New Zealand Threat Classification System

The New Zealand Threat Classification System is used by the Department of Conservation to assess conservation priorities of species in New Zealand.

The system was developed because the IUCN Red List, a similar conservation status system, had some shortcomings for the unique requirements of conservation ranking in New Zealand. plants, animals, and fungi are evaluated, though the lattermost has yet to be published. Algae were assessed in 2005 but not reassessed since. Other protists have not been evaluated.

Categories
Species that are ranked are assigned categories:


 * Threatened
 * This category has three major divisions:
 * Nationally Critical - equivalent to the IUCN category of Critically endangered
 * Nationally Endangered - equivalent to the IUCN category of Endangered
 * Nationally Vulnerable - equivalent to the IUCN category of Vulnerable


 * At Risk
 * This has four categories:
 * Declining
 * Recovering
 * Relict
 * Naturally Uncommon

Other categories

 * Introduced and Naturalised
 * These are any species that are deliberately or accidentally introduced into New Zealand.


 * Migrant
 * Migrant species are those that visit New Zealand as part of their life cycle.


 * Vagrant
 * Vagrants are taxa that are rare in New Zealand that have made their own way and do not breed successfully.


 * Coloniser
 * These taxa have arrived in New Zealand without human help and reproduce successfully.


 * Data Deficient
 * This category lists taxa for which insufficient information is available to make as assessment on conservation status.


 * Extinct
 * Taxa for which there is no reasonable doubt that no individuals exist are ranked as extinct. For these lists only species that have become extinct since 1840 are listed.


 * Not Threatened
 * If taxa fit into none of the other categories they are listed in the Not Threatened category.

Qualifiers
A series of qualifiers are used to give additional information on the threat classification: