Objective
The objectives of the project are:
To integrate the red listing system currently used by the Central Asian countries into the global framework being developed by IUCN - the World Conservation Union;
To develop a scientifically rigorous system for assessing the threat of extinction faced by species at the national and regional scales, to complement the global system already in use;
To apply this system to Central Asian species at three levels; within each country, for the region as a whole, and globally;
To assess the effects of the scale at which red listing takes place on the category of threat that a species is placed in, and to identify factors that correlate with changes in threat status as the scale of assessment increases. To analyse which of these factors are artefacts of the listing process, which are caused by processes specific to the area (such as pollution in a particular location), and which are intrinsic to the life histories of the species. To use these analyses to improve the scientific rigour of the listing process and to identify species particularly at risk, both from specific processes and due to their life-history strategies or habitat;
To use archive data to identify correlates of recorded extinctions of the listed species at the national, regional and global scales;
To compare the results of this investigation with the analysis of category of threat listings, and identify parameters for which the two sets of results do not correlate. These might indicate places where native habitat is already destroyed, or ways in which the red listing criteria might not adequately represent extinction risk;
To develop a Geographical Information System to map areas of particular conservation importance in the region, according to the level of threat faced by species inhabiting them at the national, regional and global level. To map particularly valuable habitat types for the conservation of threatened biodiversity;
To use the GIS to model links between extinction risk and factors such as habitat quality or type of anthropogenic disturbance;
To provide policy advice for government conservation planners based on these analyses;
To train a young NIS scientist in red listing skills, as an intern at IUCN. This scientist would then take a leading role in organising a red-listing workshop and coordinating red listing in the region in the future;
To initiate a collaborative network of Central Asian scientists working on biodiversity conservation issues.
The research activities include the holding of a workshop of Central Asian and international experts in biodiversity conservation, at which the issues surrounding red listing at the national, regional and global scale will be discussed. This workshop will feed into international policy-making concerning the scale at which classification of species by extinction risk can be carried out. The workshop's data on the threat facing a representative sample of species and factors affecting species vulnerability to extinction will be analysed, to determine the correlates of extinction risk. The resulting models of extinction risk will be incorporated into a GIS system, which will be used to inform conservation policy in the NIS countries and internationally.
Our research teams include institutions that are responsible for the red listing procedure, both in the NIS and globally. The teams also include specialists with expert knowledge about particular taxa and habitat types, so that we are able to use the best available information in our research. We also have a team that is experienced in mapping and GIS, and so is able to produce spatially explicit models and maps of threatened species and their habitats. We have an emphasis on collaboration and information sharing, to ensure that the expertise of all participants is fully utilised.
A strong component of the project is capacity building. Central Asia is not currently well integrated into international conservation decision-making, and this project will strengthen the links between Central Asian specialists and the international community enormously. This will occur through the training of a young NIS scientist as an intern at IUCN, the establishment of a continuing Central Asian red listing and biodiversity specialist network, and the holding of a collaborative workshop where specialists can meet and discuss approaches to categorising threatened species.
The project will include cutting-edge science on the correlates of extinction risk, and the importance of spatial scale in extinction risk. It will also have a strong practical element, helping to inform NIS government policy towards biodiversity at a time of rapid change in attitudes towards the environment.
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
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SW7 1NA London
United Kingdom