IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

The IUCN Red List is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species. It is a comprehensive and objective approach for evaluating the conservation status and extinction risk of thousands of species of plants and animals. Essentially it is a database of taxa that have undergone an extinction risk assessment using IUCN’s Red List Categories and Criteria.

The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria were developed primarily for application at the global level, meaning that any assessments of non-endemic species based on these criteria could result in misleading listings at the regional level. IUCN has therefore formulated regional guidelines for the assessment of endemic and non-endemic species. Species shall be assessed primarily at the global level, but also using the regional guidelines, in order to create comprehensive species accounts for the Pacific islands.

Species accounts shall be updated periodically to allow monitoring of biodiversity and determination of the success of conservation initiatives.

Analysis of Pacific Island species listed on the 2008 Red List

A review process was carried out, in order to examine the extent of species that had been assessed according to the IUCN Categories and Criteria. This was done by analysing the 2008 IUCN Red List in relation to species found in the 24 countries and territories of the Pacific islands.

The resulting document is “The Pacific Islands: An analysis of the status of species as listed on the 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™”.

A number of Appendices accompany the Analysis.

• Appendix 1: Animals of the Pacific Islands listed on the 2008 Red List
• Appendix 2: Plants of the Pacific Islands listed on the 2008 Red List

The IUCN Red List should be consulted in conjunction with this report, as the website contains additional information on each assessed species, such as sources of information used in the assessment, detailed data on threats and descriptions on geographical range and habitats in which a species is found.

• Appendices 3-11 contain information on using the Analysis and the Lists contained in Appendices 1 and 2.
• Appendix 12 contains country profiles for these 24 Pacific Island countries and territories.

Not included in the Analysis are Australia and New Zealand, although reference is made to these countries in certain sections.

The production of the Analysis and Appendices allowed us to see the status of species in the Pacific islands in 2008, as assessed using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.

The Analysis found that vertebrate groups are the most well-known of all taxonomic groups in the Pacific. Amongst the vertebrates, birds, mammals and amphibians have been assessed globally through several of IUCN’s global assessment programmes. However, there are data gaps for several groups of species. Species identified as priority for assessment in the Pacific Islands region include: reptiles, fishes (freshwater and marine), all invertebrates (except hard corals) and all plants and fungi (except conifers and cycads which are almost completely assessed globally).

Completing further assessments

The initial review and analysis phase identified key taxonomic and geographical gaps on which to focus research efforts. For the initial phase of assessments for the region, fishes (marine and freshwater), reptiles and land snails will be the focal species groups.

1. Global Marine Species Assessments

The Global Marine Species Assessment, a joint collaboration between IUCN’s Species Programme and Conservation International, is working to assess individual marine species for inclusion and publication on the IUCN Red List. In 2010, only 10% of species contained in the Red List were found in marine environments. There is therefore a huge gap in our understanding of marine species, especially fishes and invertebrates. The GMSA team have been working to fill these gaps at the global level, but also regionally where possible.

In November 2010, a workshop was held in Nadi, Fiji to assess the status of damselfishes (Pomacentridae) in the Oceania region and at the global level. A second workshop was held in January 2011 in Koror, Palau to assess the status of Gobies and Cardinalfishes (Gobiidae and Apogonidae).
The workshops brought together the world’s leading experts on damselfishes, gobies and cardinalfishes and assessed approximately 500 species according to the IUCN Red List categories and criteria.
Further funding is being sought to complete additional taxonomic groups of marine species.

2. Terrestrial assessments

In 2010, IUCN Oceania successfully secured funds from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund to begin biodiversity assessments for three taxonomic groups – Reptiles, Freshwater Fishes and Land snails. With the assistance of SPREP, additional counterpart funding has also been secured from the Fonds Pacifique.

The first step in the process to complete assessments was to bring local, regional and international scientists together to attend a Red List Training workshop in Fiji. This workshop was largely made up of practical sessions where specialists used species data to learn how to carry out assessments based on the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.

Over the course of 2011, the workshop attendees shall gather data on such things as population, distribution, ecology, habitat requirements, threats, and utilisation for the focal species of this project. The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria shall then be used to apply an extinction risk to each species being assessed. The completed assessments will increase our knowledge of species in the region, form a baseline of the status and distribution of species in the region, and create a more comprehensive Red List in relation to Pacific island species.

IUCN Oceania’s long term aim of improving information on the Red List is to empower people and governments to effectively utilise this knowledge in order to guide conservation decision-making and planning, raise awareness of threatened species and promote the integration of biodiversity conservation and sustainable development in the region.

Assessments will be undertaken with key organizations and experts, including relevant members of the Species Survival Commission and IUCN Members such as Landcare Research and the University of the South Pacific. A number of other members and partners will be key in delivery of the project.