Green Status Assessment
P. Meier
The IUCN Green Status of Species assesses the recovery of species’ populations and measures their conservation success. It complements the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM by providing a more comprehensive look at species conservation status and the impact of conservation actions. The goal of the Green Status is to encourage conservation and species recovery throughout a species’ range. It provides a standardised framework for measuring species recovery and for recognising conservation achievements. The Green Status highlights the impact of past conservation, species that depend on continued conservation action, and predicts expected conservation impacts of planned conservation action.
The Green Status assesses species against three essential aspects of recovery: representation, viability and functionality. A species is defined as fully recovered if it is present in all parts of its range (including areas which previously were no longer occupied but where the species occurred), if it is viable in all parts of its range and if it is performing its ecological functions, interactions and other roles across the range. These factors contribute to the Green Score which indicates how far a species is from being fully recovered (0–100%). By calculating Green Scores at different points in time the possible impact of past and current conservation actions on the current status (Conservation Legacy), assessing what would happen if conservation actions were halted (Conservation Dependence), and the possible impacts of future conservation actions on the species might be in the short-term (Conservation Gain) and long-term (Recovery Potential) (Figure 1).
The Green Status is open source. It is used by government agencies, wildlife departments, conservation-related non-governmental organisations (NGOs), natural resource planners, educational organisations, and many others interested in species recovery and conservation.
Green Status of Species Process
The Green Status of a wild species should be assessed after, or concurrently with, the IUCN Red List assessments of that species. A species’ Green Status can be assessed regardless of its Red List category and the outcome is not dependent on the species’ status on the Red List. The Red List and Green Status provide separate but related and complementary assessments of the conservation status of a species. Thus, the results of a Green Status assessment should be considered together with the IUCN Red List category of a species. Once published, Green Status assessments will be available on the IUCN Red List web site together with the Red List assessment of the corresponding species.
Green Status assessments of a species can be carried out by anyone who has sufficient knowledge of a species.
There are assessment workbooks available to help in the assessment process, as well as an online training course. They provide guidance on how to calculate species recovery and to determine the status of a species within a spatial unit.
IUCN Green Status of Species Guidelines
Guidelines and additional documents for the Green Status of Species are accessible through the website of the IUCN Red List of Threatened SpeciesTM. One of the key documents is the IUCN Green Status of Species: a global standard for measuring species recovery and assessing conservation impact. This document aims to ensure an appropriate level of consistency between assessments. It provides information on the IUCN Green Status of Species in general, its relation to the Red List and conservation planning and priorities, gives definitions of important terms and details on the Criteria used as well as on the procedures. The Background and Guidelines for the IUCN Green Status of Species accompanies the standard document . This document provides more detailed explanations of the scientific and technical basis of the conservation impact metrics and provides guidance for using the Standard. It also addresses the purpose of the IUCN Green Status of Species, provides guidance on regional (and national) assessments and states the required and recommended information for a Green Status Assessment. The document Assessment Instructions, IUCN Green Status of Species gives a Step-by-Step guidance on how to conduct a Green Status of Species Assessment.
In regard to conducting Green Status assessments, it is also important to be familiar with the following documents:
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Guidelines for using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria
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Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels
Online training to familiarise oneself with the Green Status Assessment process and guidelines has been developed and is accessible for anybody who registers.
G. Ortiz
Green Score
Figure 1. Graphical representation of the conservation impact metrics as differences in the degree of recovery of the species (percent of Fully Recovered, measured as the Green Score). Solid-black line: observed change in the Green score of the species. Dashed-black line: (counterfactual) past change expected in the absence of past conservation efforts. Dashed-green line: (dynamic baseline) future scenario of change expected under current conditions and conservation actions. Dotted-black lines: future scenarios of change expected with and without current and future conservation efforts. Vertical arrows represent the conservation impact metrics: Conservation Legacy: Benefits of current and past conservation (current − counterfactual current); Conservation Dependence: Expected change in the short-term future in the absence of ongoing conservation (current baseline − future without conservation); Conservation Gain: Expected improvement in the short-term future with ongoing and planned conservation (future with conservation − current baseline); Recovery Potential: Possible improvement with long-term conservation (long-term potential − current). Graphic and caption taken from: IUCN 2021. IUCN Green Status of Species: A global standard for measuring species recovery and assessing conservation impact. Version 2.0. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 25 p.