The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) on September 4, 2021 officially launched its “green status” — the first global standard for assessing species recovery and measuring conservation impacts.
How Does the Green Status of Species Define Recovery?
The Green Status assesses species against three essential facets of recovery:
- 1. A species is fully recovered if it is present in all parts of its range, even those that are no longer occupied but were occupied prior to major human impacts/disruption; AND
- 2. It is viable (i.e., not threatened with extinction) in all parts of the range; AND
- 3. It is performing its ecological functions in all parts of the range.
Some 28% of 1,38,000 assessed species face extinction
- According to the IUCN, some 28% of the 1,38,374 species assessed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for its survival watchlist are now at high risk of vanishing forever.
- The major threats to the species are; habitat loss, overexploitation and illegal trade and now the climate change.
- Komodo dragons, the largest living lizards, which are found only in the World Heritage-listed Komodo National Park and neighbouring Flores, were listed as “endangered”.
(Source: The Hindu and IUCN)
