A new Dutch Red List!

Last month, on 3 November 2020, the Dutch government published a revised Red List of Mammals of the Netherlands in the Government Gazette. This is the second revision after the Red Lists of 1994 and 2006, so it can be called the Third Dutch Red List of mammals. Commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Dutch Mammal Society published a report, which formed the basis of the Red List published by the ministry (van Norren et al. 2020). The Red List is an indicator of the health of the populations of wild mammals. It shows developments over seven decades since the baseline year 1950. It is far more than a list of species and their status, it is a powerful tool to inform and catalyse action for biodiversity conservation and policy change and is critical to protecting our natural resources. It provides information about the population size and range of mammals, their ecology and threats and the actions necessary for their conservation.

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has used Red List data to compare the trends since 1995 among seven taxonomic groups (see https:// www.clo.nl/en/indicators/en1521-red-listindicator). On average, the level of threat of mammals has decreased by 35% since 1995. For vascular plants and dragonflies.....