Domitilla Raimondo

• Manager at South African National Biodiversity Institute

The Red List Index (RLI) is an indicator of the average extinction risk of groups of species and reflects trends in this through time. It is calculated from the number of species in each category on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, with trends influenced by the number moving between categories when reassessed owing to genuine improvement or...

The Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was adopted in December 2022 by the parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The framework states outcomes for species to be achieved by 2050 in goal A and establishes a range of targets to reduce pressures on biodiversity and halt biodiversity loss by 2030. Target 4 calls for urgent reco...

The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) was adopted on 15 December 2022 by the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Framework states outcomes for species to be achieved by 2050 in Goal A and establishes a range of Targets to reduce pressures on biodiversity and halt biodiversity loss by 2030. Target 4 calls for...

Understanding how and why plants are driven to extinction is important if future extinctions are to be prevented. Here we examined reasons for extinctions of plants using data from the South African Red List, which includes 33 Extinct taxa from 15 families and 24 genera including seven infraspecific taxa. We also compared Extinct taxa with those th...

In South Africa, anthropogenic pressures such as water over-abstraction, invasive species impacts, land-use change, pollution, and climate change have caused widespread deterioration of the health of river ecosystems. This comes at great cost to both people and biodiversity, with freshwater fishes ranked as the country’s most threatened species gro...

The Red List Index (RLI) measures change in the aggregate extinction risk of species. It is a key indicator for tracking progress toward nine of the Aichi and many proposed post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework Targets. Here, we consider two formulations of the RLI used for reporting biodiversity trends at national scales. Disaggregated global RL...

The successful implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity's post‐2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will rely on effective translation of targets from global to national level and increased engagement across diverse sectors of society. Species conservation targets require policy support measures that can be applied to a diversity of t...

Biodiversity in arid-lands is very sensitive to some forms of perturbation and very slow to recover. • Arid-lands are vulnerable to agriculture such as grazing of cattle and irrigation, which need certification standards to ensure best practice and reduce impact. • Combined efforts of researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and local communities...

The strategic goals of the United Nations and the Aichi Targets for biodiversity conservation have not been met. Instead, biodiversity has continued to rapidly decrease, especially in developing countries. Setting a new global biodiversity framework requires clarifying future priorities and strategies to bridge challenges and provide representative...

Pressures are mounting for the adoption of a Global Biodiversity Framework that transforms conservation and sustainable use efforts worldwide. Underlying this challenge is the biodiversity paradox: biological diversity predominantly concentrates in the tropics, while human, institutional, and financial resources are primarily located at higher lati...

Averting human‐induced extinctions will require strong policy commitments that comprehensively address threats to species. A new Global Biodiversity Framework is currently being negotiated by the world’s governments through the Convention on Biological Diversity. Here we explored how the suggested targets in this framework could contribute to reduc...

Issue consists of one article divided into downloadable PDFS. The Southern African Lepidoptera Conservation Assessment (SALCA) was a collaborative venture between the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa (LepSoc Africa), the Brenton Blue Trust (BBT) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and formed part of the National Biodiver...

Issue consists of one article divided into downloadable PDFS. The Southern African Lepidoptera Conservation Assessment (SALCA) was a collaborative venture between the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa (LepSoc Africa), the Brenton Blue Trust (BBT) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and formed part of the National Biodiver...

Issue consists of one article divided into downloadable PDFS. The Southern African Lepidoptera Conservation Assessment (SALCA) was a collaborative venture between the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa (LepSoc Africa), the Brenton Blue Trust (BBT) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and formed part of the National Biodiver...

The Southern African Lepidoptera Conservation Assessment (SALCA) was a collaborative venture between the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa (LepSoc Africa), the Brenton Blue Trust (BBT) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and formed part of the National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA). SALCA was founded on the importance of...

Issue consists of one article divided into downloadable PDFS. The Southern African Lepidoptera Conservation Assessment (SALCA) was a collaborative venture between the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa (LepSoc Africa), the Brenton Blue Trust (BBT) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and formed part of the National Biodiver...

Extinction risk for 101 valid species and 18 unique genetic lineages of native freshwater fishes of South Africa was assessed in 2016 following the IUCN Red List criteria. An additional five species (three new species that were described and two species that were revalidated subsequent to the 2016 assessments) were assessed in the present study. A...

The Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework will probably include a goal to stabilize and restore the status of species. Its delivery would be facilitated by making the actions required to halt and reverse species loss spatially explicit. Here, we develop a species threat abatement and restoration (STAR) metric...

The diversity and uniqueness of the Fynbos biome and Cape Floristic Region are globally recognized. The richness of flora and levels of endemism in the region are exceptionally high, and coupled with the historical and ongoing threats it is considered one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots. Species populations are often small, with restricted range...

Issue consists of one article divided into downloadable PDFS. The Southern African Lepidoptera Conservation Assessment (SALCA) was a collaborative venture between the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa (LepSoc Africa), the Brenton Blue Trust (BBT) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and formed part of the National Biodiver...

The Southern African Lepidoptera Conservation Assessment (SALCA) was a collaborative venture between the Lepidopterists’ Society of Africa (LepSoc Africa), the Brenton Blue Trust (BBT) and the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and formed part of the National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA). SALCA was founded on the importance of...

Stopping human-induced extinctions will require strong policy commitments that comprehensively address threats to species. In 2021, a new Global Biodiversity Framework will be agreed by the Convention on Biological Diversity. Here we investigate how the suggested targets could contribute to reducing threats to threatened vertebrates, invertebrates,...

