RED DATA BOOK AND RED LIST CATEGORIES

Manideep RajAssociate Professor

Department of ZoologyDarrang College. Tezpur

Introduction The concept and structure of Red Data Book has been

promulgated by IUCN. It aims at categorizing species at risk according to the

severity of threats facing them, and estimating the imminence of their extinction.

The concept has been adopted by several countries which have started to put together their own lists. In India while the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972 lists in its schedules species of animals according to their status in the wild,

The Botanical Survey of India and the Zoological Survey of India publish the Red data Book on Endangered Plants and the Red Data Book on Endangered Animals in the country respectively.

The IUCN Red List is the world’s most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species.

It uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands of species and subspecies.

These criteria are relevant to all species of the world. With its strong scientific base, the IUCN Red List is

recognized as the most authoritative guide to the status of biological diversity.

The Red List answers commonly asked questions like How threatened is a particular species? What are the threats to a species? How many threatened species occur in a given

country? How many known extinctions have there been?

Aims of the IUCN Red List categories and Criteria:  

To provide a system that can be constantly by different people.

To improve objectivity by providing users with clear guidance on how to evaluate different factors which affect risk of extinction.

To provide a system which will facilitate comprises across widely different taxa?

To give people using threatened species lists a better understanding of how individual species were classified.

The Red List Categories:

As per Version 3.1 of the IUCN Red List categories and Criteria prepared by the IUCN Species Survival Commission in the year 2000 and adopted by the IUCN in 2001, nine categories (Fig 3) are recognized in the system. They are:

Extinct ( EX) Extinct in the Wild (EW) Critically Endangered (CR) Endangered (EN) Vulnerable (VU) Near Threatened (NT) Least Concern (LC) Data Deficient (DD) and Not Evaluated (NE)

Definition of Red List categories:

Extinct (EX): A taxon is Extinct when there is no reasonable doubt that the last individual has died.  

Extinct in the Wild (EW): A taxon is Extinct in the wild when it is known only to survive in cultivation, in capacity or as a naturalized population (or populations) well outside the past range.

Critically Endangered (CR): A taxon is Critically Endangered when it is facing on extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future, as defined by any of the criteria.

Endangered (EN): A taxon is endangered when it is not Critically Endangered but is facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild in the near future, as defined by any of the criteria.

Vulnerable (VU): A taxon is Vulnerable when it is not Critically Endangered or Endangered but it is facing high risk of extinction in the wild in the medium – term future , as defined by any of the criteria.

Definition of Red List categories Lower Risk (LR): A taxon is Lower Risk when it has been evaluated, does not

qualify for any of the threatened categories Critically Endangered , Endangered or Vulnerable now , but is close to qualifying for , or is likely to qualify for , a threatened category in the near future.

Least Concern (LC): A taxon is Least Concern when it has been evaluated against the criteria and does not qualify for critically Endangered , Endangered or Vulnerable now, but is close to qualifying for, or likely to qualify for, a threatened category in the near future.

Near Threatened (NT): A taxon is Near Threatened when it has been evaluated against the criteria but does not qualify for Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable or Near Threatened. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.

Data Deficient (DD): A taxon is Data Deficient when there is inadequate information to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk of extinction based on its distribution and or population status.

Not Evaluated (NE): A taxon is Not Evaluated when it is has not yet been assessed against the criteria.