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The Red List of South African plants published in 2010, the International Year of Biodiversity,
assessed for the first time the conservation status of all 20 456 of South Africa’s described
indigenous plant taxa. This assessment, led by the South African National Biodiversity Institute
in partnership with a range of organisations and experts, uses the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List 3.1 system,1 which provides internationally endorsed
scientific criteria for assessing the risk of extinction to species.