IUCN Red List Training and Assessment Workshop for Africa's bats, Namibia

All participants were trained as Red List assessors and another have subsequently been recruited.During the workshop, Red List assessments were started, focusing on species that had not previously been assessed because they were new to science or their status had changed following taxonomic revisions.Teams are being established to develop and advance regional bat conservation and research plans.As bats were not considered in the establishment of most KBAs, in the Global Union of Bat Diversity Networks established a group to ensure bats are considered as trigger species in existing KBAs and could be used help establish new KBAs (two or more range restricted species need to be present, with at least % of their range at a site to trigger KBA status).Following this workshop and KBA training at a Rufford Learning Event organized and led by Rachael Cooper-Bohannon in Otjiwarongo, Namibia in September , a multifaceted approach will ensure bats are considered within the global KBA initiative.For example, in Kenya a national gap analysis should dramatically change how bats are represented in Kenya's KBAs.Initial analyses show that none of the current bat trigger species in existing KBAs will be recognized by the new global KBA standard established in .There are several KBAs where bats will be recognized as a trigger and at least one new KBA will be proposed for the Vulnerable Otomops harrisoni at Mount Suswa.