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

Small-scale fisheries provide food security, livelihoods and income to millions of people but their management still presents a challenge to managers and other stakeholders due to problems in gathering suitable information and its incorporation in fisheries policy. Fishers are a key source of knowledge for assessment of both extractive capacity and value in small-scale fisheries, in addition to providing a broad array of cultural knowledge. The increasing recognition of the value of incorporating traditional fishing knowledge in freshwater, riverine, lacustrine and coastal and marine fisheries management is now evident in international conventions and published literature. The purpose of these guidelines is to make it easier for users to recognise and include fishers’ knowledge as an important data stream in resource management. The report includes details on the breadth of knowledge that can be gathered, how it can be gathered, and how this information can be applied to support sustainable fisheries policy and broader applications in society. It contains case studies from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America, and the Pacific.

This WWF report is part their contribution to boosting nature-positive production at scale. The report outlines changes that are needed to create food systems that support rather than exploit nature, with a focus on agricultural production systems. It also feeds into the advocacy for the UNFCCC 26 (Climate CoP). The report highlights that nature positive production of food can and must be part of the solution for addressing biodiversity loss.

The IUCN Red List of Ecosystems is a global framework for monitoring the status of ecosystems. It is part of the growing toolbox for assessing risks to biodiversity and aims to support conservation, resource use, and management decisions by identifying ecosystems most at risk of biodiversity loss. The basis of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems is the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Categories and Criteria, a set of eight categories and five criteria that provide a consistent method for assessing the risk of ecosystem collapse. These Guidelines assist correct implementation of the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems Categories and Criteria by providing information on the development of the protocol and a detailed overview of the scientific foundations supporting the categories and criteria.

ECOLEX is an information service on environmental law, operated jointly by FAO, IUCN, and UNEP. Its purpose is to build global capacity by providing the most comprehensive possible source of information on environmental law, in an easily accessible form. This is particularly helpful in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, where government officials, practitioners, environmental managers, non-profit institutions and academia may not have easy access to the information they need to develop the legal tools  needed to promote environmental management.

The ECOLEX database includes information on treaties, international soft-law and other non-binding policy and technical guidance documents, national legislation, judicial decisions, and law and policy literature. Users can access the abstracts and indexing information about each document, as well as to the full text of most of the information provided.

Several methods have been developed for climate change vulnerability assessment (CCVA) of species. There is no single ‘correct’ or established way to carry out CCVA of species and these guidelines aim to assist conservation practitioners to interpret and use the complex and often inconsistent CCVA literature. The guidelines indicate sensible and defensible approaches, in the context of the current state of knowledge and available resources.

The guidelines outline some of the terms commonly used in climate change vulnerability assessment (CCVA) and describe three dominant CCVA approaches, namely correlative (niche-based), mechanistic, and trait-based approaches. Advice is provided on setting clear, measurable objectives and selecting CCVA approaches and appropriate methods. Guidance on using and interpreting CCVA results includes suggestions on data sources and their use, working with knowledge gaps and uncertainty, approaches for use in challenging contexts, and incorporating indirect climate change impacts such as habitat transformation.

It is hoped that the guidelines will promote standardization of CCVA terminology and provide a useful resource for those wishing to carry out CCVA at species, site, or site-network scales.

The guidelines are structured to provide (i) background information on definitions and metrics associated with CCVA; (ii) a discussion on identifying CCVA objectives; (iii) core guidance on selecting and applying appropriate methods; (iv) sections on interpreting and communicating results; (v) using results in IUCN Red List assessments; (vi) ways to address the many sources of uncertainty in CCVAs. A final section explores future directions for CCVAs and research needs. The guidelines also highlight 10 case studies that provide worked examples of CCVAs covering the range of methods described.

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/

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. 

In 2021, IUCN launched the IUCN Flagship Report Series, to help demonstrate the importance of conserving nature for human well-being and all life on Earth. This report, the second in the series, focuses on agriculture and nature. The interactions, synergies, and tradeoffs between the two sit at the heart of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which calls for ending hunger and ensuring food security while also mandating the protection and restoration of nature. Whether the two can be achieved simultaneously, and if so how, are crucial questions for humanity and our planet. IUCN therefore explores the positive and negative relationships between agriculture and nature conservation and mobilises new modelling approaches to examine both imperatives within a range of realistic policies.

ECOLEX is an information service on environmental law, operated jointly by FAO, IUCN, and UNEP. Its purpose is to build global capacity by providing the most comprehensive possible source of information on environmental law, in an easily accessible form. This is particularly helpful in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, where government officials, practitioners, environmental managers, non-profit institutions and academia may not have easy access to the information they need to develop the legal tools  needed to promote environmental management.

The ECOLEX database includes information on treaties, international soft-law and other non-binding policy and technical guidance documents, national legislation, judicial decisions, and law and policy literature. Users can access the abstracts and indexing information about each document, as well as to the full text of most of the information provided.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) has 10 principles that are relevant to different kinds of forest ecosystems and in diverse cultural, political, and legal settings. These require management of certified forests to be legal, maintain or improve the social and economic well-being of workers and local communities; uphold the rights of Indigenous Peoples; maintain, conserve, or restore the ecosystem services and environmental values of managed forests; establish a management plan; and maintain or improve high conservation values. The FSC label verifies sustainable sourcing of products from the forest to store shelves.

How to use

Complete descriptions of the FSC principles, criteria, and certification can be accessed and downloaded at: https://connect.fsc.org/document-centre/documents/resource/392

To register for the FSC newsletter: https://fsc.org

The One Planet Network’s Sustainable Food System (SFS) Programme contributes to a transformation towards sustainable food systems that was called for at the UN Food Systems Summit in 2021. The SFS Programme is a partnership focused on urgent transformation towards sustainable food systems as a critical strategy to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The SFS Programme has four objectives and five cross-cutting themes to support its goal of accelerating the shift to sustainable food systems. The Programme has developed a range of tools to providing guidance for the transformation to sustainable food systems.

This IUCN-OIE publication provides an overview of the science-based processes and tools available for wildlife disease risk analysis and their application to a broad range of contemporary issues, including human-wildlife interactions, domestic animal-wildlife interactions and the impacts of massive ecological change on biodiversity conservation. The guidelines will be of value to those policy makers and decision makers faced with the social, political and technical complexities involved in wildlife-disease-associated scenarios.This is a companion volume to the Manual of Procedures for Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis.