Programme Green Status of Species assessment resources

Author

Rebecca Young

I have always had a deep love for nature, and from a young age I wanted to work with animals. Having spent some time travelling and seeing beautiful places, but also the way humans are exploiting and destroying the planet, this grew into a passion for conservation and the desire to work to protect the world around us.

During my PhD investigating the decline of the European turtle dove, one of the UK’s most rapidly declining bird species, I completed a placement with Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, and was truly inspired by the amount this relatively small conservation organisation has achieved over the years.

Since completing my PhD I have had the privilege of joining this organisation and being part of their collaboration with the University of Oxford working on the IUCN Green Status of Species. This role helps me feel engaged with work being done across the world, as I help conservation practitioners understand how their work is contributing to species recovery.

Author

Molly Grace | Departmental Lecturer

Molly co-leads the Species and Ecosystem Recovery theme in ICCS. She joined ICCS as a Knowledge Exchange Fellow in October 2017, moved on to a Biology Fellowship at Wadham College in 2020, and is currently a Departmental Lecturer and Senior Research Lead in the Oxford Department of Biology. She is the Co-Chair of the Green Status of Species Working Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission. This Working Group is responsible for developing and delivering the IUCN Green Status of Species (GSS), which provides a standardised way to measure conservation success and account for the positive impacts of conservation. The GSS frames conservation success in terms of the outcome we wish to achieve: the recovery of populations carrying out their ecological roles throughout their indigenous range; historically, success was measured in terms of the outcome we wish to avoid (extinction). Molly is also a member of the Red List Scientific Committee.

Molly also pursues projects under the Nature Positive theme through a research partnership with with Brisbane-based Accounting for Nature focuses on environmental accounting attributing impact to conservation activities. Previously, Molly's research focus was in road ecology, specifically the effects of roads on behaviour of wildlife and humans. She pursued this interest at Duke University and at the University of Central Florida.