d) Lower Risk (LR): when it has been evaluated, does not satisfy the criteria of threat under the above mentioned categories.

i) Conservation Dependent (cd): when a taxon is the focus of a conservation programme, the cessation of the programme would place the taxon in the threatened categories.

ii) Near Threatened (nt): when a taxon does not qualify for conservation dependent, but which are close to qualifying for Vulnerable.

iii) Least Concern (lc): when a taxon does not qualify for Conservation Dependent, nor near Threatened.

B. Data Deficient (DD): when data are deficient to make an assessment of the risk of extinction a taxon faces.

II. Not Evaluated (NE): when a taxon has not yet been assessed against the criteria. In the new approach, the old categories like Rare (R), Indeterminate (I) and Insufficiently known (K) have been dropped and the categories Threatened, Endangered and Vulnerable have been redefined. The following points are to be remembered:

a) the new categories are to be determined based on the detailed criteria provided by the IUCN (Anonymous, 1994),

b) criteria are applicable to any taxon at or below the level of the species alone,

c) a taxon need not meet all the criteria for being put in one of the categories,

d) Not Evaluated or Data Deficient qualification does not mean that the taxon is not under threat,

e) the criteria are quantitative,

f) conservation action is needed for some taxa even when not listed as threatened,

g) the category of threat is not necessarily sufficient to determine priorities for conservation,

h) the criteria are most appropriately applied at the global level,

i) when the criteria and categories are used in a national or a regional context, the global situation also should be given, till the IUCN develope guidelines for national and regional Red List categories,

j) the categorisation of taxa is not final and it needs to be reassessed periodically, and

k) taxa can be transferred from one category to another, if the reviewed situation warrants such a change.

       Application of the new criteria of the IUCN will certainly show up that a very large number of the Indian plant species fall under one or the other category, but we do not have any solid quantitative data to support any such move right now. Hubbardia heptaneuron Bor (Poaceae) was collected for the first and the only time, and described, from the water-sprayed rocks under the Gerasoppa water falls in Karnataka in the early 1930s. A hydroelectric project involving the river has changed the habitat drastically and irreversibly and all subsequent efforts to collect this species, have failed. This species was represented only by a couple of herbarium specimens deposited by the original author in the Herbarium of the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, England. Till recently, Hubbardia heptaneuron was considered as extinct (EX), but has been rediscovered a year ago in Maharashtra. Paphiopedilum druryi, an endemic Indian species, was first reported in 1865 and was not collected again till 1974, and once more in 1992 from the wild. This species falls under the category of Critically Endangered (ER). Most of the Indian taxa fall into either Data Deficient (DD) or Not Evaluated (NE), which does not mean that they are not at risk, but a very sad and inadequate situation from the scientific point of view.

       The 1994 version of the structure of categories of threat to plants has been reviewed recently by the SSC Criteria Review Working Group (Anonymous, 1999), but it would take some time before the revised version is released for use.

       CITES periodically reviews the situation of trade in threatened plants and animals and publishes lists of trade restricted species in three Appendices, the degree of restriction being most severe for those in the Appendix I. Some Indian examples are given below:

Appendix I:           Soussurea lappa  

                             Cycas beddomei

Appendix II:

                       Cyathea species (tree ferns)

                       Orchidaceae—many species

                       Podophyllum hexandrum

                       Rauvolfia serpentina

                       Dioscorea deltoidea

                       Nardostachys grandiflora

                       Picrorrhiza kurrooa

                       Taxus wallichiana