Endangered species don't pay attention to international borders. Conservation of threatened, let alone critically endangered, species requires cooperation among nations. Making that cooperation possible has been the purpose behind the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since it was founded in 1948. Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the IUCN boasts over 1000 members (both government agencies and non-governmental organization) across 160 countries from every populated region in the world. Members meet to set the organization's policies and decide on its work programs and long-term goals every four years at the IUCN World Conservation Congress.
The IUCN's long term goals are to end the world extinction crisis and to protect the sustainable integrity of ecosystems. Several active programs are oriented towards these goals, the best known of which is the Species Survival Commission (SSC). This commission, under the aegis of the IUCN Species Programme, organizes various specialist groups that identify species in danger of extinction, evaluate the degree of the threat, and take action to prevent the loss of critically endangered species.
The SSC maintains a master list of all threatened, vulnerable, and endangered species of the world, compiled by the various specialist groups. Each specialist group concentrates on a single category of organism, which include birds, amphibians and reptiles, mammals, fishes, invertebrates, plants, and fungi. Each species in the Red List is assigned a "conservation status" to indicate the degree of danger it is in. The degrees on the scale are listed in increasing level of threat:
- LC (Least Concern) — species not in particular danger of extinction
- NT (Near Threatened) — not currently in danger, but may become threatened in the future
- VU (Vulnerable) — likely to become endangered without intervention
- EN (Endangered) — at significant risk of extinction
- CR (Critically Endangered) — extinction is imminent
- EW (Extinct in the Wild) — only captive specimens remain
Additional conservations status categories are EX (Extinct), DD (Data Deficient — more information is needed to determine status), and NE (Not Evaluated).
The Red List alone will not save critically endangered species. The IUCN, working through the SSC, uses it to help develop practical solutions to biodiversity loss and to monitor its own success. It analyzes threats to the conservation of endangered species and uses this information to provide technical guidance and advice to its member organizations, so they can work to end the threat of extinction to species in trouble.