IUCN COMMISSION GROUP

IUCN SSC Standards and Petitions Committee

Overview and description

Description:

The IUCN SSC Standards and Petitions Committee (SPC) is responsible for ensuring the quality and standards of the IUCN Red List and for ruling on petitions against the listings of species on the IUCN ...

Prof Resit AKCAKAYA

Chair

I am a conservation biologist with expertise in threatened species, the impact of climate change on biodiversity, species extinction risks, and species recovery. My background is in population and community ecology. My current research focuses on quantifying species recovery and conservation success; measuring the range of a species; deciding when to list a species as Extinct; and assessing the vulnerability of species to climate change.

I am a professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University, in New York, USA.

In IUCN, I have been a member of the SSC Red List Committee, and Chair of the SSC Standards and Petitions Committee since 2001. I am also a member of the IUCN task force that developed the IUCN Green Status of Species (which is IUCN’s global standard for measuring species recovery, and assessing the impact of conservation actions), and the Climate Change Specialist Group.

For more information about my research, please see

More about the SPC

The Standards and Petitions Committee has developed and regularly updated, the Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, which gives detailed and specific guidance on the correct use of the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. When a disagreement about the listing of a particular species on the IUCN Red List leads to a formal petition, the Standards and Petitions Committee acts as the final judge and makes a binding ruling on the petition.

SPC also gives advice on the interpretation of the Red List Criteria; response to requests for scientific advice and guidance from the Red List Technical Working Group of the Red List Committee, the IUCN Species Programme and from Red List Partners; reviews Red List training materials and approaches; reviews proposed changes to the Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional Levels; reviews all assessments made using only Criterion E; periodically reviews assessments made by Red List Authorities, Red List Partners and the IUCN Species Programme; and comments on specific assessments forwarded by the IUCN Species Programme.

Standards and Petitions Committee work

The impact of the SPC on conservation is indirect, through its efforts to maintain and increase the credibility and reliability of the IUCN Red List as the most authoritative source of the conservation status of species.