Professor Mace used the extinction criteria that she developed in partnership with other scientists, conservationists and policy makers to influence global conservation policy, which led to the World Conservation Union’s Red List - the most comprehensive inventory of the status of plants and animals world-wide (www.redlist.org). The criteria are based on fundamental measurements, such as sudden changes in population size, geographical distribution, or rarity, and have also been taken up, and used in an adapted form, by the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species.
The Red List acts like a hospital’s casualty department to assess the urgency of incoming cases of possible extinction. By having one assessment system that can be adopted by different countries for the status of different species, we have a much better way of understanding how to maintain global biodiversity and to stop species from becoming extinct. Collaboration at an international level is crucial as the actions of one country often impact on the biodiversity of another.
Professor Mace continues to address the consequences of extinction, and is currently looking at the evolutionary pressures that cause vertebrate species to adapt to different environments. Understanding how species might respond to the threat of extinction will help us preempt it. Georgina’s research has highlighted the importance of being sensitive towards how countries may place opposing priorities on the economic value of a species compared with the need to conserve it. This is crucial in developing a conservation strategy that everyone can buy into.
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