IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is widely recognized as the most comprehensive, objective global approach for evaluating the conservation status of plant and animal species. It is produced and managed by the IUCN Species Survival Commission, IUCN Global Species Programme and the Red List Partnership [4].
It operates on efforts of numerous volunteers drafting and reviewing the assessments of species extinction risk, from both academia and conservation sectors, with a small core team, Red List Unit. The purpose of the Red List is to provide information and analyses on the status, trends, and threats to species in order to inform and catalyze action for biodiversity conservation.
The first pre-criteria for assessment of species extinction risk was set as early as 1950s, and were made available for the general public in 1964, when the first comprehensive list of threatened mammals and birds was compiled and published. Since then the criteria have regularly been reviewed in order to improve and adjust them to fit the requirements of risk assessment for all living organisms.
