World Congress of Malacology Antwerp ... - Unitas Malacologica

preserved material is rare for these groups. In addition there are new distributional records for the
families and genera, especially close to regional boundaries in the south and west of Tanzania.
One major impediment to the completion of species level inventories is the number of morpho-taxa
only 1 or 2 specimens are known despite intensive efforts to find more. Where shell morphology is
distinct it is possible to confidently attribute the status, but where the shells are broken or immature
the nature of the taxa remains uncertain.
We describe our progress at national and regional levels establishing species catalogues.
The need for an inventory of the world’s molluscan fauna: a conservation perspective
Seddon, Mary 1 ; Cuttelod, Annabelle 2 ; Darwall, Will 3 ; Stuart, Simon 4
1. Dept. Biodiversity & Systematic Biology, National Museum of Wales, Cathays Park, Cardiff, UK
CF10 3NP,
Email: Mary.Seddon@museumwales.ac.uk
2. Mediterranean Red List Coordinator, IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, Parque
Tecnológico de Andalucía, Calle Marie Curie 35, Campañillas 29590, Málaga, Spain,
Email: annabelle.cuttelod@iucn.org
3. Freshwater Biodiversity Unit Coordinator, IUCN Species Programme-UK Office, 219c
Huntingdon Road, Cambridge CB3 ODL, UK,
Email: will.darwall@ssc-uk.org
4. Senior Species Scientist, IUCN/CI Biodiversity Assessment Unit, IUCN SpeciesProgramme/CI
Centre for Applied Biodiversity, UK,
Email: s.stuart@conservation.org
Since 1999 the IUCN Red List has become a tool used by different organisations to assess changes in
the status of biodiversity. The quantitative methodology for evaluating threats has allowed a more
rigorous analysis of the changing trends through time. The IUCN Red List was still dominated by the
assessment of threatened species rather than a more balanced assessment of all species. Consequently
over the last five years the IUCN Red List Partnership has developed Global Species Assessments to
comprehensively assess the status of different taxonomic groups. The first major assessment was
Birds followed by the Global Amphibian Assessment. This data was used to promote the concept of a
Red List Index for measuring changes in overall threats to species. This index is one of various
proposed methodologies for measuring of biodiversity change currently being tested for the
Convention on Biodiversity (CBD) and the Millenium Development Goals. However, in order to
make these assessments more meaningful in conservation terms, there needs to be a broader suite of
species contributing to the overall analysis.
One of the first requirements for a Global Species Assessment is an agreed species list, that is
accessible, taxonomically robust, accepted by the wider scientific community and in electronic
format. With a list, then it becomes easier to consider a Global Assessment, especially from fundraising
perspective. For the Mollusca, there is no global species list, instead there are regional lists as
well as numerous national lists. We discuss the future challenges for conservation planning and some
regional projects examining threats to freshwater molluscan faunas. We also look at the ways in
which future species assessments can contribute to the overall picture at a local, national and global
level.
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