What is the IUCN Red List used for?

The IUCN Red List shows us where and what actions need to be taken to save the building blocks of nature from extinction. It is used for the following purposes:

1. To inform decisions taken by Multilateral Environmental Agreements
2. It is used as a guide to revise the annexes of some important international agreements, such as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)
3. It is also used to calculate the Red List Index (RLI), which is one of the biodiversity indicators used by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)
4. The IUCN Red List also provides data for the indicators needed to measure progress towards the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
5. It contributes to the function of the Intergovernmental science-policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) to strengthen the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services to improve decision making

Further Reading:

• IUCN Red List
• International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)