{{Short description|IUCN conservation category}} {{Use British English|date=July 2022}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2022}} {{Conservation status}} [[File:Taurotragus oryx.jpg|thumb|''[[Taurotragus oryx]]'', the common eland, is a species with a conservation status of least concern.]] A '''least-concern species''' is a [[species]] that has been evaluated and [[Conservation status|categorized]] by the [[International Union for Conservation of Nature]] (IUCN) as not being a focus of [[wildlife conservation]] because the specific species is still plentiful in the wild. They do not qualify as [[threatened species|threatened]], [[near-threatened species|near threatened]], or (before 2001) [[conservation-dependent species|conservation dependent]].
Species cannot be assigned the "Least Concern" category unless they have had their population status evaluated. That is, adequate information is needed to make a direct, or indirect, assessment of its risk of [[extinction]] based on its [[species distribution|distribution]] or population status.
== Evaluation == Since 2001 the category has had the abbreviation "LC", following the IUCN 2001 Categories & Criteria (version 3.1).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jr.iucnredlist.org/documents/redlist_cats_crit_en.pdf|title=2001 Categories & Criteria (version 3.1)|work=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|access-date=2015-05-22|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128190606/http://jr.iucnredlist.org/documents/redlist_cats_crit_en.pdf|archive-date=2016-01-28}}</ref> Before 2001 "least concern" was a subcategory of the "[[Lower risk|Lower Risk]]" category and assigned the code "LR/lc" or lc. Around 20% of least concern [[taxa]] (3261 of 15,636) in the IUCN database still use the code "LR/lc", which indicates they have not been re-evaluated since 2000.
== Number of species == While "least concern" is not considered a ''red listed'' category by the IUCN, the 2006 [[IUCN Red List]] still assigns the category to 15,636 taxa. The number of animal species listed in this category totals 14,033 (which also includes several [[undescribed species]] such as a frog from the genus ''[[Philautus]]''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.redlist.org/search/details.php?species=58913|title=Philautus sp. nov. 'Kalpatta'|work=The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species|access-date=2006-12-19}}{{Dead link|date=April 2026}}</ref>). There are also 101 animal subspecies listed and 1500 plant taxa (1410 species, 55 subspecies, and 35 varieties). No [[fungi]] or [[protista]] have the classification, though only four species in those [[Kingdom (biology)|kingdom]]s have been evaluated by the IUCN. [[Human]]s were formally assessed<ref name="humaniucn">{{cite iucn|title=''Homo sapiens'' (human)|author=Global Mammal Assessment Team |doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2008.RLTS.T136584A4313662.en|year = 2008}}</ref> as a species of least concern in 2008.
== List of LC species == {{See|Category:IUCN Red List least concern species}}
== See also == * [[Conservation status]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[https://www.iucnredlist.org/search/grid?redListCategory=lc List of Least Concern species] as identified by the [[IUCN Red List of Threatened Species]]
{{Threatened species|state=expanded}} {{Portal bar|Ecology|Biology}}
[[Category:IUCN Red List least concern species| ]] [[Category:Least concern plants| ]] [[Category:Biota by conservation status]] [[Category:IUCN Red List]]