Japanese Red List


The Japanese 'Red List' is the Japanese domestic counterpart to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. The national Red List is compiled and maintained by the Ministry of the Environment, alongside a separate Red List for marine organisms. Similarly drawing on the relevant scientific authorities, NGOs, and local governments, the Ministry of the Environment also prepares and publishes a Red Data Book that provides further information on species and habitats.
The first Red List was published by the then Environmental Agency as part of the first Red Data Book in 1991; in 2020, the fifth edition of the fourth version of the Red List was published. In line with the Marine Biodiversity Conservation Strategy, decided upon by the Ministry in 2011, in 2017 the first Marine Life Red List was published, excluding species subject to international agreements, such as those within the remit of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission and International Whaling Commission, species under evaluation by the Fisheries Agency, smaller Cetaceans, and those already evaluated for the Red List.
With the renewed focus on evaluating the rarity or otherwise of marine life in line with the National Biodiversity Strategy 2012–2020, using the same evaluation criteria and categories as the Ministry of the Environment, and working in collaboration with the Ministry, the Fisheries Agency has also produced a Red List of marine resources and smaller Cetaceans, excluding species subject to international agreements, such as those in the remit of the WCPFC and IWC. Evaluations of 94 species were published in 2017, all falling outside the rankings, other than Pleuronichthys japonicus.
The Red List itself has no legal force but is intended to be used to provide information and to serve as a "warning to society". Appropriate action may be taken under the 1992 Conservation of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora Act :ja:絶滅のおそれのある野生動植物の種の保存に関する法律|.

Classification

As of the 2020 edition, thirteen taxa are used for classification purposes by the Ministry of the Environment:
  • Fauna
  • *Mammals
  • *Birds
  • *Reptiles
  • *Amphibians
  • *Brackish water
  • *Insects
  • *Mollusca
  • *Other Invertebrates
  • Flora
  • *Vascular plant
  • *Bryophytes
  • *Algae
  • *Lichens
  • *Fungus
Five further taxa are used for the Marine Life Red List:
The following categories are used to indicate organisms' conservation status specifically within Japan; where a species or subspecies is endemic, the status EX is indicative of its global status.
File:Dugong Marsa Alam.jpg|thumb|right|275px|The dugong , VU at a global level on the IUCN Red List, CR on the Japanese Red List; those found in the waters around northern Okinawa Island comprise the northernmost population globally and are protected as a Natural Monument under the 1950 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties
ClassificationDefinition
絶滅 Extinct in Japan
野生絶滅 Extinct in the Wild
絶滅危惧I類 Threatened I
絶滅危惧IA類Critically Endangered
絶滅危惧IB類Endangered
絶滅危惧II類 Threatened II—Vulnerable
準絶滅危惧 Near-Threatened
情報不足Local Population at high risk of extinction

Statistics

Extinct taxa

Localized Red Lists and Red Data are also prepared and published by a number of Prefectural Governments, including those of Hokkaidō and Okinawa.