Dear all,
 

BirdLife International is seeking input for the 2016 IUCN Red List update
via the Globally Threatened Bird Forums

 

We would like to send our thanks for previous contributions to the forums.

 

In preparation for the 2016 Red List update, BirdLife invites you to
participate in the forum process to discuss proposed revisions to the global
threat status (IUCN Red List category of extinction risk) for selected
species. Please visit the forums to review the topics listed under your
regions and taxonomic groups of expertise. Do please post comments where you
support proposals, as well as with corrections and additional information.

 

http://www.birdlife.org/globally-threatened-bird-forums/

 

The majority of topics for the 2016 update have now been posted on the forum
website <http://www.birdlife.org/globally-threatened-bird-forums/> , but a
number of further discussions will be added over the coming week (to Friday
30th), so do please keep checking back for updates.
 

The initial deadline for contributions is 10 October 2016, when we will
assess the contributions made. We will then post up a draft list of
preliminary proposals and there will be one more week to comment further
before final recommendations to IUCN are posted. The new and revised species
assessments and updated factsheets will be published on the BirdLife website
and incorporated into the 2016 IUCN Red List, currently scheduled for
release in December. We apologise for the tight deadlines this year, which
come following a period of major taxonomic revisions (see below) and a major
four-yearly expert review of the threatened species assessments.

 

Discussion topics on taxonomic changes
BirdLife International is continuing its collaboration with Lynx Edicions
(publishers of the Handbook of the Birds of the World) on the production of
a new checklist, which will become the basis for BirdLife¹s taxonomy. Volume
1 
<http://www.lynxeds.com/product/hbw-and-birdlife-international-illustrated-c
hecklist-birds-world> , covering non-passerines, was published in 2014, and
the criteria described by Tobias et al. (2010)
<http://www.zoo.ox.ac.uk/egi/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Tobiasetal_Ibis2010.
pdf>  for defining species limits have now been applied to potential splits
and lumps for passerines. Thus, in addition to forum topics on potential
reassessments of currently recognised species, a large number of forum
topics have been posted to solicit comments on the status of newly-defined
species that are thought to qualify as Globally Threatened or Near
Threatened, and cases where one or more currently-recognised threatened
species are being lumped to form a newly-defined species. Assessments of the
threat status of newly-defined passerine species will be undertaken this
year, and Red List assessments for these species will be published in the
2016 Red List update.
 
Note that it is possible to set up RSS feeds to receive automatic email
alerts to new topics being posted in any of the regional or species
categories ­ see the Œfeedburner¹ links at the top of each page, copy the
relevant link into your internet browser and follow the instructions from
there (please contact us if you have difficulty setting up automatic
alerts).
 

Anyone wishing to comment via email rather than through the forum process is
welcome to do so.
 

To maximise feedback, please distribute this message as quickly and widely
as possible to relevant people within your networks.

 

Thank you very much in advance for your help. We look forward to receiving
your contributions via the web forum by 10 October 2016.

 

Many thanks for supporting our Red List work.