IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature)

How the union began

• IUCN began in 1948 as the International Union for the Protection of Nature.
• Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland.
• Members meet at the World Conservation Congress, normally every four years.
• They choose priorities and elect a Council.
• Expert commissions and a secretariat support the work.
• IUCN now describes seven expert commissions. See the IUCN overview.

What the Red List answers

• The Red List asks one question: how likely is a species to disappear?
• It describes range, population, threats and conservation actions.
• A category is not a head count. It is a risk assessment using stated criteria.
• IUCN also hosts the Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG).
• The ISSG runs the Global Invasive Species Database. That is separate from the Red List.

The ladder

• LC, Least Concern: lower extinction risk in this assessment.
• NT, Near Threatened: close to a threatened category.
• VU, Vulnerable: threatened.
• EN, Endangered: threatened.
• CR, Critically Endangered: threatened, highest risk before extinction.
• EW, Extinct in the Wild: survives only outside its wild range.
• EX, Extinct: no living individual remains.
• DD, Data Deficient: too little evidence to judge risk.
• NE, Not Evaluated: no Red List assessment yet.

Two traps

• Vulnerable, Endangered and Critically Endangered together form the threatened group.
• Data Deficient does not mean safe.
• Not Evaluated does not mean Least Concern.
• Red List results are global. A regional or Indian assessment can differ.

• A species may be Least Concern worldwide yet protected by Indian law.
• A threatened Red List label also does not automatically place it in a legal schedule.
• Read IUCN and CITES: Two Different Conservation Bodies for the full contrast.

Evidence first, category second

• Assessors gather population and range evidence.
• They test the species against five criteria, A to E.
• Experts review the result.
• IUCN publishes the category with reasons.
• The species is reassessed as new evidence arrives.

The five criteria

• A: how much has the population fallen?
• B: is the range small and declining or broken apart?
• C: is a small population still declining?
• D: is the population very small or restricted?
• E: what does a formal extinction-risk model show?

• A species needs to meet only one criterion for a threatened category.
• IUCN aims to reassess species every five to ten years when possible. There is no fixed timetable.

• The latest Red List update is version 2026-1, released on 9 July 2026.
• IUCN highlighted new assessments, including deep-sea molluscs and the desert rain frog.
• The next planned update is version 2026-2 on 19 November 2026. IUCN says the schedule can change.
• New surveys can show decline or recovery.
• Check the species page for its latest year, area, category and reasons.

Sources: IUCN mission and membership, governance, Red List categories, formal criteria, regional assessments, update schedule and CITES checklist.