Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation

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.

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IUCN SSC Global register of competencies for threatened species recovery

This document is a directory of the skills, knowledge and personal attributes required by practitioners working in threatened species recovery programmes, in both in-situ and ex-situ contexts. Its structure consists of 19 categories of competence arranged in three main groups: Planning, Management and Administration; Threatened Species Recovery; and General Personal Competences. Within each of the three categories, specific competences are defined for up to four professional levels: Executive, Senior Manager, Middle Manager/Technical Specialist and Skilled Worker.

The Species Conservation Toolkit Initiative (SCTI)

SCTI is a partnership initiative between several NGOs and ex situ organizations to ensure that new innovations and tools needed for species risk assessment, conservation planning, and population management are developed, globally available, and used effectively. SCTI combines expertise in population biology, computer programming, and planning to build modelling tools essential to guide conservation actions for threatened species in the wild, to facilitate the intensive management of species in ex situ programmes, and to integrate conservation efforts across all types of management approaches.

EDGE metric and EDGE lists

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

River Dolphins

River dolphins still swim in some of the world’s greatest rivers, but all six surviving species are threatened with extinction. This site provides the best global source of knowledge and solutions that can boost efforts to safeguard these iconic animals – and benefit the people and nature that depend on their rivers.

WildLabs Conservation Technology Community

WILDLABS is home to the global conservation technology community of 8,600 people in 120 countries discussing 1,500 topics like biologging, camera traps, and machine learning. With engaging spaces to ask questions and collaborate together, share your own work, and discover new ideas and innovations, WILDLABS is your platform to connect with #Tech4Wildlife experts and projects from around the world.

International Whaling Commission Ship Strikes: collisions between whales and vessels

Most reports of collisions between whales and vessels involve large whales, but all species can be affected. Collisions with large vessels often go unnoticed and unreported. Animals can be injured or killed and vessels can sustain damage. Serious and even fatal injuries to passengers have occurred involving hydrofoil ferries, whale watching vessels and recreational craft.

International Whaling Commission (IWC) programmes on ocean noise

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.

CMS Agreements

Living with Wildlife through One Health

This book is a project undertaken by EcoHealth Alliance to develop an educational tool usable across many cultural contexts. It aims to provide an informative, thorough, and succinct guide to living at the interface between human settlement and wildlife habitat. In areas where human populations come into high levels of contact with animals, it is essential to ensure responsible practices and behaviors to prevent spillover of zoonotic disease from animal reservoirs to humans. With this book, EcoHealth Alliance hopes to aid people and animals worldwide.

One Health Joint Plan of Action (2022–2026)

The One Health Joint Plan of Action was launched by four partners – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE). This initiative seeks to improve the health of humans, animals, plants, and the environment, while contributing to sustainable development. The One Health Joint Plan of Action was developed through a participatory process and provides a set of activities to strengthen collaboration, communication, capacity building, and coordination across all sectors responsible for addressing health concerns at the human-animal-plant-environment interface.

Guidelines for Working with Free-Ranging Wild Mammals in the Era of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of COVID-19, emerged as a human pathogen in 2019. While it is thought to have a zoonotic source, the original wildlife reservoir and any potential intermediate hosts have not yet been identified. Phylogenetic analyses suggest the progenitor virus is related to beta-coronaviruses previously identified in bats. At this time, SARS-CoV-2 should be considered a human pathogen with people acting as reservoir and sustaining transmission. There is a possibility SARS-CoV-2 will become endemic in the human population and thus be considered as a potential reverse zoonosis to wildlife as with infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and influenza.

Currently the risk of human-to-animal transmission to non-captive wildlife species warrants concern. A number of cases have demonstrated natural human-to-animal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in felids, canids and mustelids, the majority due to close and prolonged contact with infected households or people, and none has involved free-ranging wildlife. The identification of close phylogenetically-related viruses (e.g. in bats and pangolins), the presence of important cell receptor proteins (ACE2 receptors) and infection following natural exposure or experimental inoculation suggest that a wide range of mammalian species may be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2. Knowledge and experience with human-to-animal transmission with other human respiratory pathogens (e.g. metapneumovirus, measles, other human coronaviruses and tuberculosis) indicates that some species taxonomically closely related to humans (e.g. non-human primates) would likely be susceptible to infection and/or clinical disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.

There are valid concerns about the health of individuals or populations if infected with the virus and/or a wildlife population becoming a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2. Any wildlife species/taxa that becomes a reservoir for SARS-CoV-2 could pose a continued public health risk of zoonosis, a risk for the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to other animal species, and the risk of negative perceptions of that species resulting in human threats to the species or their populations.

Efforts that require working with free-living wildlife are vital to professional management and conservation as well as the health of wildlife, people and ecosystems. The recommendations below were developed to minimize the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from people to freeranging, wild mammals. Specifically, these recommendations are for people engaged in wildlife work* in the field, either in direct contact (e.g. handling) or indirect contact (e.g. within 2 meters or in a confined space) with free-ranging wild mammals, or working in situations in which free[1]ranging wild mammals may come in contact with surfaces or materials contaminated by infected personnel.

IUCN SSC CPSG DRA On-line training

This is an introductory course to the IUCN Guidelines for Wildlife Disease Risk Analysis (WDRA). This course is designed to equip participants with an understanding of how to put the guidelines into practice. Our target audiences are government wildlife agency staff, IUCN SSC Specialist Group members, and other conservation professionals and veterinarians working in zoos, aquariums, universities or field programs, responsible for planning for disease management at the interface between people, places and wildlife. By the end of the course, participants will be able to: recognize and justify situations where a WDRA process can contribute to a) wildlife conservation, b) domestic animal health care, and c) public health protection; explain how the principle of One Health and the science of epidemiology are applied to a WDRA; and design a workshop to effectively engage multiple stakeholders in completing a WDRA. Click here to find out more about the course and how to apply to an upcoming session.