IUCN Red List Regional Assessment of the Flora of Niue Utilising Indigenous Local Knowledge and Botanical Information

A regional assessment of the indigenous vascular plants of Niue is presented using the IUCN Red List criteria. The assessment was undertaken during a community workshop that drew on the indigenous local knowledge and scientific information. The assessment comprised 197 named taxa and 8 indeterminate entities, with 4 (2.0%) taxa assessed as Extinct and 63 (32.0%) Threatened which includes 37 (18.8%) Critically Endangered, 11 (5.6%) Endangered and 15 (7.6%) Vulnerable. Of the remaining categories, 18 taxa (9.2%) were Near Threatened, 104 (52.8%) Least Concern and 8 (4.0%) Data Deficient. Red List criterion D (number of plants) was used for the assessments as other criteria are reliant on population trend data and areas of occurrence and occupancy, but data on these were lacking or difficult to apply. A notable feature of the flora is that a number of taxa assessed as Threatened have been collected only once or from one location, and these are considered to be naturally uncommon in Niue. The 259 km 2 land area of Niue is problematic when using the Red List criteria, as based on this the entire flora would be assessed as Endangered (Criteria B, Geographic range: occurrence < 5000 km 2 ; occupancy < 500 km 2 ).