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NWT General Status Ranking Program

The NWT Species General Status Ranking Program is a collaborative program that builds on our collective knowledge of NWT species and supports ongoing efforts to monitor and conserve biodiversity in the NWT.

The program aims to provide official lists of all known species in the NWT as well as a coarse evaluation of the status of a species. It identifies in a very general way which species are thought to be secure, which are sensitive and which species may be at risk and require more attention or investigation.

Their status and distribution are determined every five years and published in the NWT Species report.

Species ranked May be at Risk or At Risk are the highest priority for more detailed assessment by either the NWT Species at Risk Committee (SARC) or by Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC).

The general status ranks are also available as a searchable online catalogue called the NWT Species Infobase. Each entry includes available information on habitat, distribution, population numbers, trends and threats used to rank the general status of NWT species.

Thousands of species have been ranked so far, with more added every year. The goal is to include as many as possible of the 30,000 species estimated to be present in the NWT.