094 - Linking <em>in situ</em> and <em>ex situ</em> efforts to save threatened species
094 - Linking in situ and ex situ efforts to save threatened species
ALARMED that as of February 2020, 73 species were considered Extinct in the Wild, and that 6,413 were classified as Critically Endangered on the 2019 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species;
RECOGNISING that the status of a number of these species is in part due to a failure to intervene with emergency action early enough in their decline, and that preventing extinction is more likely when efforts are initiated before a species is reduced to a small number of individuals;
HIGHLIGHTING the Species Survival Commission’s (SSC) adoption of the One Plan Approach and the provision of technical advice summarised in IUCN Species Survival Commission Guidelines on the Use of Ex situ Management for Species Conservation, which encourage deliberative science-based processes of action-plan development by all responsible parties for all populations of a species across the spectrum of management, and provide practical guidance on evaluating the suitability and requirements of an ex situ component for achieving species-conservation objectives, respectively;
AWARE OF the many successes in species recovery that have resulted directly from ex situ action, and of the powerful role and as yet not fully realised potential of professional and accredited zoos, aquariums and botanic gardens in species conservation;
UNDERSTANDING that conservation breeding programmes can take significant time to be successful, and that in situ and ex situ populations of threatened species must be considered as global metapopulations in order to mitigate the alarming rate of extinction;
ACKNOWLEDGING the increasing value and potential of animal records as an ex situ and in situ conservation resource to understand key species demographics essential to conservation breeding and management, required to understand extinction risk, and to support conservation-directed research; and
ACKNOWLEDGING the increasing value and potential of biobanking as an ex situ conservation resource to secure genetic material, enable conservation-directed research, improve the viability of small populations, and provide a backstop against extinction in certain cases;
1. URGES the Secretariat and professional societies to promote integration of in situ and ex situ conservation interventions by applying the One Plan Approach, to ensure effective use of all available conservation tools;
2. CALLS ON IUCN Commissions and Members to enable and support establishment of a global network of biobanks dedicated to the achievement of global species conservation targets and operating to common standards of good practice and information sharing;
3. ALSO CALLS ON all Members to ensure that 11th hour, last ditch ex situ conservation efforts are prevented by proactive and timely application of planning methods, such as the One Plan Approach, and informed by the Guidelines on the Use of Ex situ Management for Species Conservation;
4. RECOMMENDS closer collaboration between SSC and conservation advisory groups of zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and biobanks through integrated membership, aligned goals and shared planning processes;
5. CALLS ON Commissions, Members and Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to support collection of standards-based animal records for in situ and ex situ populations and to support sharing of information, data analytics and research for the conservation of in situ and ex situ populations; and
6. CALLS ON CITES Parties and governments to support and take measures, as appropriate and consistent with applicable laws, to enable efficient transfer of samples from/to biobanks for effective species conservation purposes.
