Red List, ACAD or ? Are prioritization assessments fit for Caribbean birds?

Several different population assessment processes exist, including the IUCN Red List globally and PIF’s Avian Conservation Assessment Database (ACAD) covering Central and North America. Existing assessments of Caribbean birds are often not reflective of the current status of bird population, conservation needs and extinction risks and often miss local subtleties. Key questions for our round-table include: How do we assess conservation prioritization of Caribbean birds? Are current prioritization assessments (e.g. IUCN Red List, ACAD, etc.) relevant and/or adequate for Caribbean birds? Do we have the data that we need to make these assessments? Do we have data on species that haven’t informed existing prioritization processes? Are people aware of how to engage with the Red List and/or the ACAD process? We all likely have lists in our heads of what species we think need conservation action but are our lists in agreement with others and do these match current global assessments? What species are falling through the ‘assessment’ cracks?

Organizers: Ellie Devenish-Nelson, University of Edinburgh/ BirdsCaribbean, Jeff Gerbracht, Cornell Lab of Ornithology/ BirdsCaribbean, and Howard Nelson, Fauna and Flora International/ BirdsCaribbean. Emails: Ellie.Devenish@ed.ac.uk, jeffgerbracht@gmail.com, howard.nelson@fauna-flora.org


Purpose: To explore different conservation prioritization processes for Caribbean birds and build consensus on an appropriate assessment process for the region.

Overview: Several different population assessment processes exist, including the IUCN Red List globally and PIF’s Avian Conservation Assessment Database (ACAD) covering Central and North America. Existing assessments of Caribbean birds are often not reflective of the current status of bird population, conservation needs and extinction risks and often miss local subtleties. Key questions for our round-table include: How do we assess conservation prioritization of Caribbean birds? Are current prioritization assessments (e.g. IUCN Red List, ACAD, etc.) relevant and/or adequate for Caribbean birds? Do we have the data that we need to make these assessments? Do we have data on species that haven’t informed existing prioritization processes? Are people aware of how to engage with the Red List and/or the ACAD process? We all likely have lists in our heads of what species we think need conservation action but are our lists in agreement with others and do these match current global assessments? What species are falling through the ‘assessment’ cracks?


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