4.2. Develop and implement a recovery plan (single species, multi-species, site-based, or threat-based) for all species that require one.
Recovery plans provide the overall framework for species conservation, coordinate action by all stakeholders, reduce duplication, and aid fundraising. Plans may be developed for a single species, several species, a whole taxonomic group, a landscape, ecosystem, or in response to a specific threat and designed for use at global, regional, national, or local level. Key principles of species planning are that it should be inclusive, participatory, and based on sound science. Plans commonly include a long-term Vision, and a Goal, Objectives, and Actions arranged in a hierarchical structure, presented in a logframe format, including timescales, indicators, and the lead responsibilities for implementation.
Many species plans have already been developed which can be used a basis for development of a National Action Plan, a national work plan, or to inform National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans. Examples of global-level plans include the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, which has been adopted by the CBD, and the Amphibian Action Plan.
Guidance on develop new species recovery plans, training courses, and advice are available from SSC and other sources.
Subactions
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4.2.1. Integrate existing global strategies for whole taxonomic groups into national and regional planning.
Primary tools and resources
AEWA International Single and Multi-Species Action Planning Format and Guidelines
These guidelines are produced by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds. The revised version includes Multi-Species Action as well as making AEWA Plans more implementable, accessible, and practical for implementing agencies. The guidelines also recognise the need for activities to be more targeted and aligned with the set objectives and goals.
CPSG Species Conservation Planning Tools
The IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) has developed several tools and resources to support planning. Teams are available to support this approach, including the use of modelling tools. Training in species conservation planning tools and processes is available through a combination of in-person and online courses. Training results in a certificate of completion. Extended mentoring opportunities also exist.
The One Plan Approach: requires that all available resources, all stakeholders and all populations of a species, are considered in conservation planning process. This approach is particularly effective at bringing together ex situ and in situ wildlife conservation practitioners and tools. Through CPSG, teams are available to support groups to apply this approach, which may include the application of the IUCN SSC Ex situ Guidelines as well as databases and modelling tools produced and maintained through key partners such Species360 and the Species Conservation Toolkit Initiative.
Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA): is a specific approach that integrates population viability analysis (PVA) into stakeholder-inclusive, multi-disciplinary planning projects. The PVA element helps all stakeholders to understand more a species’ life-history, threats, and the likely efficacy of potential conservation strategies. Facilitator-modeller teams are available through CPSG, to support groups to apply this approach.
Assess to Plan (A2P): is a process designed to bridge the gap between Red List assessment and conservation planning, for speciose groups. Using Red List data, assessors and other experts identify pathways to conservation action for taxa assessed as Threatened or Data Deficient. Outputs include recommendations for further planning or action for multi-species groups of taxa that can be expected to respond favourably to the same kinds of conservation action taken in the same areas and/or by the same groups of conservation actors.
Planning Principles and Steps
This document was developed by the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) to build global capacity to save biodiversity and share and understanding of what effective species conservation planning looks like. The document contains 7 fundamental principles and 8 practical steps, and presents a succinct philosophy and framework for good species planning based on CPSG’s over 40 years of experience in species conservation planning. USER GUIDE SIMPLE AND CLEAR USER GUIDE TO THE BASIC PRINCIPLES AND PROCESS OF
SSC Species Conservation Planning Guidelines
The Guidelines aim to be equally relevant for any taxon on Earth. Recent experience has shown that no two planning situations are the same. So while the principles of planning may be constant, the purpose of the planning and the circumstances, the information available and its accuracy, and other factors, all combine to make every situation unique. This then demands a planning process that is both rigorous in analysis but flexible in its application. These Guidelines are very much an evolution based on experience, rather than a fundamental replacement of the 2008 Handbook (Strategic Planning for Species: A Handbook).
Other tools and resources
IUCN SSC CPSG Species Conservation Planning Tools Library
The Species Conservation Planning Tools Library is coordinated by the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) in collaboration with the IUCN SSC Species Conservation Planning Sub-Committee.
The Species Conservation Planning Tools Library is a new resource to connect species conservation practitioners to well-tested planning tools suitable for use in a variety of planning situations. This tools library is intended for use by species conservation experts that seek a practical and accessible reference to the many tools and processes available for designing and implementing a detailed and effective conservation planning approach. This resource will continually respond to the needs of the community and the evolving state of the science in the field of endangered species conservation.
