Projects

Assessing conservation successes in government, policy, and business using the IUCN Green List of Species

This project is linked to The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Green List of Species programme

Outline of research: The IUCN Green List of Species will be an objective framework to measure species recovery. My project aims to develop the scientific underpinnings of the Green List, guide members of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Specialist Groups in generating species assessments using the Green List methodology, and facilitate use of Green List data by policymakers and businesses.

Summary of planned activities: This research is part of a NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellowship, for which the main goal is to use scientific research to improve efficiency and well-being in the non-academic sector. To achieve this goal, I will be using the Green List of Species protocol to assess conservation actions by government and business to demonstrate achievement of desired outcomes (e.g., species recovery). I will also facilitate workshops to train Specialist Groups in Green List assessment, allowing us to accrue a large collection of assessments. These assessments can then be used to measure progress toward targets set in global conservation conventions, such as the UN Convention on Biodiversity and CITES.

Project outputs:

Akçakaya, H. Resit, et al. 2018. Quantifying species recovery and conservation success to develop an IUCN Green List of Species. Conservation Biology, https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13112

More information: 

Oxford MPLS story

National Geographic blog 

Mongabay story