IUCN SSC CPSG Species Conservation Planning Online Training Course

The IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions (NbS) is a user-friendly framework for the verification, design, and scaling up of NbS. The Standard contains 8 Criteria and 28 Indicators and  aims to provides users with a robust framework for designing NbS. The Standard is designed to support users to apply, strengthen, and improve the effectiveness, sustainability, and adaptability of their NbS interventions. It also provides a mechanism for developing a consistent approach to NbS.

Traditional food markets, rather than supermarkets, are the norm in many parts of the world. Such markets form part of the social fabric of communities and are a main source of affordable fresh foods for many low-income groups and an important source of livelihoods for millions of urban and rural dwellers worldwide.

Traditional food markets that are regulated by national or local competent authorities and that operate to high standards of hygiene and sanitation are safe for workers and customers.
Significant problems can arise when these markets allow the sale and slaughter of live animals, especially wild animals, which cannot be properly assessed for potential risks – in
areas open to the public. When wild animals are kept in cages or pens, slaughtered and dressed in open market areas, these areas become contaminated with body fluids, faeces and other waste, increasing the risk of transmission of pathogens to workers and customers and potentially resulting in spill over of pathogens to other animals in the market.

Such environments provide the opportunity for animal viruses, including coronaviruses, to amplify themselves and transmit to new hosts, including humans.

Saving species comprehensively means preventing extinctions, conserving threatened species, and recovering depleted populations of more widespread and abundant species. There is ample evidence that conservation action works. Many species have been saved from extinction or had their status improved, native species and ecosystems have recovered following eradication of invasive alien species from islands, and habitats have been restored and rewilded. The last decade has seen an impressive array of innovation and new technologies, approaches, and solutions providing major opportunities to accelerate our collective impact on species conservation. By sharing experience and expertise, and committing the necessary resources more strategically, we can massively scale up success for species survival, recovery, and persistence at healthy levels.

For most threatened species, a combination of threat abatement and site protection will be enough to allow populations to recover. However, for some other species, typically those at highest risk of extinction, these measures  alone will be insufficient. These species will require targeted interventions, for example through habitat management, supplementary feeding, provision of breeding sites, reintroduction into the wild, translocation, and ex-situ measures (captive breeding in zoos and aquaria, or propagation in botanic gardens).

The Species Conservation Solutions Thematic Community provides a platform for documenting species conservation success from all over the world.  These case studies can be replicated, applied to inspire the best solutions for each species’ challenges, providing resources for the implementation of the Global Species Action Plan (GSAP).

Through PANORAMA, IUCN and EcoHealth Alliance initially aim to promote species conservation solutions with a focus on wildlife and human health, especially the link with zoonotic disease prevention, monitoring, detection and intervention.

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.

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.

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.