The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources – also known as the IUCN – has been undertaking an ambitious inventory of the world’s plants and animals.
Since 1996, the IUCN has issued a series of Red Lists, highlighting the extinction risk of thousands of species. The IUCN Red Lists have helped convey the scale of the conservation crisis to decision makers, with the goal of fostering policies that protect the diversity of nature and the availability of natural resources – now and for future generations.
This month, in the journal PLOS ONE, the latest Red List effort was unveiled. It will focus on assessing ecosystem health. Because we can’t protect disappearing species, from reef-dwelling fish to Europe’s endemic butterflies, without also preserving the places they call home.
David Keith is a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia and the lead author on the paper.
“The importance of it is that we now have the capability to inform decision makers about environmental decisions at the ecosystem as well as the individual species level. It’s been very difficult to gain an overview of the kinds of environments that species depend upon in the absence of this red list of ecosystems. And this is a major step forward in that direction.”
IUCN’s assessment criteria were tested on twenty diverse ecosystems spanning six continents. From the collapse of Asia’s Aral Sea ecosystem to the vigor of the Venezuelan shrub-land, they provide a glimpse of how the Ecosystem Red List will help us better manage Earth’s finite resources.
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Web Extra
Full interview with David Keith, a professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia
[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/david-keith_full_web.mp3|titles=david keith_full_web]
Web Links
New study shows importance of IUCN’s Red List of Ecosystems
Scientific Foundations for an IUCN Red List of Ecosystems
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0062111
New Red List to focus on ecosystems rather than species
Photo, taken on August 28, 2011, courtesy of Derek Keats via Flickr.
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