Ecosystems are vital for life and are a prominent aspect of the Global Biodiversity Framework, which aims to protect and restore biodiversity. Read this policy brief to learn more about the role of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology.
The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems official site includes news, media coverage and events, and you can read more about the context of the Global Ecosystem Typology.
Version 2.1 was published as Supplementary Material to the following research article:
Keith, D. A., J. R. Ferrer-Paris, E. Nicholson, M. Bishop, B. A, Polidoro, E. Ramirez-Llodra, M. G. Tozer, J. L. Nel, R. Mac Nally, E. J. Gregr, K. E. Watermeyer, F. Essl, D. Faber-Langendoen, J. Franklin, C. E. R. Lehmann, A. Etter, D. J. Roux, J. S. Stark, J. A. Rowland, N. A. Brummitt, U. C. Fernandez-Arcaya, I. M. Suthers, S. K. Wiser, I. Donohue, L. J. Jackson, R. T. Pennington, N. Pettorelli, A. Andrade, A. Lindgaard, T. Tahvanainen, A. Terauds, M. A. Chadwick, N. J. Murray, J. Moat, P. Pliscoff, I. Zager, and R. T. Kingsford (2022) A function-based typology for Earth’s ecosystems Nature 610, 513–518. DOI:10.1038/s41586-022-05318-4.
Version 2.0 was published as a IUCN report:
David A. Keith, José R. Ferrer-Paris, Emily Nicholson and Richard T. Kingsford (eds.) (2020) The IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology 2.0: Descriptive profiles for biomes and ecosystem functional groups. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. ISBN: 978-2-8317-2077-7. DOI:10.2305/IUCN.CH.2020.13.en.
Translation of version 2.1 into Spanish has been completed in December 2024 and is under review for publication.
Translations in other languages are under preparation.
IUCN (2025). Standards, methods and guidelines for cross-referencing ecosystem classifications and maps to the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology. Version 1.0. Keith, D. A., Dayaram, A., Driver, A., Ferrer-Paris, J. R., Francis, R., Hay, S., Murray, N. J., Nicholson, E., Santos, J., Skowno, A. L. & Tozer, M. G. (Eds.). Gland, Switzerland: IUCN. ISBN: 978-2-8317-2348-8. DOI:10.2305/CPPC6126.
A workbook with the text of the functional group profiles is available for download from:
Workbook with profile content for Ecosystem Functional Groups of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology (Level 3 units) available at https://osf.io/4dcea
Translations and machine readable controlled vocabularies are under preparation.
Geospatial layers in vector (geojson) and raster (geotiff) formats are available for download:
Keith, David A., Ferrer-Paris, Jose R., Nicholson, Emily, & Kingsford, Richard T. (eds.) (2020). Indicative distribution maps for Ecosystem Functional Groups - Level 3 of IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology (Version 2.1.1) [Data set]. Zenodo. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.3546513
Additional information on maps and other related resources are available at this info site.
Geospatial features ready to use in Earth Engine are available in the Earth Engine Data Catalog.
The Global Ecosystem Atlas was created by compiling existing spatial data products developed to represent ecosystems. These maps come from high-quality national, regional, and global repositories. Each dataset has been subjected to a rigorous evaluation process, including validation and harmonization with the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology. The atlas will provide a comprehensive harmonised open resource on the extent, change, condition and risk of all the world’s ecosystems.