The <i>Red List of South African plants</i> – A global first

Abstract

1which provides internationally endorsed scientific criteria for assessing the risk of extinction to species. This endeavor is a significant contribution to biodiversity conservation – both nationally and internationally – as it is the first time that any of the world’s mega-diverse countries (those that collectively house 70% of the world’s biodiversity) has fully assessed the status of its entire flora. The assessment is of global significance as it includes 13 265 endemic taxa (taxa that occur only in South Africa). The assessment of endemic taxa has been submitted to the IUCN Red List programme. They are currently being processed and once included should double the number of plants on the IUCN Global Red List. South Africa is a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity. In 2002 the Parties to the Convention adopted a Global Strategy for Plant Conservation (GSPC), a framework guiding conservation action with the objective of halting the continuing loss of plant diversity. The GSPC contains 16 specific outcome-oriented targets. In producing the Red List of South African plants, South Africa has become one of the few countries to meet Target 2, ‘an assessment of the conservation status of all known plant species, to guide conservation action’.