Creating an African Lion Database

Creating an African Lion Database to Coordinate Conservationists

There is a plan underway to partner with other key funders to establish a collaborative lion database that will be used to provide a continually updated assessment of the abundance and distribution of lions in Africa. This information will be highly valuable for conservation planning and for assessing the impact of conservation investments. The database will be institutionally ‘owned’ by the IUCN Cat Specialist Group, on behalf of the wider conservation community. A database coordinator would be appointed by Endangered Wildlife trust, whose work would be overseen by an oversight committee, comprising key individuals involved in research into lion numbers and distribution. As well as providing an essential resource for conservation actors, the database will help to foster collaboration among key stakeholders.