Context:
‘Largely depleted’: IUCN’s new Green Status assessment for the lion in Africa and India
IUCN Green Status of Species:
- Purpose – Complements the Red List by focusing on species recovery and conservation success, rather than extinction risk alone.
- Helps assess how species can recover and outlines conservation actions needed.
- Highlights that conservation isn’t only about preventing extinction but also about restoring species to ecological functionality.
- Categories (8) –
- Extinct in the Wild
- Critically Depleted
- Largely Depleted
- Moderately Depleted
- Slightly Depleted
- Fully Recovered
- Non-Depleted
- Indeterminate
- Species Recovery – A species is deemed fully recovered if it –
- Exists across its historical range, even in human-impacted areas.
- Is viable and not at risk of extinction across its range.
- Performs its ecological functions throughout its range.
- Green Score – Species are assigned a recovery score (0–100%) to measure progress toward full recovery.
First Green Status Assessment of Lions:
- Lions are “Largely Depleted” under the Green Status while remaining “Vulnerable” on the IUCN Red List.
- Human activities hinder lions from being ecologically functional across their range.
- Extinct Regions – Lions are extinct in North Africa and Southwest Asia.
- Conservation Success – Recovery efforts in parts of India, West and Southern Central Africa, and South Africa have prevented likely extinctions.
Source: DTE
Previous Year Question
‘Invasive Species Specialist Group’ (that develops Global Invasive Species Database) belongs to which one of the following organizations?
[UPSC Civil Service Exam – 2023 Prelims]
(a) The International Union for Conservation of Nature
(b) The United Nations Environment Programme
(c) The United Nations World Commission for Environment and Development
(d) The World Wide Fund for Nature
Answer: (a)