Establishing a Baseline
A key step in monitoring worldwide biodiversity trends is creating a baseline from which to monitor the status of species. To establish this baseline, the IUCN Red List is being expanded into a new biodiversity assessment initiative which involves evaluating the status of over 100,000 species over the next six years and mapping their distributions.
Once this baseline has been established, multi-species analyses of Red List data will be used to develop indices that measure biodiversity status, knowledge, trends, and threats as well as conservation actions and extinction rates.
With these indices in place, planners will be able to establish local conservation priorities that are informed by the global context of biodiversity trends.
The first stage of this baseline initiative is the Global Amphibian Assessment, through which the status of all amphibian species are being reviewed by experts throughout the world. As part of this initiative, partnerships are also being developed with BirdLife International, NatureServe (formerly the Association for Biodiversity Information), and the Ocean Conservancy.
