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piqer for: Global finds Technology and society Health and Sanity
Nechama Brodie is a South African journalist and researcher. She is the author of six books, including two critically acclaimed urban histories of Johannesburg and Cape Town. She works as the head of training and research at TRI Facts, part of independent fact-checking organisation Africa Check, and is completing a PhD in data methodology and media studies at the University of the Witwatersrand.
How Does An Animal Make It Onto The Endangered Species List?
More than 91,000 species have been assessed for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Endangered Species—a globally recognised list that provides an updated set of indicators relating to the health of our planet's plant, animals, and fungi.
In order to construct and update the list, literally thousands of volunteer specialists and researchers undertake cyclical evaluations for the species in which they specialise. For mammals alone, there are 37 specialist groups (mammals, by the way, make up a tiny percentage of the world's biomass)!
This article is written by one of 90 researchers participating in the study of lemurs in Madagascar, and explains how the conservation assessments are being made and updated for the 113 species of lemur covered by their section. It provides interesting insight into the care taken not only to conduct and collate field or study data, but also an exercise in complete transparency that bolsters arguments for the validity and importance of conservation programmes at a critical stage in our global environmental and political journey.
