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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
According to Paragraph 7.4 of the AEWA Action Plan the Agreement Secretariat, in coordination with the Technical Committee and the Parties, shall prepare a series of international reviews necessary for the implementation of the Action Plan, including, inter alia, a Review on the stage of preparation and implementation of Single Species Action Plans. The first such review was presented at MOP4 in 2008.
Due to lack of voluntary funding contributions, the compilation of a full review was not possible for MOP6. The AEWA Secretariat has, however, conducted a limited review of the implementation of eight of the 20 International Single Species Action and Management Plans adopted under the Agreement to date. Information from Range States on the implementation of plans was collected through questionnaires prepared and distributed by the AEWA International Species Working and Expert Group Coordinators. The main conclusions and recommendations are further reflected in the Draft Resolution on the Adoption and Implementation of International Single species and Multi-species Action and Management Plans (AEWA/MOP6 DR6.8).
In addition to the review on the status of implementation of Action and Management Plans, the Secretariat has compiled an overview of the current action- and management planning process under the Agreement, including the AEWA International Species Working and Expert Group framework developed to coordinate their international implementation.
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.
This IUCN SSC Position Statement was prepared by the Chair and members of the IUCN Species Survival Commission Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force in July 2020. At the time of writing, the Task Force is also preparing a comprehensive technical policy and advisory document, the IUCN SSC Guidelines on Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence.
The IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict Task Force urges governments, non-governmental organizations, researchers, practitioners, community leaders, environmental agencies and others to ensure that efforts to manage human-wildlife conflicts are pursued through well-informed, holistic, and collaborative processes that take into account underlying social, cultural and economic contexts.
Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) can be defined as ‘negative interactions between people and wild animals, with consequences for both people and their resources and wildlife and their habitats’.
Although humans have coexisted with terrestrial and marine fauna (wildlife) for millennia, growing competition over space and resources means that HWC is a complex and escalating global challenge.
HWC is a significant risk to the survival of many threatened species, and the integrity of ecosystems and protected areas, as well as eroding people’s appreciation of the value of wildlife and their support for associated conservation and resource-management measures that can drive wildlife or nature-based economies.
WCC-2020 Res 101 urges the establishment of development plans which maintain functional and ecological connectivity, minimize Human-Wildlife Conflicts, and optimize opportunities for benefit creation from sustainable wildlife management and it calls for the issue to be addressed by relevant fora, including the post-2020 global biodiversity framework.
