IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of Nature

The Global Marine Species Assessment began in 2005 and will be the first global review of the conservation status of every marine vertebrate species and of selected invertebrates and plants. Led by SSC, the project will involve a range of partners in compiling and analyzing all existing data on around 20,000 species, and determine the risk of extinction according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.

The GMSA will substantially increase the number of marine species assessed under the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List criteria. The purpose is to enable species conservation plans and provide information necessary for a global marine Hotspot analysis and identification of marine Key Biodiversity Areas.

See GMSA Website

The challenge

There have been 40,177 species assessed under the IUCN Red List Criteria by 2006, of which only 1,372 are considered marine species. The bulk of marine species assessed includes seabirds, marine mammals, sharks, and rays. There is a growing realization that a broad range of marine species is under threat of extinction and many marine habitats are experiencing potentially irreversible degradation. Furthermore, the information needed to guide marine conservation plans is seriously deficient.

The goal

To address the need for intensive and coordinated marine conservation planning and action, IUCN and Conservation International (CI) are collaborating to complete Red List assessments of approximately 15,000 marine species by the year 2010 under the GMSA.

What has happened so far?

A strategy meeting in support of the GMSA was held in the Fall of 2005 and determined that priority taxa to complete should include all marine vertebrates (primarily fishes), habitat forming primary producers such as select macro-algae, seagrasses, mangroves, and corals, and select mollusks and echinoderms.

How are we doing it?

To complete assessments of this large number of species, the GMSA will follow the successful methodology pioneered by IUCN’s Biodiversity Assessment Unit. This unit completed a Global Amphibian Assessment that covered all of the world’s known amphibians (nearly 6,000 species) in three years. This was accomplished through an intensive data gathering stage prior to data review and species assessments.

All essential information is compiled in the Data Entry Module of IUCN’s Species Information Service database and experts review this information according to the Red List criteria, typically in a workshop setting that allows objective review of the data. Distribution maps are compiled for each species and the resultant Geographical Information System database that includes information on threats allows the data to be analyzed for biodiversity and extinction threat Hotspots and Key Biodiversity Areas.

These analyses allow conservation efforts to be concentrated in areas that are in critical need and maximize potential for conservation of biodiversity.