This article or section needs to be updated.
Please update the article to reflect recent events / newly available information, and remove this template when finished.
The Critically Endangered status, in relation to other IUCN Red List categories
The World Conservation Union (IUCN), widely considered to be the most objective and authoritative system for classifying species in terms of the risk of extinction,[1] lists 3071 species (1528 animals, 1541 plants, 2 fungi) of the world as being critically endangered in their 2006 Red List. Additionally 254 subspecies or varieties are considered critically endangered, and 30 subpopulations or stocks have been assessed with a critical risk of (local) extinction.
Critically endangered is the highest risk category assigned by the IUCN for wild species. Critically endangered means that a species numbers have decreased, or will decrease, by 80% within three generations.[2]
As the IUCN does not consider a species extinct until extensive, targeted surveys have been conducted, species which are possibly extinct are still listed as "Critically Endangered". A new category for "Possibly Extinct" has been suggested by BirdLife International to categorize these taxa.