Prevalence of sustainable and unsustainable use of wild species inferred from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

MARSH, SOPHIE M.E.; HOFFMANN, MICHAEL; BURGESS, NEIL D.; BROOKS, THOMAS M.; CHALLENDER, DANIEL W.S.; CREMONA, PATRICIA J.; HILTON TAYLOR, CRAIG; LAFAYE DE MICHEAUX, FLORE; LICHTENSTEIN, GABRIELA ; ROE, DILYS; BOHM, MONIKA

CONSERVATION BIOLOGY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Año: 2021

0888-8892

Unsustainable exploitation of wild species represents a serious threat to biodiversity and tothe livelihoods of local communities and Indigenous peoples. However, managed, sustainableuse has the potential to forestall extinctions, aid recovery, and meet human needs. Weanalyzed species-level data for 30,923 species from 13 taxonomic groups on the InternationalUnion for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species to investigatepatterns of intentional biological resource use. Forty percent of species (10,098 of 25,009species from 10 data-sufficient taxonomic groups) were used. The main purposes of use werepets, display animals, horticulture, and human consumption. Intentional use is currentlycontributing to elevated extinction risk for 28 ? 29% of threatened or near threatened (NT)species (2,752 ? 2,848 of 9,753 species). Intentional use also affected 16% of all species used(1,597 ? 1,631 of 10,098). However, 72% of used species (7,291 of 10,098) were leastconcern, of which nearly half (3,469) also had stable or improving population trends. TheThis article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.remainder were not documented as threatened by biological resource use, including at least172 threatened or NT species with stable or improving populations. About one-third ofspecies that had use documented as a threat had no targeted species management actions todirectly address this threat. To improve use-related red-list data, we suggest smallamendments to the relevant classification schemes and required supporting documentation.Our findings on the prevalence of sustainable and unsustainable use, and variation acrosstaxa, can inform international policy making, including the Intergovernmental Science-PolicyPlatform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, the Convention on Biological Diversity,and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.