New global standard created to help species ‘thrive, not just survive’

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Conservation tool will focus on recovery efforts to give a fuller picture of threats to plant and animal populations

Scientists have typically focused on monitoring how close endangered species are to extinction, regularly updating the severity of the risk on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) red list.

Now, a new global standard known as the IUCN green status of species will help provide a richer picture of a species’ conservation status by detailing how close it is to recovering its original population size and health.

Researchers point to the example of the California condor. Only 201 of the birds are old enough to breed in the wild and they are exclusively found in Arizona and southern California, resulting in a critically endangered classification on the IUCN’s red list. But the first green status assessment has found that continued conservation efforts could result in a big rebound over the next century to nearly 75% of its fully recovered state.

Molly Grace, University of Oxford researcher, said the new assessment would help paint a fuller picture of the threats to at-risk species and their conservation potential.

Some of the plants and animals that would be helped by improve conservation measures include mountain gorilla, Bayard’s adder’s-mouth orchid, the gray wolf, Kandelia obovata mangrove, California condor, river clubtail dragonfly, pink pigeon, burrowing bettong and Sumatran rhino (pictured below).

  

          

                                     

                              

Source -  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jul/28/new-iucn-green-status-launched-to-help-species-thrive-not-just-survive-aoe