Species Survival Commission E-Bulletin - July 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:
New charity to support orchid conservation
Freshwater biodiversity assessment priority-setting
SSC at the annual Society for Conservation Biology meeting
New SSC publications
New on the SSC website

NEW CHARITY TO SUPPORT ORCHID CONSERVATION
A new charity is being established to promote and coordinate international efforts in orchid conservation, in partnership with the SSC Orchid Specialist Group (OSG), other orchid conservation networks, and key players in the orchid world. Orchid Conservation International (OCI) will be an active charitable organisation seeking funding for specific projects from governmental and non-governmental sources. It will also provide administrative and technical support to the OSG. The charity is not being established as a grant-making trust, but it is hoped that it will be able to provide small grants in the future once established with sufficient funding. The charity will be operated by an international executive committee and board of trustees, and will apply for registration with the Charity Commission for England and Wales. Establishment of the charity has been endorsed by the International Orchid Commission (IOC) and supported in principle by a number of other individuals and representatives of organisations, including members of the Board of Trustees of the American Orchid Society (AOS), Marie Selby Botanic Garden, and Kings Park and Botanic Garden. Initial donations have been pledged from private individuals providing partial funding for 2003 and 2004. Further funding is now being sought. For a copy of the full proposal or further information contact Shelagh Kell at the OSG Secretariat (shelagh.kell@dial.pipex.com). The organisers hope to launch OCI at the European Orchid Conference in London in March next year (EOC2003).

FRESHWATER BIODIVERSITY ASSESSMENT PRIORITY-SETTING
Biodiversity in inland waters is highly threatened, many believe far more so than in other ecosystems. Conservationists, wetland managers, resource managers and developers would all benefit from a tool for identifying priority sites for biodiversity conservation in inland waters. A number of schemes have been developed to identify important sites, but few are tailored specifically to inland water habitats. A workshop held at IUCN headquarters 27-29 June brought together a group of international experts to build on existing work and experience, in developing a methodology for identifying important sites for inland water biodiversity. Participants included experts on freshwater taxa, environmental impact assessments and computer technology. It was agreed that the site selection tool must be simple to use, transparent in its rationale, meet the needs of a diverse range of potential users, and be flexible to operate at any geographic scale. The methodology will be further refined through an ongoing process of consultation with workshop participants and regional users. Once the modifications have been agreed, training in its use will be provided through a series of regional workshops. SSC's Freshwater Biodiversity Assessment Programme.

SSC AT THE ANNUAL SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY MEETING
SSC members and staff were out in force at the 16th Annual Meeting of the Society for Conservation Biology in Canterbury, UK, 14-19 July. Several Specialist Groups including the Equid and Canid Groups took the opportunity to hold informal meetings. IUCN/SSC Wildlife Trade Programme Officer Alison Rosser gave a presentation on commercial captive production of wild species, the IUCN/SSC Species Information Service was demonstrated, and there were numerous other presentations by leading members of the SSC network.

NEW SSC PUBLICATIONS
Links Between Biodiversity Conservation, Livelihoods and Food Security: the sustainable use of wild species for meat. This publication, the Proceedings of a workshop held in Cameroon last year to address the growing problem of the escalating unsustainable use of wild species for meat, signals a new era of urgently needed cross-sectoral collaboration in combating the problem. Although many initiatives are underway relating to conservation of wild meat resources, these generally involve conservation and development groups working alone. This joint publication of IUCN/SSC, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and TRAFFIC, is available in English and French. More information and the publication in PDF.

Elasmobranch Biodiversity, Conservation and Management. Proceedings of the International Seminar and Workshop, Sabah, Malaysia, July 1997. The Darwin Elasmobranch Biodiversity Conservation and Management project in Sabah held an international seminar that included a workshop to highlight freshwater and coastal elasmobranch (sharks, rays, and skates) conservation issues in the region and worldwide, to disseminate the results of the project to other Malaysian states and countries, and to raise awareness of the importance of considering elasmobranch biodiversity in nature conservation, commercial fisheries management, and for subsistence fishing communities. These Proceedings, compiled by the SSC Shark Specialist Group as part of the IUCN/SSC Occasional Paper series, cover a wide range of topics, with particular reference to species from freshwater and estuarine habitats. The publication records the conclusions and recommendations of the workshop.

The Medicinal Plant Conservation Bibliography, Volume 2, Uwe Schippman, 2001 produced by the SSC Medicinal Plant Specialist Group aims to help overcome one of the major impediments to progress in medicinal plant conservation - the difficulty of accessing and analysing relevant literature. Although books and papers on medicinal plants number by the tens of thousands worldwide, information on distribution, life history, biology, population status, levels of extraction and trade, or resource management of the taxa is scarce. The Bibliography is designed to collect this information from the scattered sources. The first volume included references of the years 1990 to 1996. The present, second volume, covers the period 1997 to 2000.

All three publications can be obtained from the IUCN World Conservation Bookstore. Email: info@books.iucn.org

NEW ON THE SSC WEBSITE
The SSC Pigs, Peccaries and Hippos Specialist Group has a new website providing a wealth of information about these intriguing species including conservation status information and project summaries as well as the 1993 Action Plan.

A new web-based series has begun profiling SSC Specialist Groups, their members and some of the species they work on. This is part of a drive to increase recognition of the important work the Groups carry out and the extraordinary commitment shown by SSC members. First in the line-up is the Shark Specialist Group.


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.