Since the publication of the 1996 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals guidelines have been produced for application of new criteria to trees, bryophytes and marine fishes as well as a general set of guidelines for all species. Although largely a response to the controversies outlined above, the criteria review was also motivated by this wider application of the criteria to taxa with very different biology and life-history. The first stage, seeking information and viewpoints from IUCN and SSC members, has now been completed. A number of issues have been raised. Some of these are of broad relevance, while others are very specific to particular species or circumstances.
Some concerns are highly technical whereas others relate to policy implications of the Red List.
The issues are listed in 141 comments in Appendix B, and the 51 correspondents are listed in Appendix A of this report. Participants were chosen to represent firstly those with knowledge and experience in the development of the criteria, and secondly people with wide experience of applying to criteria to entire taxonomic or regional groups of species. The aim of this workshop was to identify the important and relevant points raised in the correspondence, and to provide a commentary on these. Participants were provided with preliminary papers summarising the issues raised in correspondence. After a general discussion, selected topics requiring further work were assigned to 3 working groups for further discussion.