The 2000 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on taxa that have been evaluated using the 1994 IUCN Red List Categories. This system is designed to determine the relative risk of extinction, and the main purpose of the IUCN Red List is to catalogue and highlight those taxa that are facing a higher risk of global extinction (i.e. those listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable). The IUCN Red List also includes information on taxa that are categorized as Extinct or Extinct in the Wild; on taxa that cannot be evaluated because of insufficient information (i.e. are Data Deficient); and on Lower Risk taxa which are either close to meeting the threatened thresholds (i.e. Lower Risk/near threatened) or that would be threatened were it not for an ongoing taxon-specific conservation programme (i.e. Lower Risk/conservation dependent). The list of threatened taxa is maintained in a searchable database by the SSC Red List Programme as part of the SSC's Species Information Service (SIS). A subset of the records (for all the categories described above) is provided here through the Search and Expert Search functions on the home page. The data set provided, does not include any species listed as Lower Risk/least concern (i.e. common and not threatened species) nor any which have not yet been assessed (i.e. Not Evaluated). The only taxonomic groups, which have been comprehensively assessed, are the birds and mammals. The vast majority of plant taxa listed in the 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants have not yet been evaluated against the 1994 Red List Criteria and are therefore not included here. To find out the conservation status of plants, users must search both this database and the UNEP-WCMC Threatened Plants database. Most of the assessments and the documentation included in the searchable database, were provided by the members of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. All the birds were assessed by BirdLife International and its partners, and reflect the contents of Threatened Birds of the World (BirdLife International 2000). Other assessments and much taxonomic and distribution information have been provided by various partner organizations shown below. The Species Survival Commission, and the Red List Programme in particular, is indebted to the ongoing support of many long-term donors: Conservation International's Center for Applied Biodiversity Science; the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, UK; WWF - The World Wide Fund for Nature; the Canadian Wildlife Service; the Council of Agriculture, Taiwan; the Department of State, USA; the Center for Marine Conservation; Natural Resources Canada; the Chicago Zoological Society; National Science Foundation (US); and the Swiss Development Corporation. The final production of this Red List on the web and on CD-ROM would not have been possible without generous funding from IUCN/SSC's co-publishing partner, Conservation International.

IUCN-The World Conservation Union, through its Species Survival Commission (SSC) has for almost four decades been assessing the conservation status of species, subspecies, varieties and even selected sub-populations on a global scale in order to highlight taxa threatened with extinction, and therefore promote their conservation. Although today we are operating in a very different political, economic, social and ecological world from that of the first IUCN Red Data Book, the SSC remains firmly committed to providing the world with the most objective, scientifically-based information on the current status of globally threatened biodiversity. The taxa assessed for the IUCN Red List are the bearers of genetic diversity and the building blocks of ecosystems and information on their conservation status and distribution provides the foundation for making informed decisions about preserving biodiversity at local to global levels.

Number of Species

Biodiversity

Total and Threatened Species