11 September 2012: The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and Microsoft have announced a new partnership, in which software developed by Microsoft will enable IUCN to begin to capture spatial information on species-specific threats.

With the agreement, Microsoft becomes the first corporate member of The IUCN Red List Partnership, and the two parties formalize a collaboration begun during the International Year of Biodiversity in 2010. IUCN notes that the improved understanding of current and future extinction threats to plant, fungi and animal species, resulting from the Microsoft-supported research project, will enable better conservation policy frameworks to be devised.

Microsoft also will provide support in hosting and communicating The IUCN Red List information more broadly. [IUCN Press Release]