2014 – The year in highlights
Posted on Dec 19, 2014 Guest blogs, Network News, News, Uncategorized | Comments Off on 2014 – The year in highlights
With 2014 drawing to an end, it is time to reflect on what we have achieved this year. Turns out, from the perspective of the National Red List project, this has been quite a lot, from extensive website updates to an expanded coverage of species assessments on our database, making an impact at the CBD CoP in Korea, public engagement and training Red List assessors. So here are some highlights from 2014:
- Since January 2014, we added a total of 53,744 species assessments to the National Red List database – this means we have expanded the existing database to a total of 133,750 assessments.
- We presented a report on the importance of National Red Lists and current coverage to the 12thmeeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. This had considerable impact in pushing interest in National Red List development, and has featured in a recent news release of the Asia Biodiversity Conservation and Database Network (ABCDNet; https://archive.nationalredlist.org/national-red-list-global-coverage-and-applications/), where you can find out more about it. You can also access the original report here.
- In summer 2014, we reorganised our website, specifically to include much better guidance on how to prepare National Red Lists. We are hoping to expand this section in the future, particularly through contributions of fellow National Red Listers on their experiences running Red list projects, carrying out assessments, securing funding, engaging the general public and policy makers – or any of the many aspects of National Red list development. If you would like to contribute, please contact us at [email protected]
- We were actively involved in Red List assessor training workshops in Russia (read the blog here) and Bangladesh (read the blog here), which in return also provided much opportunity for highlighting our National Red List project. We are hoping for more collaboration in the coming year!
- We had a very successful celebration of 50 years of the IUCN Red List by means of a public seminar held here at ZSL London Zoo on the past, present and future of the IUCN Red List. Of course, National Red Lists featured prominently. You can access the talk here, or listen to the proceedings of the evening again by accessing the audio files here.
- We also had the pleasure of working with two amazing National Red List Interns. Without these guys, our database would surely still stand at a mere (!) 80,000 species assessments. So a big thank you to Sarah Johnson and Eve Englefield on all their hard work. And if you want to know what it’s like to be a National Red List intern, you can read Eve’s take on all things National Red List here.
All that remains for us to do before 2014 draws to a close is to wish everybody a very happy New Year, and much Red List success in 2015!
