The changing status of imperilled species in British Columbia

The province is currently home to 5,521 Yellow, 1,233 Blue, 493 Red-listed species, with a 25 % rise in species at risk (Blue and Red) since 2008 due largely to the addition of species. Changes in status over this time period were reported for 1,545 animal and 3,775 plant species. While there was an even split in uplistings (more imperiled) and downlistings (less imperiled) for animals, plant species more often shifted to a lower risk category.

Analysing explanations for each change revealed that most were non-genuine (new information or methodology) rather than genuine (true changes in population size or threats), especially among downlistings. Genuine improvements in the status of species in B.C. have been exceedingly rare, indicating that current laws and regulations have been insufficient to recover species at risk within B.C.