IUCN - Red List

Red-Listing for the Mediterranean region

The Mediterranean region is one of the worlds biodiversity hotspots. The countries of this region share a common semi-arid ecosystem with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters. They also share a common fauna and flora as well as a number of regional initiatives (such as the Barcelona Convention, the EuroMed programme and the METAP programme) that recognise their geographical and ecological integrity, bordering a shared sea.

IUCN-Med has linked up with the IUCN Species Survival Commission and the Conservation International (CI) Centre for Applied Biodiversity Science to develop a number of regional Red Lists that can guide conservation planning and implementation in the region and also feed into the global assessments being made for all many major taxonomic groups.

The Mediterranean red listing process follows the regional red listing guidelines.

There are nine categories in the IUCN Red List system: Extinct, Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Least Concern, Data Deficient, and Not Evaluated. Classification into the categories for species threatened with extinction (Vulnerable, Endangered, and Critically Endangered) is through a set of five quantitative criteria that form the heart of the system. These criteria are based on biological factors related to extinction risk and include: rate of decline, population size, area of geographic distribution, and degree of population and distribution fragmentation.

For further information, please contact Annabelle Cuttelod.

Important Plants Areas (IPAs)

The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation and Plantlife International are working in partnership with the IUCN Species Survival Commission and Planta Europa to develop the Important Plant Areas (IPA) programme in the Mediterranean region. IPAs are intended to be areas of great botanical importance for threatened species, habitats and plant diversity in general, that can be identified, protected and managed as sites. The WWF/IUCN Centres of Plant Diversity project (1994) identified large regions of botanical importance, and the Mediterranean was among one of the major hotspots. This IPA programme is intended to build on this approach to identify areas that are appropriate for a site-based approach to conservation.

Responding to International policy processes, IPA identification provides the framework for governments to achieve Target 5 in the Convention on Biological Diversity's Global Strategy for Plant Conservation. IPA identification is also a tool intended to add to conservation efforts by providing specific plant data (Redlists) that can inform other existing national, regional and global conservation programmes. It will also make available a foundation of mapped data regarding IPA's, set standards and act as a reference point linking science and policy, thus guiding relevant national legislation and providing a structured approach for future environmental impact assessments, compensation measures and further decision-making processes.

Other Documents:

Factsheet:THE IPA DATABASE

Propositions de Zones Importantes pour les Plantes au Maroc
By Mohammed Fenane

Rapport: Atelier Zones Importantes pour les Plantes du Maroc
(Oct.2004)

For further information, please contact Rami A. Salman.

Islands and species conservation

With almost 5,000 islands and islets, the Mediterranean comprises one of the largest groups of islands in the world. The region is of high value to global biodiversity due to its wealth of species, relatively high rate of endemism, long history, and tolerance of all kinds of disruptions, as well as its role as a natural laboratory for evolutionary studies.

The Mediterranean region is 5,000km from west to east and over 2,000 km wide (Lacoste, 1999). Of the drainage basin, islands cover some 100,000 km2 of a total of 1,900,000 km2. There are some 4,000 islands of less than 10 km2 in area and 162 islands which are at least 10 km2. The nine Mediterranean islands of over 1,000 km2 account for 83% of the total island area.

Source: Brigand, 1991

For further information, please contact Rami A. Salman.