Species Survival Commission E-Bulletin - January 2001

(Sent by email each month to SSC and IUCN staff, Specialist Group Chairs, IUCN Regional and Country Offices etc.)

Welcome to the first issue of the Species Survival Commission's monthly E-Bulletin and a Happy New Year to readers. This bulletin, as a supplement to Species, the Commission's hard copy newsletter, aims to keep staff, members, and the wider IUCN network up-to-date with news of SSC's active programme.

In this issue:
- Species Information Service
- Wildlife Trade Programme
- Global Amphibian Assessment
- Invasive Species
- Ex Situ Conservation Policy
- Publications
- Communications

SSC is entering a busy phase following the second IUCN World Conservation Congress in Amman which proved a highly successful event for the Commission. Reconstitution of its 7,000 membership and the re-election of Specialist Group chairs are underway. SSC's new Strategic Plan was endorsed at the Congress and now stands to guide the Commission's activities for the coming decade.

As many readers will already know, SSC is undergoing a transition phase in its headquarters staff arrangements. Simon Stuart, Coordinator of the Species Programme, recently announced that he will be leaving for Washington DC. From July this year, Simon will be seconded as an IUCN staff member to Conservation International to expand IUCN's Red List Programme. Sue Mainka, Deputy Coordinator of the Species Programme, has taken over from Simon until a replacement is found. In the meantime, Simon has been asked to act as IUCN Director General until the end of February while a replacement is found for Maritta Koch-Weser who left before Christmas.

SPECIES INFORMATION SERVICE
Development of the Species Information Service (SIS), SSC's emerging data management initiative, is the Commission's top priority, with a target that it become fully operational this year. Significant progress has been made towards the establishment of a SIS Central Service Unit (CSU). Luigi Boitani, Co-Chair of the SIS Data Management Working Group has negotiated an agreement with the Ministero dell'Ambiente (Environment) of Italy to support the implementation and running of the CSU in Rome. Development of the SIS software continues with February 2001 as the target for the release of the first working version, to be distributed among the SSC Specialist Groups.

WILDLIFE TRADE PROGRAMME
SSC, with support from the German Ministry for Nature Conservation (Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit) and CITES, is holding a meeting for sturgeon experts in Moscow in February this year. There will be a two day closed meeting for Sturgeon Specialist Group members to discuss Group business, set priorities and form a work plan for the coming quadrennium. The final two days of the meeting will include a wider group of invited experts to discuss and prioritise sturgeon conservation action more broadly.

The Wildlife Trade Programme is also holding a workshop, to be hosted by the Gilman Foundation at its meeting facility in Florida, to undertake an assessment of the impacts of commercial captive breeding and artificial propagation on the conservation of wild species. IUCN recognises that ex situ management of species has a role to play in an overall conservation effort, and, in certain cases, commercial captive breeding may be a way of meeting demand without taking specimens from the wild. The workshop, to be held in late March, aims to review commercial captive breeding/artificial propagation of wild species and to begin development of a set of guidelines for the use of this method as a conservation tool.

GLOBAL AMPHIBIAN ASSESSMENT
A Global Amphibian Assessment (GAA) is underway and will be the first ever status assessment of the world's 5,000 amphibian species, aimed for completion by 2002. The project will be a major contribution to overall biodiversity priority setting and has been enthusiastically welcomed by the global scientific community. Data collection for the first regional section of the GAA, in Africa, began in November 2000.

INVASIVE SPECIES
SSC's Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) has completed a three year project of producing a brochure on 100 of the world's worst invasive species. The brochure outlines the problem of biological invasion, includes a series of case studies, and provides the full list of 100 species with details of where to obtain more information. It will be included in the next mailing of the Group's newsletter Aliens at the end of January. The project aims to increase awareness of alien invasive species as a major issue affecting native biodiversity and will be incorporated into IUCN's Global Invasive Species Programme (GISP) by making it a subset of the Global Invasive Species Database (available at www.issg.org).

EX SITU CONSERVATION POLICY
Initiated through the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, SSC on behalf of IUCN is leading the development of a policy on ex situ populations and conservation. The first draft has been circulated within SSC for comment, with a deadline of 31st January. Consultation with the wider IUCN network will then follow.

PUBLICATIONS
SSC's series of Action Plans has grown rapidly during the last six months to over 60, thanks to the hard work of intern Anne-Marie Gillesberg. Megapodes; Pheasants; Mosses, Liverworts, and Hornworts; and Partridges, Quails, Francolins, Snowcocks, Guineafowl, and Turkeys, are the latest titles. Partridges etc. marks the completion of a series of Galliform Action Plans (an Order of fowl-like birds of varying sizes, often referred to as "game birds") and means that all Galliform species are now covered by SSC Action Plans.

COMMUNICATIONS
SSC's newsletter Species, is undergoing a period of transition. Diane Cavalieri, the artist responsible for the layout of Species is no longer available for this role and will be greatly missed by the Species team. The start of the new quadrennium is being taken as an opportunity to consider how to improve Species to enhance its effectiveness as a SSC news vehicle, and the team will be looking to the membership for comments and ideas. Assistant to the SSC Chair, Carolina Caceres, is working with a design school in Ottawa for layout options for the upcoming issue. Members wishing to submit a brief activity report or news item for the next issue should send them to Carolina at ssc_iucn@ec.gc.ca or Anna Knee at alk@iucn.org
Species is available on the SSC website.

New on the website www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/siteindx.htm
SSC Strategic Plan 2001-2010;
SSC Triennial Report;
Invasive species guidelines in French and Spanish;
Report of SSC's activities at the World Conservation Congress, including links to IUCN resolutions, and a report of the SSC interactive workshop "Integrating Biodiversity Science and Environmental Policy and Management";
Update on the Species Information Service June-December 2000;
New publications;
Species Issue 34 - Autumn 2000.

Designer Matthew Kirkcaldie, based in Australia, has agreed to help redesign the SSC website, at a minimal fee. Changes will be made over the coming months as Matthew has several commitments, not least, writing up his PhD thesis. Suggestions are welcome as we move towards creating a more informative and visually appealing site.

If you would like more information on any of the items included in this issue or wish to submit an item to future issues, please contact Anna Knee alk@iucn.org tel: +41 (0)22 9990153.