What is The IUCN Red List?
Established in 1964, The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species. The IUCN Red List is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity. Far more than a list of species and their status, it is a powerful tool to inform and catalyze action for biodiversity conservation and policy change, critical to protecting the natural resources we need to survive. It provides information about range, population size, habitat and ecology, use and/or trade, threats, and conservation actions that will help inform necessary conservation decisions.
The assessment process for ‘Plant Red List of Bangladesh’ took about three years. During the process, members of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, technical team members of the Red List unit of IUCN Bangladesh, Bangladesh Forest Department officials, officials from the Bangladesh National Herbarium, faculties of the universities, scientists of the research institutes, as well as species specialists worked closely to ensure most accurate information and analysis of the most current status, trends and threats to plant species in Bangladesh.
This programme entitled “Developing Bangladesh National Red List of Plant and Developing Management Strategy of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) of Plants in selected Protected Areas” has been initiated by the Forest Department (FD) and the Bangladesh National Herbarium (BNH), under the SUFAL project, funded by the World Bank. IUCN Bangladesh provided key technical support.
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IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria
The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria are intended to be an easily and widely understood system for classifying species at high risk of global extinction. It divides species into nine categories: Not Evaluated, Data Deficient, Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild and Extinct.
Project Activities
Project Component-2 : Invasive Alien Species (IAS) of Plants
A project has been launched entitled “Developing Bangladesh National Red List of Plants and Developing Management Strategy of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) of plants in selected Protected Areas (PAs)” initiated by the Bangladesh Forest Department (BFD) and Bangladesh National Herbarium (BNH), under the Sustainable Forest and Livelihood (SUFAL) project, funded by the World Bank. IUCN Bangladesh is providing key technical support to the project. A sub-component (B) of this project is to prepare a set of recommendations to formulate an effective mechanism of preventing, controlling, and managing the spread of IAS of plants and a management strategy for five selected PAs of Bangladesh to reduce their impact on local forest biodiversity. The selected PAs are Himchari National Park (HNP), Kaptai National Park (KNP), Madhupur National Park (MNP), Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary (RKWS), and Sundarbans East Wildlife Sanctuary (SEWS).
Invasive Alien Species (IAS)
Invasive Alien Species (IAS) are “plants, animals, pathogens and other organisms that are non-native to an ecosystem, and which may cause economic or environmental harm or adversely affect human health. In particular, they impact adversely upon biodiversity, including decline or elimination of native species – through competition, predation, or transmission of pathogens and the disruption of local ecosystems and ecosystem functions.” – Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), 1992.
Invasive species are a key threat to biodiversity all over the world (Pimentel et al. 2001) and they are recognized as one of the key components of global environmental change (MEA 2005). In invasion ecology, they are among the most abundant and prominent species (Callaway and Maron 2006).
It is said that some species introduced to a new area or protected ecosystems might establish themselves there but, at least initially, they do not appear to have a significant impact. Because the populations are small in size and initially not troublesome (Clout and Williams 2009). So, only a small portion of the introduced species to an area becomes naturalized or invasive (Lockwood et al. 2013).
SUMMARY OF THE STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT PLAN OF INVASIVE ALIEN SPECIES OF PLANTS OF SELECTED PROTECTED AREAS
IUCN Plant Red List Project Partnership
IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature
Bangladesh Country Office:
House 143 (1st floor), Road 27, Block A, Banani, Dhaka 1213, Bangladesh.
Tel. +880 2 48810195; Fax +880 2 48810197
Project Office:
Bangladesh National Herbarium, Zoo Road, Mirpur-1, Dhaka-1216, Bangladesh.