A Red List Assessment Workshop was held from 22 - 25 April in Azraq, Jordan. The event is part of the project "Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment and Conservation Priorities for the Mediterranean Basin Hotspot" and has been organized by IUCN Freshwater Unit, Cambridge, with the support of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN), Jordan, and the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation. Financial support as provided by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund and the MAVA foundation.

The goal of this workshop has been to complete the Red List assessments of all types of freshwater species, including fishes, mollusks, dragonflies and damselflies, and selected groups of freshwater plants for Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel.

The initiative seeks to mobilize existing knowledge on species conservation status that may be dispersed or unpublished, and to ensure its public availability for conservation purposes. The key role of IUCN is to coordinate the process, ensuring full participation of all appropriate experts, to validate the quality of the information, and to ensure results of the highest scientific quality.