ESR - Vol. 6, No. 2 - Table of contents

ESR THEME SECTION

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (www.redlist.org) is a comprehensive list of relative extinction risk for species around the world. Since it was first established in 1963, the Red List and its Criteria have been revised several times to make them more scientific and objective. Nevertheless, the Red List and its all-inclusive nature have generated some controversy, particularly in terms of what is the most appropriate scale for both assessing and working towards conserving particular species.

In September, 2007, a revised version of the Red List was made available (see www.redlist.org), it included information on more than 40,000 species. Additionally, in the past five years, more than 40 peer-reviewed papers have been published that use “Red List” in the title, suggesting increased interest in the process. It is, therefore, timely to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses, past successes and failures and future directions of the Red List Process.

We hope these articles will help identify problems and their possible solutions, and move toward strengthening the Red List and its output.

As for all current ESR articles, we are pleased to make the online version of this ESR THEME SECTION available with Open Access.

Godfrey MH, Roberts DL, Godley BJ
Taking it as red: an introduction to the Theme Section on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
ESR 6:109-111 | Full text in pdf format

Hoffmann M, Brooks TM, da Fonseca GAB, Gascon C, Hawkins AFA, James RE, Langhammer P, Mittermeier RA, Pilgrim JD, Rodrigues ASL, Silva JMC
REVIEW: Conservation planning and the IUCN Red List
ESR 6:113-125 | Full text in pdf format

Brummitt N, Bachman SP, Moat J
AS WE SEE IT: Applications of the IUCN Red List: towards a global barometer for plant diversity
ESR 6:127-135 | Full text in pdf format

Newton AC, Oldfield S
Red Listing the world’s tree species: a review of recent progress
ESR 6:137-147 | Full text in pdf format

Komonen A, Jonsell M, Ranius T
AS WE SEE IT: Red-listing saproxylic beetles in Fennoscandia: current status and future perspectives
ESR 6:149-154 | Full text in pdf format

Godfrey MH, Godley BJ
AS WE SEE IT: Seeing past the red: flawed IUCN global listings for sea turtles
ESR 6:155-159 | Full text in pdf format

Webb GJW
The dilemma of accuracy in IUCN Red List categories, as exemplified by hawksbill turtles Eretmochelys imbricata
ESR 6:161-172 | Full text in pdf format

Freeman MMR
Challenges of assessing cetacean population recovery and conservation status
ESR 6:173-184 | Full text in pdf format

Mrosovsky N, Godfrey MH
The path from grey literature to Red Lists
ESR 6:185-191 | Full text in pdf format

Rodríguez JP
National Red Lists: the largest global market for IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria
ESR 6:193-198 | Full text in pdf format