IUCN and Toyota join hands to protect endangered species

Protection of endangered species as part of the biodiversity conservation efforts

In 2016, Toyota Motor Corporation announced a five-year partnership with International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to increase the knowledge on the extinction risk of more than 28,000 species, many of which are key food sources for humans.

The Toyota – IUCN Partnership addresses crucial gaps in The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™ through assessments of species like mushrooms, spiders, trees, sardines and lizards. This supports IUCN’s effort in monitoring the UN Sustainable Development Goal 15 – Life on Land. It will also improve the data used by policy makers and environmental planners to guide future decision-making and improve conservation actions. The partnership has already enhanced the functionality of The IUCN Red List through the delivery of a new web-based platform, which improves public access to key conservation data.

The partnership with IUCN is an initiative under one of the six challenges of Toyota Environmental Challenge 2050 – Establishing a Future Society in Harmony with Nature. This challenge is concerned with connecting nature conservation activities within Toyota companies to the world and the future.

“When tackling threats to the global environment, it is important to act early and boldly with concrete steps that will make a difference in people’s lives. We did it in 1997 with Prius, and in 2014 with the hydrogen fuel cell MIRAI. But protecting the environment is not just about CO2 and emissions: biodiversity is equally important to human lives,” said Didier Leroy, Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation. “By entering this partnership with IUCN, we are very proud to take an additional step toward the challenge of establishing a future society in harmony with nature.”

The private sector has a key role to play in supporting IUCN and others in reversing the decline of biodiversity. This partnership demonstrates the important leadership role that Toyota is playing to combat biodiversity loss.

For more information about Toyota – IUCN partnership, please visit https://www.iucnredlist.org/about/iucn-toyota