Triage in conservation biology necessitates the prioritization of species and ecosystems for conservation. Although highly diverse, ecologically important, and charismatic, spiders are rarely considered. With 2,253 known species, South Africa’s spider diversity is among the highest in the world. A 22-year initiative culminating in a national assess...

Measuring progress toward international biodiversity targets requires robust information on the conservation status of species, which the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species provides. However, data and capacity are lacking for most hyperdiverse groups, such as invertebrates, plants, and fungi, partic...

Annual growth rings are absent in many long-lived grassland geoxyles. Thus, estimates of age for individuals are largely based on non-benchmarked assessments by experienced botanists. We wished to obtain a more precise estimate of age from the xylopodia of four geoxylic taxa (i.e. Berkheya insignis, Callilepis laureola, Protea simplex and Tephrosia...

Triage in conservation biology necessitates the prioritization of species and ecosystems for conservation. Although highly diverse, ecologically important, and charismatic, spiders are rarely considered. With 2,253 known species, South Africa's spider diversity is among the highest in the world. A 22-year initiative culminating in a national assess...

The NBA 2018 Synthesis report can be downloaded from the NBA website: http://nba.sanbi.org.za

Despite its recognition as an important global resource for conservation, the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species only provides assessments of extinction risk for a small and biased subset of known biodiversity. A more complete Red List can better support species-level conservation by indicating ho...

The ethnobotany of Sekhukhuneland and the plants used by rural Bapedi people for their everyday needs have not yet been systematically recorded. Available information is mostly focussed on medicinal plants that are used by traditional healers. The aim of this study was to accurately record extant indigenous knowledge on the most important useful pl...

Crop wild relatives (CWR) are wild plant taxa that have broader genetic diversity than crops hence they are an excellent source of genes and traits to improve crops. The potential value of CWR for agriculture and the need to protect these plants in their natural habitats ( in situ ) have been recognized globally. South Africa has the richest temper...

Of the 343 species, subspecies and subpopulations recorded from the assessment region, six were Not Evaluated (considered vagrant) and five are Extinct, leaving 331 taxa that were assessed. Overall, 57 taxa are threatened (six Critically Endangered, 20 Endangered, 31 Vulnerable) and 35 are Near Threatened. Proportional to the number of taxa assesse...

The second outcome of target three of the South African Strategy for Plant Conservation is focused on the monitoring of threatened plant species. The Custodians of Rare and Endangered Wildflowers (CREW) programme based at SANBI finds and monitors these species, fulfilling this outcome. Further, CREW started a demographic monitoring project to colle...

A total of about 400 000 species of vascular plants are known worldwide with some speculating at least another 50 000 are yet to be discovered. Information on these known species is often difficult to access but may hold the key to support the needs of society through development of healthy communities and ecosystems, effective conservation and man...

The potential economic and energy security opportunities of a medium to large shale gas resource could be substantial for South Africa; as are both the potential social and environmental risks associated with a domestic gas industry in the Central Karoo. The development of shale gas using vertical and horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing or...

In 1945, the Royal Society of South Africa published a wide-ranging report, prepared by a committee led by Dr C.L. Wicht, dealing with the preservation of the globally unique and highly diverse vegetation of the south-western Cape. The publication of the Wicht Committee’s report signalled the initiation of a research programme aimed at understandin...

The knowledge, conservation and use of plant genetic resources (PGR) has never been as important as now with the risk of climate change and habitat degradation threatening the very species that we depend upon. The challenges we face in food security range from the global to the local perspective; from the identification of global centres of crop di...

South Africa has the world's richest temperate flora, with 20,456 indigenous vascular plant taxa recorded. With the current estimate of the global flora at 379,881 taxa, 5% of the world's plant diversity is represented within South African borders. Between 2004 and 2008, South African botanists completed a comprehensive assessment of the status of...

Taxonomic research priorities for the conservation of the South African flora Taxonomic revisions, monographs and floras are the most important, and often the only source of data for assessing the extinction risk of plants, with recent revisions contributing to more accurate assessments. The recently completed Red List of South African plants invol...

South Africa has the world's richest temperate flora, with 20,456 indigenous vascular plant taxa recorded. With the current estimate of the global flora at 379,881 taxa, 5% of the world's plant diversity is represented within South African borders. Between 2004 and 2008, South African botanists completed a comprehensive assessment of the status of...

Taxonomic revisions, monographs and floras are the most important, and often the only source of data for assessing the extinction risk of plants, with recent revisions contributing to more accurate assessments. The recently completed Red List of South African plants involved an overview of the taxonomic literature pertaining to the South African fl...

1which provides internationally endorsed scientific criteria for assessing the risk of extinction to species. This endeavor is a significant contribution to biodiversity conservation – both nationally and internationally – as it is the first time that any of the world’s mega-diverse countries (those that collectively house 70% of the world’s biodiv...

Using spatial predictions of future threats to biodiversity, we assessed for the first time the relative potential impacts of future land use and climate change on the threat status of plant species. We thus estimated how many taxa could be affected by future threats that are usually not included in current IUCN Red List assessments. Here, we compu...

Collection of plants and seeds from wild populations threatens a large number of cycad species. We investigated to what extent individual life history stages contribute to population growth (l) and compared two species with major differences in life histories in the African genus Encephalartos: Encephalartos cycadifolius, a highly persistent grassl...