An analysis of the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™

BEN COLLEN, MALA RAM, NADIA DEWHURST, VIOLA CLAUSNITZER, VINCENT J. KALKMAN, NEIL CUMBERLIDGE, JONATHAN E.M. BAILLIE, VARIOS, F. CRUZ, Y OTROS

2007-10-01/2009-05-01

67-75

Biológica

Medio terrestre-Conservacion

While species coverage in The IUCN Red Listof Threatened SpeciesTM has increased innumber each year since the inception of theRed Data Book in the 1960s, assessmentshave in general been restricted to the betterknown taxonomic groups. The numberof described species still lags a long waybehind the estimated global total speciesrichness; even describing biodiversityremains a signifi cant challenge, and sodefi ning its status is larger still (Hilton-Tayloret al. this volume; Vié et al. this volume).However, a new initiative is being employedto broaden the taxonomic coverage of TheIUCN Red List in order to better representbiodiversity, provide increased datacoverage, enable a better understanding ofbiodiversity status, and to identify key regionsand taxa that require greater conservationattention. Importantly, this will supply abroader range of species groups whoseconservation status can be tracked overtime. This will enhance the accuracy ofkey indicators of biodiversity change, andimprove the breadth of information providedto inform key targets like Convention onBiological Diversity 2010 target and the UNMillennium Development Goals.