TheUNESCOAtlas of the World's Languages in Danger is an online publication containing a comprehensive list of the world'sendangered languages. It originally replaced theRed Book of Endangered Languages as a title in print after a brief period of overlap before being transferred to an online-only publication.
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In 1992, theInternational Congress of Linguists (CIPL) meeting inCanada discussed the topic of endangered languages, as a result of which it formed the Endangered Languages Committee. It held an international meeting also in 1992 inParis to place the topic before the world and initiate action. The meeting was considered important enough to come under the authority ofUNESCO.
At the instigation ofStephen Wurm the committee resolved to create a research center, the International Clearing House for Endangered Languages (ICHEL) and to publish the UNESCORed Book of Endangered Languages based on the data it collected, the title being derived from that of theRed Book of Endangered Species. Shigeru Tsuchida was to start the research center. It began in 1994 at theUniversity of Tokyo[1] with Tasaku Tsunoda as its director.
Meanwhile, the initial reports on endangered languages had already been collected and submitted to UNESCO by regional experts in 1993.[2] These have since been turned over to ICHEL, which created a website to enable regular updates to be made available promptly.
In February 2009, UNESCO launched an online edition[3] of theAtlas of Endangered Languages which covers the whole world, contains much more information than previous printed editions and offers the possibility to users to provide online feedback, in view of its constant updating.[4]
The UNESCO list has 6 categories of endangerment:[5]