National and subnational Red Lists in European and Mediterranean countries: current state and use for conservation

Azam, Claire-Sophie; Gigot, Guillaume; Witté, Isabelle; Schatz, Bertrand

doi:10.3354/esr00740

Cited by 15 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…This reporting burden can be alleviated if knowledge products remain current with their data, maintain high quality, and can be disaggregated to national levels (Brooks et al, 2015). Three main actions could incentivize broader use of products at the national level: (a) improved training and increased resources need to be provided to experts on the national scale; (b) better marketing of the knowledge products to national and local actors; and (c) better support from the international community and expanding on the experience of using these products (Azam et al, 2016). In addition, the long-term sustainability of knowledge products needs be strengthened through a variety of strategies including focusing on scientists and institutions as key users, implementing techniques for increasing data contributions, and minimizing duplicated efforts (Costello et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

National level use of International Union for Conservation of Nature knowledge products in American National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and National Reports to the Convention on Biological Diversity

McCay

Lacher

2021

Conservat Sci and Prac

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The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) currently serves as the multilateral environmental framework for protecting biodiversity. Parties to the CBD are required to develop and submit National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and National Reports. These documents serve as the instruments used by governments and stakeholders to identify their priorities, implement, and track progress to the CBD. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has produced biodiversity and conservation knowledge products that are fundamental for tracking the progress of targets such as the Aichi Biodiversity Targets. We examined if countries in the Americas are using knowledge products based on IUCN standards to help construct their documents; 234 documents were analyzed for knowledge product keywords. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species was mentioned in 91.8% of keyword-coded segments. IUCN publications, Protected Areas Categories, Key Biodiversity Areas, the Red List of Ecosystems and World Database on Protected Areas had 8.2% of the remaining segments. Further studies should investigate awareness of knowledge products among national focal points for the CBD to determine their limited use in document development. IUCN knowledge products should continue to form an integral part of future indicators during this critical moment for biodiversity conservation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

National level use of International Union for Conservation of Nature knowledge products in American National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and National Reports to the Convention on Biological Diversity

McCay

Lacher

2021

Conservat Sci and Prac

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“…The Red List process itself is solely an objective, quantitative assessment of threat across taxa. Nevertheless, by providing a key input into prioritisation decisions made by practitioners and as a consequence of increased public and political support stemming from the credibility and reputation of the process, Red Lists are frequently a starting point for the development of conservation initiatives (Rodrigues et al 2006;Hoffmann et al 2008;Azam et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The development, application and misuse of these criteria have been documented (Akçakaya et al 2006;Mace et al 2008;Collen et al 2016), as have the wider problems of applying them to insects and other invertebrates due to data constraints (e.g. Cardoso et al 2011;van Swaay et al 2011;Azam et al 2016). Criterion A "Reduction in population size" depends solely on measures of population decline over a (potentially short) time-period of the most recent 10 years or three generations, whichever is longer, hereafter referred to as the "10-year rule" for simplicity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insect population trends and the IUCN Red List process

et al. 2018

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Reliable assessment of extinction risk is a key factor in the preparation of Red Lists and in prioritizing biodiversity conservation. Temporal population trends can provide important evidence for such assessments, but imperfect sampling (observation errors) and short-term stochastic variation in population levels caused by environmental variability (process errors) can reduce the reliability of trends and lead to incorrect quantification of extinction risk. The assessment of insect taxa is likely to be particularly prone to these problems, due to the highly dynamic nature of many insect populations, driven by short life-cycles and sensitivity to environmental factors such as the weather. Using long-term United Kingdom monitoring data for 54 butterfly and 431 macro-moth species, we demonstrate the impact of insect population variability on the assessment of extinction risk using the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Criterion A (reduction in population size over the last 10 years). For both taxa, varying the start year of the 10-year population trend had a substantial effect on whether particular species met Red List thresholds and on the overall number of species assessed as threatened. We conclude that for these insect taxa strict application of the 10-year rule produces Red List classifications that are unacceptably biased by the start year. Use of long-term trends with adjustment based on species performance over the last decade may offer a pragmatic solution to this problem. We call for further IUCN guidance for practitioners undertaking Red List assessments of taxa with populations that have high temporal variability.

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“…The regional concept (sensu lato) implies a geographically-defined sub-global area, which could be a continent, a country, a state or a province (IUCN, 2012). Guidelines for the application of IUCN Red List criteria at regional levels were published (Gärdenfors, 2001;IUCN, 2012) and assessment of the conservation status of species at sub-global scales were developed (Miller et al, 2007;Azam et al, 2016). These updated guidelines represent the standardized processes that must be applied (without deviation or modification) if regional Red List authorities wish to state that their assessments follow the IUCN system (IUCN, 2012: p. 3).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to these yet unresolved issues, recent concerns about threatened species have led to an increase of regional and global Red Lists, sometimes reflecting different conservation statuses of the same species at different scales. France is a particularly interesting example (Azam et al, 2016), as the conservation status of its birds has been characterized at the global level by IUCN and Birdlife International (IUCN, 2015b), at European level by Birdlife International (BirdLife International, 2015), at the national level by the French Committee for IUCN (UICN France et al, 2011), and at the sub-national level (French regions) by local organizations (Flitti and Vincent-Martin, 2013;LPO Alsace, 2014). As a result, each bird species may be classified under five different conservation statuses in France (detailed below).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Applying IUCN Red List criteria to birds at different geographical scales: similarities and differences

Charra¹,

Sarasa²

2018

Anim. Biodiv. Conserv.

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Applying IUCN Red List criteria to birds at different geographical scales: similarities and differences. Extinction risk and conservation status of species are assessed at the global scale by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). To ensure objectivity, repeatability and traceability, assessments follow a standardized process that uses reliable and verifiable information. Assessments are synthesized according to guidelines, which have recently been adjusted for application at sub-global scales. Nevertheless, species may have several, different or overlapping conservation status. To quantitatively compare assessments from global to sub-national scales, in this study we analyzed 15 assessment lists for 66 game bird species in France. Assessments were made following IUCN guidelines. Overall, our results reveal that (1) assessments at large spatial scales tend to give lower threat status than small-scale assessments; (2) large-scale assessments made it possible to formally verify information whereas smaller-scale assessments usually did not; (3) large-scale assessments are more likely to be based on standardized evidence of reduction in population size and are less exposed to 'scale-effects' and 'edge-effects'; (4) large-scale assessments are also more often based on scientific literature sensu stricto; and (5) sources are more accurately synthesized than Red Lists at small spatial scales. Our results suggest that small-scale Red Lists do not fully match IUCN guidelines and differ significantly in their assessment processes when compared to global standards. The use of subjective and unreliable data in small-scale Red Lists (above all in national and sub-national lists) may jeopardise the original aim of IUCN Red Lists to provide comprehensive and scientifically rigorous information, and could thus compromise the credibility and prestige of IUCN Red Lists in the eyes of researchers, the general public, and other stakeholders.

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National and subnational Red Lists in European and Mediterranean countries: current state and use for conservation

Cited by 15 publications

References 39 publications

National level use of International Union for Conservation of Nature knowledge products in American National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and National Reports to the Convention on Biological Diversity

National level use of International Union for Conservation of Nature knowledge products in American National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans and National Reports to the Convention on Biological Diversity

Insect population trends and the IUCN Red List process

Applying IUCN Red List criteria to birds at different geographical scales: similarities and differences

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