The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria are intended to be an easily and widely understood system for classifying species at high risk of global extinction. The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria were first published in 1994 following six years of research and broad consultation. The general aim of the system is to provide an explicit, objective framework for the classification of the broadest range of species according to their extinction risk. However, while the Red List may focus attention on those taxa at the highest risk, it is not the sole means of setting priorities for conservation measures for their protection.
The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria have several specific aims:
- To provide a system that can be applied consistently by different people.
- To improve objectivity by providing users with clear guidance on how to evaluate different factors which affect the risk of extinction.
- To provide a system which will facilitate comparisons across widely different taxa
- To give people using threatened species lists a better understanding of how individual species were classified.
Since their adoption by IUCN Council in 1994, the IUCN Red List Categories have become widely recognized internationally, and they are now used in a range of publications and listings produced by IUCN, as well as by numerous governmental and non-governmental organizations. Such broad and extensive use revealed the need for a number of improvements, and SSC was mandated by the 1996 World Conservation Congress (WCC Res. 1.4) to conduct a review of the system (IUCN 1996).
Gabal Elba protected area is one of the biodiversity hotspots of Egypt. Many endangered and critically endangered species are endemic to Gabal elba protected area, among the plant species is the ombet (Dracaena ombet) which is globally critically endangered and it is endemic to Gabal Elba. Lappet-faced Vulture (Targos tracheliotus) is largest African bird; it is endemic to Shalateen area and is also considered critically endangered |