The tools library is the product of a CPSG workshop held in Abruzzi, Italy in 2010. The full report from the workshop is available here.
IUCN SSC CPSG Conservation Planning’s PHVA Workshop Process
Complex issues in endangered species conservation planning require creative solutions.
Our Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA) workshop process – used around the world since the early 1990s – has been designed with this creativity in mind.
A typical PHVA workshop features the scientific rigor of a population viability analysis (PVA) that helps wildlife biologists and managers more clearly understand the threats that influence populations. The PVA effort is combined with innovative methods for helping people organize and evaluate information across a broad range of disciplines and perspectives.
Through this integration, workshop participants create more effective actions for species conservation that also take into account the social, cultural, and economic needs of local people. When local stakeholders help create the action plan themselves, they are much more likely to implement it.
IUCN SSC CPSG Conservation Planning Specialist Group Webinar Series
CPSG runs webinars on topics related to species conservation planning to engage, support, and maintain contact with designers and facilitators of species conservation planning processes worldwide. The webinars are designed to help us to critically review good practice through presentations and discussions with practitioners from a range of conservation-related disciplines. In particular we are keen to encourage reflection on CPSG’s Species Conservation Planning Principles & Steps and their relevance to improving the status of species worldwide.
Application of the global standard for Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) in documentation phase for the creation of national inventories
The International Treaty released in 2021 an updated list of passport descriptors for crop wild relatives conserved in situ. This publication provides an international standard to ensure consistency in the way data about plant genetic material of crop wild relatives (CWR) are documented and exchanged around the world.
This booklet is available in English, Arabic, French and Spanish, and is expected to be particularly helpful for researchers, plant breeders, and conservationists worldwide, in addition to national focal points of the International Treaty.
IUCN SSC CPSG Species Planning Principles and Steps
Building global capacity to save biodiversity requires a shared understanding of what effective species conservation planning looks like. CPSG has developed its Species Conservation Planning Principles & Steps document with this in mind. In 7 fundamental principles and 8 practical steps, this document presents a succinct philosophy and framework for good planning based on CPSG’s over 40 years of experience in species conservation planning.
IUCN SSC CPSG Species Conservation Planning Online Training Course
This is an introductory course to CPSG’s species conservation planning processes and tools. Our target audiences are government wildlife agency staff, IUCN SSC Specialist Group members, and other conservation professionals working in zoos, aquariums, universities or field programs, responsible for the development of species conservation plans. By the end of the course, participants will be able to: apply the CPSG Species Conservation Planning Principles and Steps to the design and facilitation of species conservation planning processes; demonstrate the role of the facilitator in consensus-based decision making; and select facilitation tools to help groups solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans. Click here to find out more about the course and how to apply to an upcoming session.
International Whaling Commission Sanctuaries Conservation Management Plans (CMPs)
Conservation Management Plans (CMPs) are an important conservation initiative of the IWC. They provide a framework for countries within the range of vulnerable cetacean populations (known as range states) to work together, and in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders, to protect and rebuild those populations.
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4.2.2. Increase the capacity of national governments, NGOs and CSOs to conduct species recovery planning at global, regional, and national levels.
Primary tools and resources
AEWA International Single and Multi-Species Action Planning Format and Guidelines
These guidelines are produced by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds. The revised version includes Multi-Species Action as well as making AEWA Plans more implementable, accessible, and practical for implementing agencies. The guidelines also recognise the need for activities to be more targeted and aligned with the set objectives and goals.
CPSG Species Conservation Planning Tools
The IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) has developed several tools and resources to support planning. Teams are available to support this approach, including the use of modelling tools. Training in species conservation planning tools and processes is available through a combination of in-person and online courses. Training results in a certificate of completion. Extended mentoring opportunities also exist.
The One Plan Approach: requires that all available resources, all stakeholders and all populations of a species, are considered in conservation planning process. This approach is particularly effective at bringing together ex situ and in situ wildlife conservation practitioners and tools. Through CPSG, teams are available to support groups to apply this approach, which may include the application of the IUCN SSC Ex situ Guidelines as well as databases and modelling tools produced and maintained through key partners such Species360 and the Species Conservation Toolkit Initiative.
Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA): is a specific approach that integrates population viability analysis (PVA) into stakeholder-inclusive, multi-disciplinary planning projects. The PVA element helps all stakeholders to understand more a species’ life-history, threats, and the likely efficacy of potential conservation strategies. Facilitator-modeller teams are available through CPSG, to support groups to apply this approach.
