The Vietnam Red Book is a list of animal and plant species in Vietnam that are rare, are seriously reduced in number or are in danger of extinction. This is an important scientific basis for the State to issue Decrees and Directives on management, protection and urgent measures to protect and develop wild flora and fauna in Vietnam.

The Vietnam Red Book Project was first announced in 1992. This is a project carried out by the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology in collaboration with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with funding from the Foundation. SIDA (Sweden). The standards used in the Vietnam Red Book are built on the basis of the standards of the IUCN Red Book.

The first Vietnam Red Book animal section was published in 1992 with 365 species listed, the plant section was published in 1996 with 356 species listed.

Results of implementing the 2004 Vietnam Red Book show that the total number of threatened wild animal and plant species has reached 857 species, including 407 animal species and 450 plant species, meaning the number of threatened species has increased significantly. tell. In the animal section, if the highest level of threat in the 1992 Vietnam Red Book is only Endangered, in 2004 there were 6 species considered extinct in Vietnamese territory. The number of species at the Endangered level is 149 species, a large increase compared to the 71 species in the 1992 Vietnam Red Book. There are 46 species ranked as Very Endangered. [first]

The latest version is the Vietnam Red Book 2007 , published on June 26, 2008 [2] . According to this data, there are currently 882 species in Vietnam (418 animal species and 464 plant types). are threatened in the wild, an increase of 167 species compared to 1992. Of these, 116 animal species are considered “very endangered” and 45 plant species are “very endangered” (out of 196 plant species). is “endangered”). There are 9 animal species that were previously only in a threatened state but are now considered extinct: 2-horned rhinoceros, gray cow, tapir, otter civet, common carp, Japanese eel, low brackish fish, lilac alligator, deer and slipper orchid [3] .

In addition to the 2007 Vietnam Red Book, the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology also completed the drafting of the 2007 Vietnam Red List.

Vietnam Red Book 2007 uses IUCN 2.3 standard of IUCN Red Book 1994.

Extinct – EX – Extinct
A taxon is considered extinct when there is no doubt that the last individual of that taxon has died.

Extinct in the wild – EW – Extinct in the wild
A taxon is considered extinct in the wild when it is only found in cultivation, captivity or only one (or more) naturalized populations have returned. outside the old distribution area.

Critically Endangered – CR – Critically Endangered
A taxon is considered critically endangered when it is facing an extremely high risk of becoming extinct in the wild in the immediate future.

Endangered – EN – Endangered
A taxon is considered endangered when it is not yet very endangered but is facing a great risk of becoming extinct in the wild in the near future.

Vulnerable – VU – Vulnerable
A taxon is considered endangered when it is not yet endangered or very endangered but is facing a great risk of becoming extinct in the wild in the relatively near future.

Less endangered – LR – Lower risk
A taxon is considered less endangered when it does not meet any of the criteria for the rankings of very endangered, endangered or likely to be endangered. This ranking can be divided into 3 sub-rankings.

Conservation dependent – ​​cd
Includes taxa that are currently the subject of an ongoing conservation program, specific to that taxon or its habitat; If this program is discontinued, this taxon will be moved to one of the above rankings for a period of 5 years.

Near Threatened – nt
Includes taxa that are not considered conservation dependent but are very close to being endangered.

Least concern – lc
Includes taxa not considered conservation dependent or near threatened.

Data deficient – DD – Data deficient
A taxon is considered data deficient when there is not enough information to be able to directly or indirectly assess the risk of extinction, based on distribution and population status. A taxon in this ranking may be well-studied, with much known biology, but still lack appropriate data on distribution and abundance. Thus, this taxon does not belong to any threat rank, nor does it correspond to the LR rank.

Not evaluated – NE – Not evaluated
A taxon is considered not evaluated when it has not been compared with classification standards.

Delisted threat levels
Equal to low priority. (LC – Less interested)

P4
Priority level for lesser known species, equivalent to NT – Near Threatened.

P3
Higher priority than P4, equivalent to VU – Vulnerable.

P2
Higher priority than P3, equivalent to EN – Endangered.

P1
Highest priority, equivalent to CR – Critically Endangered.

R
Highest level of threat and priority, equivalent to CR: PE – Critically endangered: in danger of extinction.

X
Equivalent to EX – extinct.