Classification of IUCN

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental organisation. Founded in 1948, today IUCN the largest professional global conservation network. Its headquarters are located in Gland, near Geneva, in Switzerland.

IUCN:

• Governance by a Council elected by member organizations every four years at the IUCN World Conservation Congress.
• Funded by governments, bilateral and multilateral agencies, foundations, member organisations and corporations.
• Official Observer Status at the United Nations General Assembly.

Functional Jurisdiction of IUCN:

Conserving biodiversity is primary goal to the mission of IUCN. The main areas of function are:

1. Science  – the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
2. Action – hundreds of conservation projects all over the world.

IUCN Red Data Book : Threatened Species classification

Threatened species are any species which are vulnerable to extinction in the near future. International Union for Conservation of Nature treats threatened species not as a single category, but as a group of three categories: vulnerable, endangered, and critically endangered, depending on the degree to which they are threatened.

Critically Endangered Species

Critically Endangered (Cr) is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN for wild species. Critically endangered species means a species numbers have decreased, or will decrease by 80% within three generations.

It is therefore considered to be facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

Endangered (EN) species

Endangered (EN) species is a population of organisms which is at risk of becoming extinct because it is either few in numbers, or threatened by changing environmental or predation parameters.

It is therefore considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

Vulnerable (VU) species

Vulnerable (VU) species is a species which has been categorised by the IUCN as likely to become endangered unless the circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve.

It is therefore considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.

Other classification: Extinct, Functionally Extinct and Extinct in the wild

A species becomes extinct when the last existing member of that species dies. Extinction therefore becomes a certainty when there are no surviving individuals that are able to reproduce and create a new generation.

A species may become functionally extinct when only a handful of individuals survive, which are unable to reproduce due to poor health, age, sparse distribution over a large range, a lack of individuals of both sexes  or other reasons.

An important aspect of extinction at the present time is human attempts to preserve critically endangered species, which is reflected by the creation of the conservation status “Extinct in the Wild” . Species listed under this status by IUCN are not known to have any living specimens in the wild, and are maintained only in zoos or other artificial environments.

Reasons for species extinction

Main reasons for extinction are either natural or manmade. Through evolution, new species arise through the process of speciation and species become extinct when they are no longer able to survive in changing conditions or against superior competition. A typical species becomes extinct within 10 million years of its first appearance although some species, called living fossils, survive virtually unchanged for hundreds of millions of years.

Various anthropogenic activities causing extinction are manmade reasons. Some of these anthropogenic activities include intentional or accidental introduction of invasive alien species, over exploitation and unscientific collection of Non-Timber Forest Produce including medicinal plant, climate change, unsustainable tourism, habitat destruction, encroachment etc.

---

PDF File:

No PDF attached

---

Subject: Environment

← Back