Resources | National Red List

Here, we list resources relevant to developing National Red Lists. Please also see our Webinars page which holds the Reverse the Red webinar series on National Red Lists. We endeavour to keep this section as relevant as possible. If you know of helpful resources not listed below, please get in touch at [email protected].

Featured Resource: Guidelines for Establishing a National Red List Programme

Cover of the National Red List Guidelines in English

A step-by-step guide for setting up a National Red List programme. Available in English, Spanish and French from the IUCN Red List website.
Developed by the National Red List Working Group (NRLWG) of the IUCN SSC Red List Committee.
Launched during the ICENCA Regional Conservation Forum, 2024 (see event page). Check the IUCN website for the latest version.
A webinar episode on this topic is available in the Reverse the Red Webinar Series.

Further Resources

Project Planning and Funding for Conservation

Project Manuals from the Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) – guides to project planning (English, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Tibetan), Theory of Change (English) and Institutional Fundraising (English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic).
Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation by the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP) Access the Conservation Standards Framework and other tools.
Species Conservation Planning Principles & Steps - From the Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) which also provides training and guidance on Multi-Species Planning and the Assess-To-Plan Approach.

IUCN Red List Methodology for Assessing Species' Extinction Risk

Always check the IUCN website for most recent versions

IUCN Categories and Criteria (v3.1) – English, French, Spanish.
Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria (v16.0).
Regional/National application guidelines (v4.0).

IUCN Red List Training

IUCN Red List assessor training opportunities – links to courses and materials.
Online IUCN Red List assessor training course – links to the course from IUCN and ConservationTraining.org.
sRedList: online platform for undertaking IUCN global and regional or national Red List assessments. Contains in-built tools for mapping and analysis of forest loss. Tutorials available on YouTube.

Species Distribution Mapping

IUCN spatial resources: Toolbox for ArcMap, Google Maps, Google Earth.
QGIS – open access GIS software.

Data Storage and Sharing

IUCN Species Information Service (SIS) – tools and guidance.
Template spreadsheet for data upload: download from Contribute your data page in the Data Contributor Resources section.

IUCN Red List Index

IUCN Red List Index – Guidance for National and Regional Use.
Red List Index calculator: Biodiversity Indicators Partnership and IUCN Red List website.
Red List Index (Sampled Approach) – from ZSL.