Page:Principles for creating a single authoritative list of the world’s species.pdf/9

PLOS BIOLOGY combines management of a unified list by a very broad-based community of taxonomists with an agreed endorsement and governance mechanism provided by a respected global body. Existing mechanisms have prioritised data management and the listing process over review and oversight structures.

We believe that a pathway to adoption of a successful global listing mechanism must include the following steps:


 * 1) Refinement and agreement of a set of principles, as outlined above;
 * 2) Establishment, by a representative global peak body such as the IUBS, of a governance mechanism based on the agreed principles;
 * 3) Establishment, in collaboration with existing thematic groups and global and national mechanisms for creating taxonomic lists, of a framework, standards, and workplan for integrating existing competing lists, filling gaps in which no recent lists exist, and maintaining and managing the unified global list once created; and
 * 4) Endorsement of the agreed mechanisms by key users of lists such as CITES, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the CBD, the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), and equivalent national bodies.

A mechanism such as this, based on transparent and agreed principles, is most likely to achieve successful establishment and adoption of a global list of accepted species. The global digital revolution provides both the need and many of the technological mechanisms to enable this pathway and its adoption. However, the governance framework must first be agreed by both taxonomists and key users of taxonomy to pre-empt many of the foreseeable impediments to adoption. To this end, the IUBS is supporting a pilot project on the governance of a unified global species list from 2020–2022 aiming to elaborate on the principles of governance of a global taxonomic list as provided above.

If realised, an authoritative global species list will be a remarkable achievement, both for global science and as an important part of a package of measures to respond to global challenges including the unfolding extinction crisis. A global taxonomic list will transcend borders, individual preferences, politics, and history. Development and adoption of such a system will be the work of decades, an accretion of small actions to improve and refine existing systems, rather than a revolution. Its consequences, however, may be revolutionary.

The authors would like to thank all those in the broader taxonomic community who have been contributing so constructively to this debate. They are also grateful for the support of Isabel Ely and Roanne Ramsey of Charles Darwin University (CDU) and Nathalie Fomproix of the IUBS in running the workshop to discuss these principles. The workshop received funding from CDU and from the IUBS as part of the IUBS Programme ‘Governance of Global Taxonomic Lists’. SC’s involvement was funded by Flemish Research Council Grant 3H200026.



1. Garnett ST, Christidis L. Taxonomy anarchy hampers conservation. Nature 2017; 546: 25–27. https://doi.org/10.1038/546025a PMID: 28569833 2.  Garnett ST, Christidis L. Science-based taxonomy still needs better governance: Response to Thomson et al. PLoS Biol. 2018; 16: e2005249. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2005249 PMID:29538369

