any of the criteria for critically endangered.

• Criteria
  A. Reduction in population size
  • (>=90% over the last 10 years or three generations, whichever is longer), where the causes of reduction is clearly reversible AND understood AND ceased.
  • (>= 80% over the last 10 years of three generations, whichever is longer), where the causes of reduction may not have ceased to exist OR may not be understood OR may not be reversible
  • (>=80%, projected or suspected to be met within the next 10 years or three generations, whichever is longer (upto a maximum of 100 years)
  • An observed estimated inferred, projected or suspected population size reuction of >= 80% over any 10 year or three generation period, whichever is longer (upto a maximum of 100 years in future), where the time period must include both the past and the future, and where the reduction and its causes may not have ceased OR may not be understood OR may not be reversible.

B. Geographical Range in the form of either B1 (extent of occurrence) OR B2 (area of occupancy) OR both:

• Extent of occurrence estimated to be less than 100 Km2, and estimate indicating
  atleast two of the following
  • Severely fragmented or known to exist only at a single location
  • Continuing decline
    • Extent of occurrence
    • Area of occupancy
    • Area, extent and/or quality of habitat
    • Number of locations and subpopulations
    • Number of mature individuals
  • Extreme fluctuation in any of the following
    • Extent of occurrence
    • Area of occupancy
    • Number of locations or subpopulations
    • Number of mature individuals
  • Area of Occupancy estimated to be less than 10 Km2, and at least 2 of the following
    • Same three criteria as above (extent of occurrence)

C. Population size estimated to number fewer than 250 mature individuals and either

• An estimated continuing decline of 25% within three years or one generation, whichever is longer,(upto a maximum of 100 years in future)
• A continuing decline, of mature individuals AND atleast one of the following
  • Population structure in the form of one of the following
    • No subpopulation estimated to contain more than 50 mature individuals,
      OR
    • Atleast 90% of mature individuals in one subpopulation
  • Extreme fluctuation in number of mature individuals

D. Population size (number less than 50 mature individuals)
E. Quantitative analysis showing the probability of extinction in wild at least 50% in their 10 years or three generations, whichever is longer(upto maximum 100 years)

4. Endangered
5. Vulnerable (VU)
6. Near Threatened (NT)

• A taxon is near threatened when it has been evaluated against the criteria but does not qualify for CR, EN, VU now, but is close to qualifying for or is likely to qualify for a threatened category in the near future.

7. Least Concern (LC)

• A taxon is least concern when it has been evaluated against the criteria and does not qualify for CR, EN, VU, or NT. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

8. Data Deficient (DD)

• A taxon is DD when there is inadequate information to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk of extinction based on its distribution or population status. Appropriate data on abundance and/or distribution is lacking. Not a category of threat.
• Listing of taxa in this category indicates that more information is required and acknowledges the possibility that future research will show that threatened classification is appropriate.

9. Not Evaluated (NE)

• • When it has not yet been evaluated against the criteria.

4) IUCN has released their new Red List of Threatened Species during UNFCCC COP28 in Dec 2023

• Over 44,000 species are threatened with extinction (around 2,000 more than last year) of the total 157,190 species in the IUCN Red List.
• The update includes the First Broad Assessment of the health of freshwater fish species. Around 25% of the species (around 3,000) are facing risk of extinction.
  • Climate change, pollution, overfishing and invasive species are the major challenge.
• Atlantic Salmon (a ray-finned species) found in northern Atlantic Ocean Basin has declined by 23% (2006-2020) thus moving it to Near Threatened (from LC)
• Green Turtles (of Central South Pacific and East Pacific) populations are respectively Endangered and Vulnerable.
• Mahogany Tree (Swietenia macrophylla), also known as Honduran Mahogany or big leaf mahogany, has become Endangered.
  • It is one of the species that yields genuine mahogany timber.
  • It is native to South America, Central America and Mexico. It is also naturalized in Phillipines, Singapore, Malaysia and Hawaii and is cultivated in plantations and windbreak elsewhere.
  • Note: Swietenia mahogani, is another species which is also found in India and is NT

Some Success Stories:

• Scimitar-horned oryx: It has moved from EW to EN showcasing the reintroduction efforts the republic of Chad.
• Saiga Antelope improves from CR to NT due to conservation measures. In past it inhabited a vast area of Eurasian Steppe.
  Today, it is only found in Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan etc.
• Key Feature: Unusual hanging nose.

National Endangered Species Day

• The National Endangered Species Day is celebrated on the third Friday of May every year across the USA. It was established by the US Senate, in 2006.
• 2023 Theme: “Celebrating 50th anniversary of endangered species act”.
  • Note: In USA, the Endangered Species Act was enacted in 1973.