Reiss Edgerton said: “I’ve known Lewis for over 20 years, so we’re in the fortunate position to already have the foundations of a relationship based on trust – something that was essential when considering teaming up with an investor.

Created in 1964, the list has been hailed by many as a vital resource that has acted as a catalyst for species conservation. It has, however, also been criticised by some for its slow pace of assessment and data gaps. After nearly six decades, just 2% of the world’s species have been assessed, skewing toward well-known charismatic species such as big cats and apes, research has shown. Species listed as “data deficient” are twice as likely to be threatened but are less likely to get funding compared with species that have been assessed as threatened – with some arguing such species should be automatically classified as “ assumed threatened”. Progress has, thankfully, happened fast from a time where the word of white scientists was often taken more seriously than that of scientists of colour, says Sundar. However, IUCN assessments continue to take lessons learned in Europe or America, and impose them worldwide “We are now seeing what can only be called a colonial notion of conservation,” he says.

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While richer western countries direct funding via national conservation strategies and national “red lists”, the IUCN red list has become a de facto conservation priorities list in many developing countries, argue its critics. The dynamic between global north and south has been historically underappreciated, says Hughes, with most specialist groups still conducted in English or another UN language, leaving voices across Asia in particular among those likely to get lost.

Women’s gymwear brand AYBL is set to accelerate its ambitious expansion plans following a significant investment from Gymshark founder Lewis Morgan. Greiner BA, Arensman E. The role of work in suicidal behavior - uncovering priorities for research and prevention. Scand J Work Environ Health. 2022;48(6):419-424. doi:10.5271/sjweh.4051 Morgan will take the role of executive chairman at the group, with aims to grow the business into the biggest e-commerce group in the UK. Anyone who has watched a David Attenborough documentary will probably have encountered red-list assessments, intended as a “barometer of life”, showing the status of global biodiversity. The red list sorts the species of the world into nine categories of extinction risk, from “extinct” through “endangered” to “least concern”. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has never been intended for use a sole means to set conservation priorities, as anyone who has read the Red List Categories and Criteria document will know,” adds Rodriguez.When the NGO he founded, Fundación Ecotonos, received funds from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), he was told the bird was not threatened enough for him to conduct a targeted assessment of the threats it faces. Menon NK, Shanafelt TD, Sinsky CA, et al. Association of physician burnout with suicidal ideation and medical errors. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(12):e2028780. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.28780

Numerous species groups have been comprehensively assessed, and as such we have been able to make key findings concerning the world’s biodiversity,” he says. “For example, the IUCN Red List shows that 41% of amphibians, 27% of mammals, 21% of reptiles and 13% of birds are threatened.”

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A lowland streaked tenrec, a species found only on Madagascar. More than half the mammals on the island are on the IUCN red list. Photograph: Chien C Lee/PA For ocean experts the need for change is particularly evident, says Guillermo Ortuño-Crespo, co-chair of the IUCN high seas specialist group. The red list was primarily developed for terrestrial monitoring, later adapted for marine environments, and assessments systematically fail to reflect marine-specific threats, such as overfishing, meaning species such as yellowfin tuna are assessed as “least concern” despite Indian Ocean fisheries plunging to the brink of collapse, he says.