The Green List of Species: A high-profile assessment of conservation success stories (Panel)

The field of conservation currently has a standardised way to assess what we want to avoid – extinction (through the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) – but not what we want to achieve – recovery. The IUCN is, therefore, developing a Green List of Species, which will provide a standardized metric for assessing species recovery.

The panellists in this session will discuss how applying the Green List approach has helped (1) understand past conservation impact; (2) highlight conservation dependence; and/or (3) demonstrate potential future recovery for the species they have assessed. This 90-minute panel session will involve a short introductory talk about the Green List followed by 3-4 short presentations from people who have applied the Green List approach. Panellists will discuss the Green List adequately achieves what the approach sets out to do: to provide a consistent means for assessing progress toward a species’ recovery. Following the short presentations, the majority of the session will consist of a moderated discussion between the audience and panellists.

The panellists speaking in this session are:

  • Molly Grace (IUCN SSC Species Conservation Success Task Force) who is the testing coordinator for the Green List;
  • Claudio Soto Azat (Director, Sustainability Research Centre (CIS), Ecosystem Health Laboratory, Universidad Andres Bello, Chile), who led the Green List assessment for Darwin’s frog;
  • Helen Smith (British Arachnological Society – Conservation Officer) and David Heaver (Senior Invertebrate Specialist, Natural England), who led Green List assessments for the Fen Raft Spider and Ladybird Spider;
  • Anna Loy (President, Associazione Teriologica Italiana – Italian Mammal Society; Co-chair IUCN-SSC Otter Specialist Group) is coordinating Green List assessments for multiple otter species;
  • Tom Hart (Research Fellow, University of Oxford; Penguin Watch) is coordinating Green List assessments for penguins and other Antarctic fauna