Assess to Plan (A2P): is a process designed to bridge the gap between Red List assessment and conservation planning, for speciose groups. Using Red List data, assessors and other experts identify pathways to conservation action for taxa assessed as Threatened or Data Deficient. Outputs include recommendations for further planning or action for multi-species groups of taxa that can be expected to respond favourably to the same kinds of conservation action taken in the same areas and/or by the same groups of conservation actors.
Planning Principles and Steps
This document was developed by the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) to build global capacity to save biodiversity and share and understanding of what effective species conservation planning looks like. The document contains 7 fundamental principles and 8 practical steps, and presents a succinct philosophy and framework for good species planning based on CPSG’s over 40 years of experience in species conservation planning. USER GUIDE SIMPLE AND CLEAR USER GUIDE TO THE BASIC PRINCIPLES AND PROCESS OF
SSC Species Conservation Planning Guidelines
The Guidelines aim to be equally relevant for any taxon on Earth. Recent experience has shown that no two planning situations are the same. So while the principles of planning may be constant, the purpose of the planning and the circumstances, the information available and its accuracy, and other factors, all combine to make every situation unique. This then demands a planning process that is both rigorous in analysis but flexible in its application. These Guidelines are very much an evolution based on experience, rather than a fundamental replacement of the 2008 Handbook (Strategic Planning for Species: A Handbook).
Other tools and resources
IUCN SSC CPSG Species Conservation Planning Tools Library
The Species Conservation Planning Tools Library is coordinated by the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) in collaboration with the IUCN SSC Species Conservation Planning Sub-Committee.
The Species Conservation Planning Tools Library is a new resource to connect species conservation practitioners to well-tested planning tools suitable for use in a variety of planning situations. This tools library is intended for use by species conservation experts that seek a practical and accessible reference to the many tools and processes available for designing and implementing a detailed and effective conservation planning approach. This resource will continually respond to the needs of the community and the evolving state of the science in the field of endangered species conservation.
The tools library is the product of a CPSG workshop held in Abruzzi, Italy in 2010. The full report from the workshop is available here.
IUCN SSC CPSG Conservation Planning’s PHVA Workshop Process
Complex issues in endangered species conservation planning require creative solutions.
Our Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA) workshop process – used around the world since the early 1990s – has been designed with this creativity in mind.
A typical PHVA workshop features the scientific rigor of a population viability analysis (PVA) that helps wildlife biologists and managers more clearly understand the threats that influence populations. The PVA effort is combined with innovative methods for helping people organize and evaluate information across a broad range of disciplines and perspectives.
Through this integration, workshop participants create more effective actions for species conservation that also take into account the social, cultural, and economic needs of local people. When local stakeholders help create the action plan themselves, they are much more likely to implement it.
IUCN SSC CPSG Conservation Planning Specialist Group Webinar Series
CPSG runs webinars on topics related to species conservation planning to engage, support, and maintain contact with designers and facilitators of species conservation planning processes worldwide. The webinars are designed to help us to critically review good practice through presentations and discussions with practitioners from a range of conservation-related disciplines. In particular we are keen to encourage reflection on CPSG’s Species Conservation Planning Principles & Steps and their relevance to improving the status of species worldwide.
Application of the global standard for Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) in documentation phase for the creation of national inventories
The International Treaty released in 2021 an updated list of passport descriptors for crop wild relatives conserved in situ. This publication provides an international standard to ensure consistency in the way data about plant genetic material of crop wild relatives (CWR) are documented and exchanged around the world.
This booklet is available in English, Arabic, French and Spanish, and is expected to be particularly helpful for researchers, plant breeders, and conservationists worldwide, in addition to national focal points of the International Treaty.
IUCN SSC CPSG Species Planning Principles and Steps
Building global capacity to save biodiversity requires a shared understanding of what effective species conservation planning looks like. CPSG has developed its Species Conservation Planning Principles & Steps document with this in mind. In 7 fundamental principles and 8 practical steps, this document presents a succinct philosophy and framework for good planning based on CPSG’s over 40 years of experience in species conservation planning.
