New IUCN report sets out guidelines for best conserving rhinos in Africa

As habitats and ecosystems become increasingly altered and populations evermore impacted by human activities, a growing number of species will require some form of management of both individuals and populations to ensure their survival. Ex situ management is one possible option that can contribute to the conservation of threatened species. The aim of these guidelines is to provide practical guidance on evaluating the suitability and requirements of an ex situ component for achieving species conservation objectives.

The Terra Viva Grants Directory is an online information service on funding opportunities for the developing world in (1) Agriculture, Fisheries, Forestry; (2) Biodiversity, Conservation, Wildlife; (3) Energy, Climate Change; (4) Water Resources; and (5) Cross-Cutting Subjects. The platform lists current grant opportunities and profiles of over 800 grant programs, including application deadlines by month, subject area, and form of grant support. Funding News is a blog of open calls for proposals that is updated regularly.

Basic access for project funding or scholarships is free resources. Full access requires a paid subscription.

This checklist provides the official list of species listed on the CITES appendices and associated information, including scientific names and synonyms; common names in English, French and Spanish (where available), the CITES Appendix in which they are currently listed, distribution, and history of listings. Over 4000 Identification resources sourced from the CITES Identification Manual and the CITES Virtual College are also available. Users can search and filter by name (including higher taxa), CITES Appendix and country/territory/region of occurrence (“All locations”).

How to use

• The checklist, CITES listing information, and Identification materials can be viewed or downloaded in different formats at: https://checklist.cites.org
• A full guide to all the materials can be found on the “About” page of the CITES Checklist at: https://checklist.cites.org/#/en/about

The Vulture Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission gathers and collates data on historical and current incidents of wildlife poisoning to assess the scope and impact of this threat to vultures and other scavenging birds and wildlife on the African continent. The Database is accompanied by a map of poisoning incidents in Africa. A  webform and a data submission template have been designed to facilitate simple uploading of records of poisoning incidents.

WH Sites identify, protect, and preserve cultural and natural heritage around the world that is considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972. Sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria to be included on the World Heritage List. The criteria are regularly revised by the Committee to reflect the evolution of the World Heritage concept itself.

These criteria are explained in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention which, besides the text of the Convention, is the main working tool on World Heritage.

How to use

To download the text of the Convention, operational guidelines for implementation, and to search the map and individual sites: https://whc.unesco.org

To explore the WHS criteria and download the operational guidelines:

https://whc.unesco.org/en/guidelines/

The Darwin Initiative is a UK government grants scheme that helps conserve biodiversity and support the communities that live alongside it through locally led projects worldwide. It is one of the Biodiversity Challenge Funds (BCFs) – the collective name for three of the UK Government’s competitive grants that also includes the Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund and Darwin Plus, aimed at conserving biodiversity and safeguarding the environment for local people.

Successful Darwin Initiative projects are likely to include:

• delivering outputs that will achieve both biodiversity conservation and multidimensional poverty reduction
• demonstrated an understanding of GESI within their context, and effectively reflected this in their approach to deliver sustained outcomes
• enhancing the capability and capacity of national and local partners and stakeholders, to help ensure a project’s long-term legacy
• strengthening, promotion and use of evidence to inform and scale the action
• the implementation of a novel or significantly improved approach
• scalable approaches that have the potential to deliver greater impact

Since 1993, the Darwin Initiative has awarded over £230m to more than 1,275 projects across 159 countries.

A consistent methodology for prioritising species conservation efforts based on extinction risk data (the Red List) and phylogenetic information; EDGE lists, representing the most evolutionarily distinct and threatened species on Earth, are currently available for all amphibians, birds, mammals, ray-finned fish, reptiles, sharks and rays, freshwater crayfish, and gymnosperms, with lists for other groups, including all angiosperms, forthcoming

The Species+ website was developed jointly by UNEP-WCMC and the CITES Secretariat to assist Parties to implement CITES, CMS and other multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs). Species+ contains information on all species listed in the Appendices of CITES and CMS, other CMS Family listings, and in the Annexes to the EU Wildlife Trade Regulations. The species pages contain information on legal, species names and distribution, Appendix listings, references, and other documentation.

The data can be searched by species, location, or Convention. The “Locations” filter allows a search for a species or group of species occurring in a particular country, territory, or region.

Key species lists can be downloaded in an Excel-ready format as a csv file. The terms of use should be reviewed prior to downloading.

This scorecard is a flexible tool for assessing the risk or potential risk to genetic diversity of wild species. The scorecard contains a set of questions on distribution, biology, and threats that enable users to score the level of potential genetic threat to a species, in situ and ex situ. The scorecard can therefore be used in situations where direct evidence from genetic analyses is not available. The scorecard can also be used in situations with limited resources, according to capacity, the level of knowledge, and the diversity and scale of the country.

How to use

Details of the scorecard and examples are available at: https://www.nature.scot/doc/scotlands-biodiversity-progress-2020-aichi-targets-conserving-genetic-diversity-development-national

https://www.nature.scot/doc/scotlands-biodiversity-progress-2020-aichi-targets-aichi-target-13-genetic-diversity-maintained

The UN Convention on Biodiversity has developed sets of detailed guidance on ILK. These include the Tkarihwaié:ri Code of Ethical Conduct to Ensure Respect for the Cultural and Intellectual Heritage of Indigenous and Local Communities Relevant to the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity; the Mo’otz Kuxtal Voluntary Guidelines for the development of mechanisms, legislation or other appropriate initiatives to ensure the “prior and informed consent”; and The Rutzolijirisaxik Voluntary Guidelines for the Repatriation of Traditional Knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities Relevant for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity

The database has been developed by the IUCN SSC Species Monitoring Specialist Group with support from Re:wild. It includes 178 global data sources on: monitoring biodiversity state, pressures and threats; monitoring conservation responses to biodiversity loss, and those with multiple uses for biodiversity monitoring. A fact sheet answering frequently asked questions about the database is also available. The Species Monitoring Specialist Group is a voluntary network of experts from around the world and includes specialists on different species and taxa, on different monitoring techniques and issues, and on different types  of data use. The group aims to enhance conservation by improving the flow of species data from collection point to decision-maker.

How to use

Version 3.0 of the database and the fact sheet can be downloaded at:  https://www.speciesmonitoring.org/data-sources.html

A selection of Manuals, Guidelines and Methods Reviews is available at:

https://www.speciesmonitoring.org/guidelines-and-tools.html

To contact the Species monitoring Specialist Group: SpeciesMonitoring@gmail.com

Anthropogenic ocean noise is identified as one of the priority threats in the Strategic Plan of the IWC Conservation Committee. In 2018, the IWC agreed a Resolution that recognised the increasing concern over ocean noise, and clarified next steps to better understand and manage the threat. In 2022 the IWC endorsed a Workplan on Anthropogenic Ocean Noise. The Scientific Committee is also undertaking research on the impact of noise on cetaceans, and the effectiveness of different approaches to reduce exposure.