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IUCN Red List, WPA Schedule Status for Butterflies in the
Tamil Nadu Checklist
IUCN Red List
Established in 1964, the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species has evolved to become
the world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species.
The IUCN Red List is a critical indicator of the health of the world’s biodiversity. Far more than a list of species and their status,
it is a powerful tool to inform and catalyze action for biodiversity conservation and policy change, critical to protecting the natu-
ral resources we need to survive. It provides information about range, population size, habitat and ecology, use and/or trade,
threats, and conservation actions that will help inform necessary conservation decisions.
The IUCN Red List is used by government agencies, wildlife departments, conservation-related non-governmental organizations
(NGOs), natural resource planners, educational organizations, students, and the business community. The Red List process has
become a massive enterprise involving the IUCN Global Species Program staff, partner organizations and experts in the IUCN
Species Survival Commission and partner networks who compile the species information to make The IUCN Red List the indis-
pensable product it is today.
To date, many species groups including mammals, amphibians, birds, reef building corals and conifers have been comprehen-
sively assessed. As well as assessing newly recognized species, the IUCN Red List also re-assesses the status of some existing
species, sometimes with positive stories to tell. For example, good news such as the downlisting (i.e. improvement) of a number
of species on the IUCN Red List categories scale, due to conservation efforts. The bad news, however, is that biodiversity is de-
clining. Currently there are more than 96,500 species on The IUCN Red List, and more than 26,500 are threatened with extinc-
tion, including 40% of amphibians, 34% of conifers, 33% of reef building corals, 25% of mammals and 14% of birds.
Despite the high proportions of threatened species, we are working to reverse, or at least halt, the decline in biodiversity. In-
creased assessments will help to build The IUCN Red List into a more complete ‘Barometer of Life’. To do this we need to in-
crease the number of species assessed to at least 160,000 by 2020. This will improve the global taxonomic coverage and thus
provide a stronger base to enable better conservation and policy decisions. The IUCN Red List is crucial not only for helping to
identify those species needing targeted recovery efforts, but also for focusing the conservation agenda by identifying the key
sites and habitats that need to be protected. Ultimately, The IUCN Red List helps to guide and inform future conservation and
funding priorities.
(Source & reproduced from IUCN website: https://www.iucnredlist.org/about/background-history)
Butterflies– IUCN Status
Recent works (September 2016) on Mediterranean region shows that there are 462 butterflies native to the Mediterranean
region and an assessment published by IUCN reveals that 19 butterfly species are threatened with extinction in the region,
from which 15 are endemics. The report shows that the most serious threats to Mediterranean butterflies are the conversion
of grasslands into agricultural land for arable farming or forestry, unsustainable levels of grazing as well as abandonment of
traditional cultural practices. Other significant threats are climate change, the increase frequency and intensity of fires and the
development of tourism. (Source: IUCN News)
In India, however, hardly 5% of the species are evaluated and rest of the species are yet to be assessed for their status.
IUCN Assessment Structure of the categories
PATTAMPOOCHI
A TNBS MAGAZINE
WINGS 3 VEINS 2
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