The IUCN Species Strategic Plan 2021-2025 serves as a comprehensive framework guiding the efforts of the IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC), the IUCN Global Species Programme, and their various partnerships. The plan is built around five key goals (see below), each with specific Key Species Results (KSR) that form part of the Species Conservation Cycle.

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1. Network: The plan focuses on enhancing and supporting the SSC network by developing and strengthening partnerships and sustainable funding mechanisms, expanding membership and capacity, and fostering collaboration across IUCN and beyond. These efforts aim to achieve species conservation results in line with the One Programme Charter. Additionally, the plan seeks to catalyse actions with governments and other stakeholders to meet post-2020 conservation targets.

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2. Assess: This goal is centred on understanding and communicating the status and trends of global biodiversity. It involves improving and disseminating biodiversity and conservation knowledge and expanding the coverage and quality of biodiversity assessments. These assessments include e.g. the IUCN Red List, the Green Status of Species, and the Climate Change vulnerability. The goal also aims at strengthening the Red List Index (RLI) as a biodiversity indicator at both global and national levels.

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3. Plan: The plan emphasises the development of collaborative, inclusive, and science-based conservation strategies and policies. It aims to strengthen and expand species conservation planning at local, national, regional, and global levels. Furthermore, the plan seeks to integrate species conservation into national, regional, and global policies, ensuring that conservation efforts are embedded in broader governance frameworks.

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4. Act: This goal calls for mobilising conservation actions to improve the status of biodiversity. The plan advocates for enhancing biodiversity conservation through effective, collaborative, and practical approaches. It also promotes sustainable use practices that improve governance for both people and nature, ensuring that conservation efforts are both impactful and equitable.

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5. Communicate: The final goal is to drive strategic communications to enhance the impact of IUCN’s Species theme. The plan aims to strengthen IUCN as a credible source of biodiversity information for target audiences and to increase the visibility of different taxa and species conservation through innovative communications that attract new audiences.

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The Mission Statement for the 2021–2025 period underscores the SSC’s role in enabling IUCN to influence, encourage, and assist societies globally in conserving biodiversity. This mission is achieved through providing knowledge on species’ status and trends, developing policies and guidelines, facilitating conservation planning, and catalysing action on the ground.

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During the 2017-2020 period, the SSC updated its Species Strategic Plan and established the Species Conservation Cycle as the framework for its activities. The Assess component, primarily involving biodiversity assessments like red listing, accounted for the largest proportion of targets. However, there was a notable increase in the Act component, reflecting a shift towards more on-the-ground conservation actions. The Mammals group registered the most targets, followed by Birds and Plant groups, highlighting the focus on these taxa within the SSC network.

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IUCN Species Strategic Plan 2021-2025

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