The plants and animals assessed for the IUCN Red List are the bearers of genetic diversity and the building blocks of ecosystems, and information on their conservation status and distribution provides the foundation for making informed decisions about conserving biodiversity from local to global levels The improved objectivity of the 1994 IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria revealed that the previously ad hoc process of including species on the Red List had to change The Least Concern assessments did not appear on IUCN Red Lists produced before 2003 because the main focus of attention has been on threatened species