In March 2025, Gland (Switzerland)-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released its 1st Green Status Assessment for the Lion (Scientific name: Panthera leo). The report has termed the lion as ‘largely depleted’, while the species remains ‘Vulnerable’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) Red list.
- This latest assessment by IUCN revealed that human impacts are preventing the lion from being fully ecologically functional across large areas and is extinct from North Africa and South-west Asia.
About Green Status Assessment:
i.The IUCN 1st introduced ‘green status’ in a paper in the journal titled ‘Conservation Biology’ in July 2021. It was developed to tell a ‘species’ full conservation story.
ii.The new assessment tool is divided into 9 different recovery categories: fully recovered, slightly depleted, moderately depleted, largely depleted, critically depleted, extinct in the wild, and indeterminate.
iii.At present, there are over 100 IUCN Green Status of Species assessments on the IUCN Red List.
About Lion:
i.Lion is the 2nd largest cat in the world, just behind the Asian Tiger (Scientific name: Panthera Tigris).
ii.Previously, Lion was classified into two subspecies: African Lion (Panthera leo leo) and Asiatic Lion (Panthera leo persica).
iii.Later, The IUCN Species Survival Commission (SSC) Cat Specialist Group(CSG) recognised two subspecies of lion: Panthera leo leo found in Central and West Africa and India.
- While, Panthera leo melanochaita found in Southern and Eastern Africa.
iv.In the entire Asia region, lions can be found only in India in a single isolated sub-population in the 14,000 square kilometer (sq. km) Gir National Park (NP) and Wildlife Sanctuary (WLS) and the surrounding landscape in Gujarat.
v.As per 2023 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species for the Lions, a population of around 23,000 adult and sub-adult lions in Africa and nearly 670 adult and sub-adult lions in India (Gujarat Forest Department 2020).
About International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN):
Director-General (DG)- Dr. Grethel Aguilar
Headquarters- Gland, Switzerland
Established– 1948
