Building India's Red List Assessment Capacity: Fourth IUCN Red List Assessor's Training

The training brought together 40 participants from regional centres of BSI and ZSI, along with additional participants from Calcutta University, the IUCN SSC Monitor Lizard Specialist Group, WWF-India, TSA Foundation India, and the University of Kashmir. Participants’ expertise spanned various plant groups, fungi, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, and diverse invertebrate taxa, reflecting the diversity of species expertise needed to meet India’s biodiversity assessment needs.

The training aims to build a trained pool of assessors to contribute toward assessing 11,000 species of flora, fauna and fungi, as outlined in the National Red List of Flora and Fauna of India – Vision 2030. This workshop was conducted by Dr Deepu Sivadas, Scientist at the Kerala Forest Research Institute and a certified Red List trainer, and Dr Aparna Watve, Red List Authority Coordinator for the Western Ghats Plant Specialist Group. The trainers led open discussions with participants, ensuring questions were addressed and concepts were well-understood. Participants left the training eager to apply their new skills, with many keen to contribute to Red List assessments in their fields and stay engaged with the IUCN SSC community.

Post-training, participants will be directly integrated into assessment groups, with follow-up meetings planned between participants and trainers to resolve doubts as assessments progress. Further trainings are planned in the coming months. To date, CSS India has conducted four in-person Red List training workshops, training over 150 scientists, conservationists, and researchers in IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria.