July 2024
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The New Zealand Threat Classification System (NZTCS) provides a tool for assessing the extinction risk for taxa based on the estimated sizes of and forecasted changes to their populations. This revision of the 2008 system includes removal of the conservation status At Risk – Relict; the modification of At Risk – Naturally Uncommon to include all taxa that meet its population size and trend criteria, regardless of whether their condition is natural; and the re-labelling of At Risk – Recovering A and At Risk – Recovering B into Threatened – Nationally Increasing and At Risk – Recovering, respectively. Changes to qualifiers that were implemented in 2019 are also documented, including the replacement of Data Poor by Data Poor Recognition (DPR), Data Poor Size (DPS) and Data Poor Trend (DPT); the redefinition and renaming of Sparse to Biologically Sparse (Sp); and the introduction of two new qualifiers to complement each of Secure Overseas (SO) and Threatened Overseas (TO), reflecting uncertainty about the state of taxa overseas. Seven new qualifiers have also been added: Climate Impact (CI), Conservation Research Needed (CR), Naturalised Overseas (NO), Natural State (NS), Possibly Extinct (PE), Population Fragmentation (PF) and Relict (Rel). Finally, criteria codes have been modified to include values for population state, trend and size, resulting in a unique code for every possible assessment of resident native taxa. This manual provides guidance on how to use the NZTCS and outlines the processes by which candidate taxa and taxonomically unresolved entities will be assessed. It replaces all previous NZTCS manuals. The NZTCS is due for review in 2032, or sooner if required.