IUCN SSC CPSG Species Conservation Planning Online Training Course
This is an introductory course to CPSG’s species conservation planning processes and tools. Our target audiences are government wildlife agency staff, IUCN SSC Specialist Group members, and other conservation professionals working in zoos, aquariums, universities or field programs, responsible for the development of species conservation plans. By the end of the course, participants will be able to: apply the CPSG Species Conservation Planning Principles and Steps to the design and facilitation of species conservation planning processes; demonstrate the role of the facilitator in consensus-based decision making; and select facilitation tools to help groups solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans. Click here to find out more about the course and how to apply to an upcoming session.
International Whaling Commission Sanctuaries Conservation Management Plans (CMPs)
Conservation Management Plans (CMPs) are an important conservation initiative of the IWC. They provide a framework for countries within the range of vulnerable cetacean populations (known as range states) to work together, and in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders, to protect and rebuild those populations.
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4.2.3. Develop comprehensive recovery plans with a defined implementation and coordination mechanism.
Primary tools and resources
AEWA International Single and Multi-Species Action Planning Format and Guidelines
These guidelines are produced by the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds. The revised version includes Multi-Species Action as well as making AEWA Plans more implementable, accessible, and practical for implementing agencies. The guidelines also recognise the need for activities to be more targeted and aligned with the set objectives and goals.
CPSG Species Conservation Planning Tools
The IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) has developed several tools and resources to support planning. Teams are available to support this approach, including the use of modelling tools. Training in species conservation planning tools and processes is available through a combination of in-person and online courses. Training results in a certificate of completion. Extended mentoring opportunities also exist.
The One Plan Approach: requires that all available resources, all stakeholders and all populations of a species, are considered in conservation planning process. This approach is particularly effective at bringing together ex situ and in situ wildlife conservation practitioners and tools. Through CPSG, teams are available to support groups to apply this approach, which may include the application of the IUCN SSC Ex situ Guidelines as well as databases and modelling tools produced and maintained through key partners such Species360 and the Species Conservation Toolkit Initiative.
Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA): is a specific approach that integrates population viability analysis (PVA) into stakeholder-inclusive, multi-disciplinary planning projects. The PVA element helps all stakeholders to understand more a species’ life-history, threats, and the likely efficacy of potential conservation strategies. Facilitator-modeller teams are available through CPSG, to support groups to apply this approach.
Assess to Plan (A2P): is a process designed to bridge the gap between Red List assessment and conservation planning, for speciose groups. Using Red List data, assessors and other experts identify pathways to conservation action for taxa assessed as Threatened or Data Deficient. Outputs include recommendations for further planning or action for multi-species groups of taxa that can be expected to respond favourably to the same kinds of conservation action taken in the same areas and/or by the same groups of conservation actors.
Planning Principles and Steps
This document was developed by the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) to build global capacity to save biodiversity and share and understanding of what effective species conservation planning looks like. The document contains 7 fundamental principles and 8 practical steps, and presents a succinct philosophy and framework for good species planning based on CPSG’s over 40 years of experience in species conservation planning. USER GUIDE SIMPLE AND CLEAR USER GUIDE TO THE BASIC PRINCIPLES AND PROCESS OF
SSC Species Conservation Planning Guidelines
The Guidelines aim to be equally relevant for any taxon on Earth. Recent experience has shown that no two planning situations are the same. So while the principles of planning may be constant, the purpose of the planning and the circumstances, the information available and its accuracy, and other factors, all combine to make every situation unique. This then demands a planning process that is both rigorous in analysis but flexible in its application. These Guidelines are very much an evolution based on experience, rather than a fundamental replacement of the 2008 Handbook (Strategic Planning for Species: A Handbook).
Other tools and resources
IUCN SSC CPSG Species Conservation Planning Tools Library
The Species Conservation Planning Tools Library is coordinated by the IUCN SSC Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) in collaboration with the IUCN SSC Species Conservation Planning Sub-Committee.
The Species Conservation Planning Tools Library is a new resource to connect species conservation practitioners to well-tested planning tools suitable for use in a variety of planning situations. This tools library is intended for use by species conservation experts that seek a practical and accessible reference to the many tools and processes available for designing and implementing a detailed and effective conservation planning approach. This resource will continually respond to the needs of the community and the evolving state of the science in the field of endangered species conservation.
The tools library is the product of a CPSG workshop held in Abruzzi, Italy in 2010. The full report from the workshop is available here.
