University of Oxford
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UK
Assessing the contribution of conservation programmes to the global recovery of species, using the IUCN Green Status of Species
Collaborators
Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Zoological Society of London, Wildlife Conservation Society, Re:wild, Stony Brook University.
Project overview
Launched in 2021, the IUCN Green Status of Species is a complementary part of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, assessing how close a species is to being fully recovered. As well as assessing the current recovery status of the species, the Green Status of Species quantifies the past and expected future impacts of conservation, through four conservation impact metrics.
Currently, the Green Status of Species is generally assessed at the global scale, recognising the combined impact of all past conservation actions on species status, highlighting species dependent on continued actions, and forecasting expected gains from further conservation interventions. Nonetheless, it is common for conservation practitioners to seek to understand how their programmes—conducted at a sub-global scale— contribute to global species recovery, and to date there is no standardised method to assess the impact of a specific programme in this way. We sought to address this gap by adapting the Green Status of Species for application at the programme level, providing a standardised and cost-effective way to understand the past and expected future impact of programmes in relation to the global recovery of species.
Based on a completed IUCN Green Status of Species assessment at the global scale, a Programme Green Status of Species assessment estimates the contribution of past programme actions to global species recovery, as well as estimating what could be achieved by continuation of the programme and its actions.
Project progress
Working with colleagues across five international conservation organisations, members of the Green Status of Species-SSC Integration Task Force have developed the method and guidelines for applying the Green Status of Species at the programme level. We are now looking for participants to be involved in wide scale testing to 1) ensure the adaptations work for a range of different programme and species types, and 2) receive feedback on the framework and accompanying guidance documentation.
If you would like to conduct a Programme Green Status of Species assessment to evaluate the impact of your programmes, please see the links below for resources, or contact rebecca.young@durrell for more information.
Project outputs and presentations
Rebecca Young presented the Programme Green Status of Species adaptation at the BIAZA Conservation Conference 2024, Chester, UK, April 2024
Rebecca Young presented the Programme Green Status of Species adaptation and it’s application for impact evaluation in the “Conservation in Practice” section of Conservation Measure Partnership’s quarterly meeting
Rebecca Young and Molly Grace co-presented the IUCN Green Status and the programme adaptation at the International Congress for Conservation Biology 2023, Kigali, Rwanda, July 2023