The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems: Motivations, Challenges, and Applications

Conservation Letters

David A. Keith¹  Jon Paul Rodríguez⁸  Thomas M. Brooks⁵  Mark A. Burgman¹⁰  Edmund G. Barrow¹⁴  Lucie Bland¹²  Patrick J. Comer²  Janet Franklin⁴  Jason Link⁷  Michael A. McCarthy¹²  Rebecca M. Miller^1,13  Nicholas J. Murray¹  Jeanne Nel^1,3  Emily Nicholson¹²  María A. Oliveira-Miranda^1,11  Tracey J. Regan¹²  Kathryn M. Rodríguez-Clark^1,6  Mathieu Rouget^1,9 

[1] Centre for Ecosystem Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia;NatureServe, Boulder, Colorado, USA;Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services, Natural Resources & the Environment, CSIR, South Africa;School of Geographical Sciences & Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA;IUCN Science and Knowledge Unit, Gland, Switzerland;Long Term Ecological Research Network, Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia;NOAA Fisheries, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA;IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management, Gland, Switzerland;Land Use Planning and Management, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu, Natal, South Africa;Centre of Excellence for Biosecurity Risk Analysis, School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia;Provita, Caracas, Venezuela;ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, School of Botany, The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia;IUCN Global Ecosystem Management Programme, Cambridge, United Kingdom;IUCN Global Ecosystem Management Programme, Nairobi, Kenya

关键词: IUCN Red List of Ecosystems;    IUCN Red List of Threatened Species;    conservation status;    ecosystem collapse;    ecosystem classification;    threatened ecological communities;    threatened habitat types;    ecosystem services;   

DOI  :  10.1111/conl.12167

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

Abstract

In response to growing demand for ecosystem-level risk assessment in biodiversity conservation, and rapid proliferation of locally tailored protocols, the IUCN recently endorsed new Red List criteria as a global standard for ecosystem risk assessment. Four qualities were sought in the design of the IUCN criteria: generality; precision; realism; and simplicity. Drawing from extensive global consultation, we explore trade-offs among these qualities when dealing with key challenges, including ecosystem classification, measuring ecosystem dynamics, degradation and collapse, and setting decision thresholds to delimit ordinal categories of threat. Experience from countries with national lists of threatened ecosystems demonstrates well-balanced trade-offs in current and potential applications of Red Lists of Ecosystems in legislation, policy, environmental management and education. The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems should be judged by whether it achieves conservation ends and improves natural resource management, whether its limitations are outweighed by its benefits, and whether it performs better than alternative methods. Future development of the Red List of Ecosystems will benefit from the history of the Red List of Threatened Species which was trialed and adjusted iteratively over 50 years from rudimentary beginnings. We anticipate the Red List of Ecosystems will promote policy focus on conservation outcomes in situ across whole landscapes and seascapes.

【 授权许可】

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