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Welcome to the CORDIO-EA IUCN Red List for Ecosystems for Coral Reefs wiki!

The Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) provides a global framework for assessing the risk of collapse for ecosystems and serves as an additional tool to support resource use and conservation planning. This methodology, based on a similar framework to the Red List of Threatened Species, provides a consistent and standardised approach for evaluating ecosystems risk of collapse. The RLE is also a Headline indicator for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Risk categories are assigned according to five criteria, including:

• Two criteria associated with spatial symptoms of ecosystem collapse: declining distribution (Criterion A) and restricted distribution (Criterion B);
• Two criteria used to assess functional symptoms of ecosystem collapse: environmental degradation (Criterion C) and disruption of biotic processes and interactions (Criterion D);
• Multiple threats and symptoms are assessed using an integrated model of ecosystem dynamics to produce quantitative estimates of the risk of collapse (Criterion E).

This initiative includes setting up data sharing standards for an online data repository and creating an accessible online code repository to support GCRMN nodes in implementing regional RLE analysis. This analysis framework is based on the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) RLE regional assessment by Obura, et al. 2022.

The individual pages of this wiki provide background to the IUCN RLE standard, including its concepts and methodology, and the the approach for evaluating the risk of coral reef ecosystems collapse using the RLE. There are instruction pages for evaluating key criteria, collating results, and visualisation for standardised reporting. As this project is in early development and evolving rapidly, any contributions that can enhance its development & sharpen its focus are greatly appreciated!

This project is a collaboration between CORDIO East Africa, IUCN, and regional members of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) of ICRI, with the support of MSC Foundation..