International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources – The IUCN Global Species Programme working with the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) has been assessing the conservation status of species, subspecies, varieties, and even selected subpopulations on a global scale for the past 50 years in order to highlight taxa threatened with extinction, and thereby promote their conservation. Although today we are operating in a very different political, economic, social and ecological world from that when the first IUCN Red Data Book was produced, the IUCN Global Species Programme, working with the Species Survival Commission and many partners, remains firmly committed to providing the world with the most objective, scientifically-based information on the current status of globally threatened biodiversity. The plants, fungi and animals 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 conserving biodiversity from local to global levels. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ provides taxonomic, conservation status and distribution information on plants, fungi and animals that have been globally evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. 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 plants and animals 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 plants, fungi and animals 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 plants, fungi and animals that are either close to meeting the threatened thresholds or that would be threatened were it not for an ongoing taxon-specific conservation programme (i.e., are Near Threatened).

• The IUCN Red List contains over 75,000 assessments of species, subspecies, varieties and subpopulations covering a variety of taxa. You can see the full list by clicking on OTHER SEARCH OPTIONS, clicking on “clear all criteria” to make sure that there are no search terms stored from previous searches you may have already tried, then clicking on “run search”. To search for groups of species (for example “birds” or “frogs”), or a particular species, type the common name, or scientific name into the text box displaying the text “Enter Red List Search Term(s)”, then click on GO. To refine your search further (e.g., to search for species in a particular region or country, or species in a particular Red List category or range of categories), use the OTHER SEARCH OPTIONS section. Further details on how to carry out more detailed searches can be found in the document The Users’ Guide to the IUCN Red List web site. Version 1.0 (March 2009)“