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

Competence frameworks are widely used in many professional sectors, helping to develop capacity by defining and recognising the required skills, knowledge and personal attributes. Registers of competences have been developed within the conservation sector. A global register of competences for threatened species recovery practitioners is a register of competences in the form of a directory of the possible skills, knowledge and personal attributes required by practitioners working in threatened species recovery programmes around the world, in both in-situ and ex-situ contexts. This register has the potential to transform approaches to capacity development within threatened species recovery and help improve the effectiveness of this branch of conservation. Its structure largely follows that of A global register of competences for protected area practitioners (Appleton, 2016).

The Coalition is a global network of conservation genetic experts working towards a shared goal of improving the integration of genetic information into conservation policy and practice.

The Coalition also aims to increase global capacity in conservation genetics by offering opportunities and support for currently underrepresented groups.

How to use

Further information is available at: https://www.coalitionforconservationgenetics.org

A set of webinars, reports, and publications on genetic research, capacity building, and policy are available on the Resources page at:

https://www.coalitionforconservationgenetics.org/resources

The study by O’Brien et al. (2022) can be accessed at: Bringing together approaches to reporting on within species genetic diversity – O’Brien – 2022 – Journal of Applied Ecology – Wiley Online Library

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.

GBIF is an international network and data infrastructure funded by the world’s governments. It provides open access to data on all types of life on Earth. GBIF provides data-holding institutions around the world with common standards, best practices and open-source tools enabling them to share information on species. The data derive from many sources, from museum specimens collected in the 18th and 19th centuries to DNA barcodes and citizen science smartphone photos.

The network collates these diverse data sources through data standards, including Darwin Core, which forms the basis for most of GBIF’s index of hundreds of millions of species occurrence records. Publishers provide open access to their datasets using machine-readable Creative Commons licence designations, allowing scientists, researchers, and others to apply the data.

The OECD Environmental Policy Committee, through its unique database of Policy Instruments for the Environment (PINE), collects quantitative and qualitative information on policy instruments from more than 120 countries worldwide. This brochure presents statistics on the biodiversity-relevant economic instruments and the finance they mobilise, based on
currently available data. The brochure also includes information on payments for ecosystem services (PES) and on biodiversity offsets, two other types of economic instruments that provide incentives for biodiversity conservation and its sustainable use.

The Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation, or Conservation Standards (CS) for short, are a set of principles and practices that bring together common concepts, approaches, and terminology for conservation project design, management, and monitoring. They were developed by the Conservation Measures Partnership (CMP), have been widely adopted, and are updated regularly in collaboration with the wider conservation community. The Conservation Standards are open-source (Creative Commons license) and can be shared, used, and adapted as users wish to fit their context.

The Standards describe ideal practices for doing effective conservation work, using a mutually defined vocabulary and focus on a rigorous approach to project management. Recognising that adequate resources are lacking, a draft “Cookbook” for Lighter Approaches to the Conservation Standards and a supporting video are also provided.

METT was one of the first tools developed under the IUCN WCPA Framework for protected area management effectiveness (PAME). Several versions and many adaptations have been produced, reflecting lessons learned. By 2016 the METT had been applied in 127 countries. METT-4 is presented in Excel format to aid implementation and compilation of results. The METT Handbook covers management effectiveness, advice on best use of the METT, case studies, and links to improving the quality of METT assessments using SMART, and using the site-level assessment of governance and equity (SAGE) tool.

How to use

• For further information and to download the handbook:
• https://www.iucn.org/news/protected-areas/202112/management-effectiveness-tracking-tool-mett-new-edition-mett-handbook-launched
• To view two IUCN webinars on the METT on YouTube: Introduction to the METT-4 and Using the new METT-4.c: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1sfXLfLldk
• For news and updates on METT see the METT support group on Facebook.

The Convention on Biological Diversity’s Ecosystem Approach is a strategy for the integrated management of land, water, and living resources to promote conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way. It is the primary framework for such action under the CBD and it contains 12 core principles. The Ecosystem Approach Sourcebook contains a Beginner’s Guide, Advanced Guide, Tools and resources, a Case Study Database, and Operational guidance for applying the 12 principles of the Ecosystem Approach.

How to use

To access the EA Sourcebook and operational guides: https://www.cbd.int/ecosystem/

To download and subscribe to the CBD Ecosystem Newsletter: https://www.cbd.int/ecosystem/ea-newsletters/

The Zero Poaching Toolkit helps national and state agencies, protected area managers, rangers, and other frontline protection staff in anti-poaching efforts. The toolkit contains resources on assessment, crime prevention strategies, community involvement, technology, capacity, and cooperation. The tools are freely available and well supported by a wide range of organizations including IUCN and many international NGOs. The tools provide the most practical ways to identify and close gaps in protection activities at the field level. The Training Guidelines for Field Rangers is the first of a series of guidelines to provide a standard for training field rangers.

The Urban Alliance is a diverse global coalition of international partners committed to bringing cities into balance with nature. Several resources are available including an IUCN  briefing paper, the Urban Nature Indexes: methodological framework and key indicators, and the IUCN Urban Toolbox. This is a catalogue of IUCN knowledge products on urban biodiversity that provides guidance to subnational governments, municipalities, and urban professionals on nature-positive development in urban environments. The tools featured support assessment, planning, design, implementation, and monitoring.

How to use

• Information on The Urban Alliance can be accessed at: https://iucnurbanalliance.org
• The Briefing paper on Cities and Nature can be downloaded at: https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-brief/cities-and-nature
• The Urban Nature Indexes: methodological framework and key indicators can be downloaded at: https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/50782
• The IUCN Urban Toolbox is available in English, French and Spanish at: https://iucnurbanalliance.org/iucn-urban-toolbox-released-in-english-french-and-spanish/

This programme of work contains four interlined, cross-cutting elements and 16 programme goals. It is intended to assist Parties in establishing national programmes of work with targeted goals, actions, specific actors, time frame, inputs and measurable outputs. Parties may select from, adapt, and/or add to the activities suggested in the current programme of work according to national and local conditions and their level of development.

Research on cetaceans indicates that many classes of chemical pollutants, particularly persistent organic pollutants, are so-called ‘endocrine disrupters,’ meaning that they interfere with the hormone system and can increase susceptibility to disease and reduce reproductive success. The huge number of synthetic chemicals released into the environment and their interactions makes quantifying impacts on whale populations a complex task.

The IWC Scientific Committee has initiated four programmes, Pollution 2000, Pollution 2000+, Pollution 2020 and Pollution 2025. The first two initiatives examined tissue concentrations of priority pollutants in key cetacean species and determined toxicological markers and health assessment endpoints to determine adverse health effects, culminating in the development of tools and techniques to estimate population level effects.

The IWC Scientific Committee has also initiated work on the sources of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) which pose a significant ongoing threat to some cetacean populations long after their production was banned. Pollution 2020, assessed the risk to cetaceans from microplastics and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Pollution 2025 is focused on cumulative effects and multiple stressors. Pollution 2025 is also setting out a multi-disciplinary, ‘One Health’ approach, recognising that the health of people, animals and the environment are closely connected.