Species Survival Commission E-Bulletin - January 2002

This bulletin, as a supplement to Species, SSC's published newsletter, is to keep staff, members, and the wider IUCN network up-to-date with news and announcements from the Commission.

Previous issues:

In this issue:
SSC partnership with ARKive
European plant conservation
News from the SSC Sustainable Use Specialist Group
New logo for SSC's Plant Conservation Programme
Helping Specialist Groups share 'lessons learnt'
Updated Guidelines for the Placement of Confiscated Animals available in English, French, and Spanish

SSC PARTNERSHIP WITH ARKive
SSC is forming a partnership with ARKive, a new non-profit scientific and educational initiative of the UK-based Wildscreen Trust which aims to provide public access to images of all threatened species (see temporary website www.arkive.org). Films, photographs and recordings of threatened species are being collected and stored digitally, to be made accessible via the Internet. The full ARKive website, which will 'go live' in the middle of this year, will provide access to these images as well as to accompanying text that is tailored to various audiences. This initiative has been many years in development, has been widely endorsed by leading environmental figures including Sir David Attenborough, and has received a £1.6 million grant from the UK's Lottery Fund. The first target is to obtain images of all species in the UK and an initial group of 500 of the world's threatened species. ARKive is currently looking for suggestions from the SSC network as to what those 500 species should be, and has already received feedback from several Specialist Groups. Project Manager Harriet Nimmo is looking for candidate species for which there are good images available - both still and moving - that represent the major biological and ecological characteristics of that species. The images would be provided to ARKive at no cost and posted on the site at low resolution (and held at high quality in the project's digital vault). Copyright remains with the image owner. Full copyright details will be displayed on screen with direct links to image providers' contact information for negotiation for further use. Those wishing to know more about the project or suggest species for the 'first 500' can contact Harriet at: harriet.nimmo@wildscreen.org.uk

EUROPEAN PLANT CONSERVATION
SSC's Plant Conservation Programme organised a one-day meeting on 21 January to encourage collaboration for a European Plant Red List. This project falls under the mandate of a European Union-funded Euro+Med Programme, one of the outputs of which is to be a list of threatened plants of Europe, with obvious links with the IUCN/SSC Red List Programme. Representatives of the Euro+Med Programme, SSC European Plant Specialist Group, Red List Programme and Plant Programme had a productive day outlining priorities and a work plan so that a solid European Plant Red List may soon be developed. While much further work and continued collaboration with other groups and organisations, including the Council of Europe, EU Topics Centre, IUCN Mediterranean Programme, and the SSC Mediterranean Island Plant Specialist Group need to be followed-up, an understanding of each group's goals, and agreement on the way forward were reached.

NEWS FROM THE SSC SUSTAINABLE USE GROUP
IUCN/FORD FOUNDATION SMALL GRANTS PROGRAMME - NEW GUIDELINES FOR 2002
The IUCN Sustainable Use Team, through a grant from the Ford Foundation, is offering small grants to promote scholarly contributions from individuals from developing countries in the field of sustainable use of biological systems. The aim is to promote the authority of science from developing countries and foster opportunities for scholarly exchange. The programme will run until the end of June 2002. Priority will be given to proposals that address the complex connections between people and nature, exploring the concept of sustainability. Applications related to activities that use innovative inter- or multi-disciplinary approaches are the most likely to be funded. Guidelines can be found at the Sustainable Use Specialist Group website or can be requested from: sustainable@iucnus.org.

9TH MEETING OF THE ESUSG FISHERIES WORKING GROUP
The European Sustainable Use Specialist Group's (ESUSG) Fisheries Working Group (FWG) met recently to discuss the issue of deep-sea fisheries, fishing capacity/effort, and seals and fisheries interaction. Seals and fisheries interaction in the North East Atlantic is now central to the European Parliament's discussion on the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) Reform Green Paper. The FWG adopted a resolution to be addressed to the European Union institutions encouraging them to consider the scientific perspective when discussing fisheries management. Much work on deep-sea fisheries has been carried out but it is fragmented. Given that the EU has now begun to manage some species by allocating quotas, the FWG decided to send a letter to the European Commission, calling attention to the issue and proposing a project which would bring together and analyse all the work and data available in the various member states. The FWG also initiated work on the issue of inland fisheries under its expert in that field, Zoltan Karacsonyi (Hungary), examined the current system of Total Allowable Catches (TACS) and quotas used by the European Union in the CFP, and provided recommendations. A full report of this meeting can also be found on the website.

NEW LOGO FOR PLANT CONSERVATION PROGRAMME
The IUCN/SSC Plant Conservation Programme has a new logo courtesy of Stephen Nash, a scientific illustrator who works for Conservation International. The logo is based on the Eke Silversword (Argyroxiphium caliginis), a dwarf, silvery-leafed shrub endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. It is extremely localized, found primarily in bogs, only on the summits of 'Eke and Pu'ukukui of West Maui. Silverswords symbolise both the extraordinary variation and beauty of island plants, and the threats they face. The logo has been added to the revamped Plant Conservation Programme web pages, which include a new calendar of botanical events.

HELPING SPECIALIST GROUPS SHARE LESSONS LEARNT
At the recent SSC Communications meeting in Canada, invaluable input was provided by local Specialist Group Chairs and focal points on directions for the Commission's newsletter Species. One suggestion was to improve Species as a tool for information-sharing between Groups by providing a 'lessons learnt' special feature in each issue which will focus on a particular topic relating to Specialist Group management. Team Species will put this suggestion into practice for the next issue of Species with a 'lessons learnt in regionalisation' section. This will address questions such as: How have Specialist Group management structures been altered to accommodate sub-groups? How have membership and programme responsibilities been divided between the Specialist Group and the sub-groups? How has communication been managed? Are there alternative structures that have been effective? Any Specialist Group that has a regional structure (or is considering one) and would like to contribute to this section, should contact Team Species at ssc_iucn@ec.gc.ca. The deadline for submissions for Species 37 is May 15, 2002.

GUIDELINES FOR THE PLACEMENT OF CONFISCATED ANIMALS
The updated IUCN Guidelines for the Placement of Confiscated Animals document is now available on the SSC website in .pdf version, in English French and Spanish. It is also available in MS Word from the Species Programme on request, email: ssc@iucn.org

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 at alk@iucn.org; tel: +41 (0)22 999 0153.