The 2010 Red List of Finnish species

	Drawing: Terhi Ryttäri

The fourth assessment of threatened species in Finland was published in 2010.

The assessment of threatened species is made every tenth year in Finland. The assessment work took four years. The results of the assessment were presented and handed over to the Minister of the Environment in December 2010.

Publication 

The Red List 2010 is available as a web publication both in Finnish and English. 

• The 2010 Red List of Finnish Species (Ministry of the Environment) The page is in Finnish, but the publication is both in Finnish and English.
• Notations used in the tables and graphs of the 2010 Red List

The web service

The web service of the red list of the Finnish species is available from the link in the left column.

The main results

The current estimated number of species in Finland is at least 45,000. Sufficient information was available for the evaluation of 21,398 species or lower taxa, which is approximately 47% of all species. In total, 2,247 species or lower taxa (10.5%) were classified as threatened. The red-listed species, which, in addition to threatened species, include the species classified as Regionally Extinct, Near Threatened, and Data Deficient, total 4,960 (23.2%). 

Of the species evaluated, 313 were classified as Critically Endangered (CR), 726 as Endangered (EN), 1,208 as Vulnerable (VU), 1,867 as Near Threatened (NT), 514 as Data Deficient (DD), 332 as Regionally Extinct (RE), and 16,438 as of Least Concern (LC).

The majority of threatened species live in forests (36.2%) and in rural biotopes and other cultural habitats (22.3%). In comparison with the previous evaluation, the rate of decline of species living in these habitats has slightly decelerated, whereas that of species living in mires, on rock outcrops and shores, and in alpine heath and meadow habitats has accelerated considerably. The number of threatened species is highest in the hemiboreal and southern boreal zones in southern Finland.

Table

• Total number of species found in Finland, number of assessed taxa and number of red-listed taxa by category and organism group, as well as the proportion of threatened and red-listed taxa by organism group (pdf)

Source

Rassi, P., Hyvärinen, E., Juslén, A. & Mannerkoski, I. (eds.) 2010: The 2010 Red List of Finnish Species. Ympäristöministeriö & Suomen ympäristökeskus, Helsinki. 685 p.

Further information

• Environment Counsellor Esko Hyvärinen, Ministry of the Environment, Tel. +358 400 143 876, firstname.lastname@ym.fi

• Unit Director Aino Juslén, Finnish Museum of Natural History, Tel. +358 50 310 9703, firstname.lastname@helsinki.fi