IUCN SSC CPSG Conservation Planning’s PHVA Workshop Process
Complex issues in endangered species conservation planning require creative solutions.
Our Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA) workshop process – used around the world since the early 1990s – has been designed with this creativity in mind.
A typical PHVA workshop features the scientific rigor of a population viability analysis (PVA) that helps wildlife biologists and managers more clearly understand the threats that influence populations. The PVA effort is combined with innovative methods for helping people organize and evaluate information across a broad range of disciplines and perspectives.
Through this integration, workshop participants create more effective actions for species conservation that also take into account the social, cultural, and economic needs of local people. When local stakeholders help create the action plan themselves, they are much more likely to implement it.
IUCN SSC CPSG Conservation Planning Specialist Group Webinar Series
CPSG runs webinars on topics related to species conservation planning to engage, support, and maintain contact with designers and facilitators of species conservation planning processes worldwide. The webinars are designed to help us to critically review good practice through presentations and discussions with practitioners from a range of conservation-related disciplines. In particular we are keen to encourage reflection on CPSG’s Species Conservation Planning Principles & Steps and their relevance to improving the status of species worldwide.
Application of the global standard for Crop Wild Relatives (CWR) in documentation phase for the creation of national inventories
The International Treaty released in 2021 an updated list of passport descriptors for crop wild relatives conserved in situ. This publication provides an international standard to ensure consistency in the way data about plant genetic material of crop wild relatives (CWR) are documented and exchanged around the world.
This booklet is available in English, Arabic, French and Spanish, and is expected to be particularly helpful for researchers, plant breeders, and conservationists worldwide, in addition to national focal points of the International Treaty.
IUCN SSC CPSG Species Planning Principles and Steps
Building global capacity to save biodiversity requires a shared understanding of what effective species conservation planning looks like. CPSG has developed its Species Conservation Planning Principles & Steps document with this in mind. In 7 fundamental principles and 8 practical steps, this document presents a succinct philosophy and framework for good planning based on CPSG’s over 40 years of experience in species conservation planning.
IUCN SSC CPSG Species Conservation Planning Online Training Course
This is an introductory course to CPSG’s species conservation planning processes and tools. Our target audiences are government wildlife agency staff, IUCN SSC Specialist Group members, and other conservation professionals working in zoos, aquariums, universities or field programs, responsible for the development of species conservation plans. By the end of the course, participants will be able to: apply the CPSG Species Conservation Planning Principles and Steps to the design and facilitation of species conservation planning processes; demonstrate the role of the facilitator in consensus-based decision making; and select facilitation tools to help groups solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans. Click here to find out more about the course and how to apply to an upcoming session.
International Whaling Commission Sanctuaries Conservation Management Plans (CMPs)
Conservation Management Plans (CMPs) are an important conservation initiative of the IWC. They provide a framework for countries within the range of vulnerable cetacean populations (known as range states) to work together, and in collaboration with other relevant stakeholders, to protect and rebuild those populations.
Solutions and case studies
National Species Conservation Strategy for Türkiye
This National Species Conservation Strategy outlines the rich biodiversity of Türkiye, the key threats facing species, the existing national legislation and protected area network supporting conservation efforts, and the activities required to preserve species for future generations. The document presents the outcomes of an expert- led participatory process in developing this strategy. Furthermore, the governance and monitoring structure required to implement the strategy successfully is detailed. The full implementation of this strategy (2023-2032) is of great importance, which will result in positive outcomes for both the biodiversity and the people of Türkiye.
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4.2.4. Integrate in situ and ex situ planning for species with significant ex-situ populations.
Other tools and resources
IUCN SSC CPSG ‘One Plan’ approach
The One Plan approach to species conservation is the development of management strategies and conservation actions by all responsible parties for all populations of a species, whether inside or outside their natural range.
Traditionally, species conservation planning has followed two parallel but separate tracks. Field biologists, wildlife managers, and conservationists monitor wild populations and develop conservation strategies and actions to conserve threatened species. Meanwhile, the zoo and aquarium community develops long-term goals for sustaining ex situ populations.
CPSG supports an integrated approach to species conservation planning through the joint development of management strategies and conservation actions by all responsible parties. We strive to ensure that a broad range of stakeholders is represented at each workshop. As a result, one comprehensive conservation plan for the species helps bridge the gap between wild and captive population management.
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4.2.5. Identify species or groups of species with similar planning needs.
