Wildlife in a changing world: an analysis of the 2008 IUCN Red List of threatened species

Biodiversity loss is one of the world’s most pressing crises with many species declining to critically low levels and with signifi cant numbers going extinct. At the same time there is growing awareness of how biodiversity supports human livelihoods. Governments and civil society have responded to this challenge by setting clear conservation targets, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2010 target to reduce the current rate of biodiversity loss. In this context, The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ (hereafter The IUCN Red List) is a clarion call to action in the drive to tackle the extinction crisis, providing essential information on the state of, and trends in, wild species.