A workshop on the Red List of Ecosystems (LRE) was organized for the first time in Tunisia on October 17, 2017, in collaboration with the Directorate of Forestry (DGF). The purpose of this workshop was to present the methodology of IUCN's IREA, to discuss the possibilities of its application to certain Tunisian ecosystems and to plan the work that will be undertaken in the future with regard to this initiative.

The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems is a new global framework for monitoring the state of ecosystems. It is part of an ever-expanding toolkit that assesses risks to biodiversity and aims to support conservation policies, natural resource use and conservation decisions. by identifying ecosystems that pose a high risk of biodiversity loss.

Thus, during this workshop, IUCN-Med, the DGF, the Tunisian Ministry of the Environment, as well as invited experts assessed the applicability of the LRE as a tool for ecosystem monitoring in Tunisia. To do so, a number of factors, such as the definition of ecosystems (the characteristic biota, the range and the abiotic environment); available information (available spatial information and the existence of historical vegetation data and maps); and the identification of resource persons, were considered and discussed in order to carry out the said evaluation.

Next steps include the preparation of a preliminary list of ecosystems to be assessed, including forest ecosystems, rangelands, and wetlands. A second workshop is planned around March 2018, once the preparatory tasks are finalized.

You can find more information about the workshop on our documentation platform: http://www.uicnmed.org/projects/documentationplatform/168

For more information: Marcos Valderrábano

Photo: Forest in El Mouajene (Tunisia) © A. Daoud-Bouattour.