IUCN at CITES 14th Conference of the Parties, The Hague, Netherlands, 3-15 June

IUCN is sending a strong delegation to the CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) 14th Conference of the Parties being held in the Hague (NL) from 3- 15 June. IUCN delegates have already participated in the African Elephant Range States Dialogue held before the COP and will also attend the 53rd Standing Committee on June 2nd. IUCN has prepared a number of documents for the meeting which includes:

• Analyses of Proposals to Amend the CITES Appendices
• IUCN Statement to the Parties
• Briefing document on the issue of ‘Introduction from the Sea’
• Joint (with Traffic and WWF) briefing note on the CITES Strategic Vision 2008-2013
• Media Advisory

You can find these on the IUCN CITES COP 14 website at:

http://www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/our_work/wildlife_trade/citescop14/index_cites_2007.htm

We are also undertaking an online survey on IUCN’s input to CITES as well as a hand-out survey at the COP itself. Results will be included in our COP report at the end of June.

Online survey available on: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=xNQHHZ9CxWkDejBHBwnPgA%3d%3d

New assessment shows one in six European mammals is threatened with extinction

The first assessment of all European mammals, commissioned by the European Commission and carried out by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), shows that nearly one in every six mammal species is now threatened with extinction. The population trends are equally alarming: a quarter (27%) of all mammals have declining populations and a further 33% had an unknown population trend. Only 8% were identified as increasing, including the European bison, thanks to successful conservation measures

Full story: http://www.iucn.org/en/news/archive/2007/05/22_pr_european_mammals.htm

European Mammal Assessment (pdf) http://www.iucn.org/en/news/archive/2007/05/ema_leaflet.pdf

European Mammal Assessment website: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/ema/index.htm

Revised date for update of the 2007 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: September 2007

The 2007 update of IUCN Red List of Threatened Species has been postponed from the planned launch date of 26 June to the week of the10th September, provisionally the 12th (to be confirmed) because of the very limited time available for data entry and checking if the launch had taken place in June. More details will follow nearer the time.

Tragic death of workshop participant Dr Nikolai Portenier during Caucasus Red Listing workshop

It is with great sadness that we announce the tragic death of Dr Nikolai Portenier, one of the participants at the 2nd Caucasus Workshop in Kobuleti, Georgia, 25-28 May. Unfortunately, Dr Portenier, a Senior Researcher at the Komarov Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia unknowingly stepped too close to the edge of a sheer cliff, the edge hidden in vegetation, during a field excursion on 27 May and fell 40m to his death. He was 49, and leaves behind a wife and two young children. Our deepest sympathies go to his family, and the project will be dedicated to his memory.

UNEP-WCMC data made available through the Conservation Geoportal

To mark the 2007 International Day for Biological Diversity on 22nd May, UNEP-WCMC published metadata on many of its key datasets and interactive map services on the Conservation Geoportal. This information is freely available to all users, so anyone can now find, view and bring biodiversity and ecosystem data from UNEP-WCMC together online with that of other organisations. It can be used to discover what information is available from UNEP-WCMC on the following:

• Protected Areas of the World
• Marine and coastal ecosystems
• Terrestrial ecosystems
• Taxonomic distribution
• Data from the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

The full list of data now freely available from UNEP-WCMC can be found at:

http://www.conservationmaps.org/Portal/ptk?command=openchannel&channel=266

Standardising Biodiversity: IUCN – OASIS Workshop on Biodiversity Conservation Standards

Access to the best available data and information on biodiversity is essential for conservation and sustainable development. However, much of the data on global biodiversity is either not available or easily accessible to many users – both within and outside the conservation community. On April 19, 2007, the Biodiversity Conservation Standards initiative of IUCN, in partnership with the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS) met to address the need for improved standards in the collection, exchange, and use of biodiversity data.

Among the key outcomes was the need to promote and build on existing recognized standards. Priority focus areas for the development of new structured data standards include species conservation status, management effectiveness categories for protected areas and priority conservation site descriptors and status. A follow up meeting will take place at the end of June, 2007

http://www.oasis-open.org/events/OASIS-IUCNWorkshop2007/index.php