Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA) Outline

A collaboration between the Biodiversity Assessment Unit, Species Programme / Species Survival Commission, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)  and the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International (CI)

The Global Marine Species Assessment (GMSA) will substantially increase the number of marine species assessed under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List criteria. The purpose of the GMSA is to facilitate species conservation plans and provide the information necessary for a global marine Hotspot analysis and the identification of Key Biodiversity Areas in the marine realm.

Nearly 41,415 species were assessed under the IUCN Red List Criteria by the year 2007, of which only around 1,450 are marine species (3.4 %). The bulk of marine species assessed include seabirds, marine mammals, sharks and rays. There is a growing realization that a much broader range of marine species are under threat of extinction and marine biodiversity is experiencing potentially irreversible degradation. Furthermore, the information needed to guide marine conservation plans and policy is seriously deficient.

To address the need for intensive and coordinated marine conservation planning and action, the IUCN and Conservation International (CI) are collaborating to complete Red List assessments of approximately 20,000 marine species by the year 2012 under the GMSA. A strategy meeting in support of the GMSA was held in November 2005. The outcomes concluded that priority taxa to complete should include all marine vertebrates (primarily fishes), habitat forming primary producers such as select macro-algae, seagrasses, mangroves and corals, and select mollusks and echinoderms.

To complete Red List assessments of this large number of species, the GMSA will follow the successful methodology pioneered by IUCN's Biodiversity Assessment Unit (BAU).  Other taxonomic groups have already been completed under the BAU for example, the Global Amphibian Assessment that covered all of the world's known amphibians (nearly 6,000 species) in three years. The Global Mammal Assessment, Global Reptile Assessment and Global Freshwater Assessment are all currently underway. These assessments are accomplished through an intensive data gathering stage, prior to data review and species assessments. All essential information is compiled in the Data Entry Module of IUCN's Species Information Service database. Experts then review this information according to the Red List criteria, typically in a workshop setting that allows the objective review of the data. Distribution maps are compiled for each species and the resultant Geographical Information System database is annotated to include information on extinction threats based on the Red List assessments. The data is then analyzed to identify geographical Hotspots of concentrated biodiversity and extinction threat, and Key Biodiversity Areas. The results allow conservation efforts to be intensified in areas where it is most needed in order to maximize potential for the conservation of biodiversity.

A generous gift from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation supports the core functions of the GMSA for six years, during which time CI and IUCN are seeking support for the data-gathering and workshop phases that are essential in order to complete the Red List Assessments for the key marine species groups.