MEDIA ALERT

PORTRAITS IN RED

Created in 1948, IUCN – The The Reluctant Stars of the 2002 IUCN Red List World Conservation Union brings together 72 States, 107 government agencies, 743 Gland, Switzerland, 2 October 2002 (IUCN) – IUCN – The World NGOs, 34 affiliates, and some Conservation Union brings to centre s tage some of the world’s most reluctant 10,000 scientists and experts stars through its new 2002 Red List of Threatened , due for official from 181 countries in a unique worldwide partnership. IUCN’s release on 8 October (details will be posted on http://iucn.org on this date). mission is to influence, Increasingly reclusive and confined to specialized places, many of these encourage and assist societies unwilling celebrities have proven difficult to trace. throughout the world to con- serve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any These stars are the world’s diverse and plant species inhabiting use of natural resources is assorted natural environments, from freshwater lakes, to deserts and oceans, equitable and ecologically that have found their way onto the Red List. With its last major update sustainable. released in September 2000, the Red List provides the most authoritative

IUCN is the world's largest assessment of the global status of plants and . environmental knowledge netwo rk and has helped over 75 Some species are heading rapidly towards extinction, some are making countries to prepare and tentative recoveries, while others thought to be extinct are being implement national conservation and biodiversity strategies. rediscovered. The Ethiopian water mouse (Nilopegamys plumbeus) enters IUCN is a multi cultural, the list for the first time as Critically Endangered while the Saiga (Saiga multilingual organization with tatarica), a nomadic herding antelope of Central Asia, and the wild Bactrian 1000 staff located in 42 camel, found mainly in China, both move to Critically Endangered from lower countries. Its headquarters are in Gland, Switzerland. threat categories. http://iucn.org Two of the outstanding finds, helping to counterbalance the move of species [email protected] toward extinction, are the Bavarian pine vole (Microtus bavaricus), previously- known from only one location in Germany, and the stick (Dryococelus australis), thought to have become extinct on this Australian island around 1920.

“On the Red List, all species are treated with equal importance - the humble Bavarian pine vole stands alongside the African rhino. It provides the international benchmark to help guide effective biodiversity conservation, and IUCN calls on the international community to use it to advance efforts at all levels,” says IUCN’s Director General, Achim Steiner.

As diverse as the variety of life they study, the 120 Specialist Groups of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission have compiled information on a vast assortment of galloping, swimming, running, flying, slithering, and photosynthesizing organisms. Overall, 11,167 species are listed as threatened on this year’s Red List.

The 2002 release is the first of what will become annual updates to the Red List, which is increasingly recognized as the most reputable, science -based decision-making tool available to all those in a position to influence biodiversity conservation. It is officially recognized by several international environmental agreements including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), and is exerting growing influence in the international environmental policy arena.

For more information, and to arrange interviews with IUCN’s Director General please contact: Xenya Cherny Tel: +41 22 9990127; E -mail: [email protected]; or Andrew Nichols Tel: +41 22 9990153; E-mail: [email protected]