Species Survival Commission E-Bulletin - September 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:
Coming soon: release of the 2002 Red List of Threatened Species
IUCN/SSC at the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) meeting
Accolade for Chair of SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group
SSC Arabian Plant Specialist Group meeting
SSC Veterinary Specialist Group strengthens capacity
The John A Burton Red Data Book Library
Launch of Rhino Resource Center
New publication - Threatened Plant Species of Southern Africa
Staff changes

RELEASE OF THE 2002 RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES
The 2002 Red List of Threatened Species is due to be released on Tuesday 8 October marking the first of what will be annual updates to the List. An information package will be available on the SSC website (iucn.org/themes/ssc) in English, French and Spanish, including a news release outlining several significant additions to the Red List and notable shifts in status.

IUCN/SSC AT THE CONVENTION ON MIGRATORY SPECIES (CMS) MEETING
The Species Programme represented IUCN at the Seventh Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild animals (CMS) together with the IUCN Environmental Law Centre and Vietnam Office from 18 to 24 September. Demonstrations of the Species Information Service were given. Prior to the COP, the Scientific Council held its 11th meeting during which the implications of the revised IUCN listing criteria for CMS were discussed. A working group established at the previous meeting presented the results of a review of the IUCN Red List and recognized that "the IUCN Categories and Criteria are now sufficiently developed and widely understood as to recommend them for use in providing guidance in determining the appropriateness of listing to CMS Appendix I. In the case of evaluating proposals for listing species or populations to Appendix II, the IUCN Categories and Criteria may provide some guidance". The Council issued a recommendation to the COP that the IUCN Red List Categories 2001 be used as a decision support tool.

ACCOLADE FOR CHAIR OF SSC CONSERVATION BREEDING SPECIALIST GROUP
Dr Ulie Seal, long-standing Chair of the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group and one of the Commission's leading lights has been presented with the Peter Scott Award for Conservation Merit. SSC's current Chair, David Brackett, and former Chair, George Rabb jointly presented this award during an event at the Minnesota Zoo celebrating Ulie's ongoing career as a pioneer of global conservation.

SSC ARABIAN PLANT SPECIALIST GROUP MEETING
The Arabian Plant Specialist Group (APSG) held an informal meeting on 17 September in Kuwait, in conjunction with the IUCN regional meeting to discuss the future of the West/Central Asia and North Africa (WESCANA) Programme. The APSG, under the Chairmanship of Professor Abdul-aziz Abuzinada, is particularly interested in developing a regional plant conservation strategy, and invited two members of the SSC Plant Conservation Committee, Drs Jane Smart and Peter Wyse Jackson, to share their experience in developing a European and Global Plant Conservation Strategy respectively. Dr Chris Willis, former Chair of the Southern African Plant Specialist Group also shared the activities of the regional and very active SABONET plant network with the meeting. Twenty-seven botanists from the region participated and a working group was formed to develop a draft Plant Conservation Strategy for the Arabian Region.

SSC VETERINARY SPECIALIST GROUP STRENGTHENS CAPACITY
Dr. Julian Gee (juliandgee@aol.com) has volunteered to serve as the Veterinary Specialist Group's Executive Director to help Co-Chairs Richard Kock and William Karesh manage the Group's day-to-day activities and expand its capabilities. Regional Coordinators have now been identified for Group which will further strengthen capacity around the world and facilitate communication among members (both within and among regions):
Sub-Saharan Africa - Jacob Mwanzia, Email: musee36@yahoo.com
North Africa - Middle East - Jamie Samour, Email: falcon@shabakah.com
Australia - New Zealand - South Pacific - to be identified
US and Canada - Dave Jessup, Email: djessup@ospr.dfg.ca.gov
Mexico - Central America - Caribbean - Jorge Paredes, Email: jparedes88@aol.com
South America - Marcela Uhart, Email: muhart@satlink.com.ar
South Asia - Pradeep Malik, Email: Malikpk@wii.gov.in
East Asia - Koichi Murata, Email: k-murata@brs.nihon-u.ac.jp
Europe - Kai Frolich, Email: froelich@izw-berlin.de

THE JOHN A BURTON RED DATA BOOK LIBRARY
John Burton, a long-standing member of the SSC has been developing an independent Red Data Book library over many years. It now represents one of the largest collections of Red Data Books (RDBs) in existence, containing all existing international RDBs, most national RDBs and a large proportion of regional, and local RDBs. It also includes related material, such as threatened species lists, action plans and general books on endangered species. John is keen to make this collection as complete as possible, and any researcher affiliated to SSC is welcome to use the library. He is happy to receive references to, or copies of, RDBs, Red Lists and similar documents not yet in the collection. Any visitors to Eastern England are welcome to consult the collection, provided an advance appointment is made. Contact: john.a.burton@lineone.net

LAUNCH OF RHINO RESOURCE CENTRE
A new website is available, dedicated to disseminating information on the five rhinoceros species. The site (www.rhinoresourcecenter.com) currently offers general information about the aims of the newly-established Rhino Resource Center (RRC) and a database of the more than 7,000 publications that have been produced on the rhino. It is planned that the site will soon provide information on the distribution and status of rhinos in Asia and Africa. The work has been endorsed by SSC and will be sponsored by the International Rhino Foundation (IRF) and SOS Rhino. The RRC aims to collect all published data on the rhinoceroses and to make these available to researchers and field managers around the world. For more information contact Dr Kees Rookmaaker, Email: rhino@rookmaaker.freeserve.co.uk

NEW PUBLICATION - THREATENED PLANT SPECIES OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
Janice S. Golding (ed.) 2002. Southern African Plant Red Data Lists. SABONET Report Series No. 14. SABONET, Pretoria. Published by the Southern African Botanical Diversity Network (SABONET). This book presents plant Red Data Lists for 10 southern African countries - Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. About 4,100 plant and tree species for this vast region are classified according to the IUCN Categories and Criteria. Copies are available free of charge. Email: reddatalist@sabonet.org or nrn@nbipre.nbi.ac.za

STAFF CHANGES
The Species Programme is pleased to welcome Andrew Nichols who is taking over from Anna Knee as Communications Officer while she goes on maternity leave for six months. Andrew is Australian, has a background in marine conservation, and has been working with the IUCN communications division for the past nine months. All matters relating to SSC communications should be directed to him at ajn@iucn.org. Carolina Caceres continues to coordinate production of Species - the deadline for submissions for the next issue is 21 October 2002.

REMINDER
The IUCN/TRAFFIC Analyses of Proposals to Amend the CITES Appendices (prepared for the 12th CITES Conference of the Parties that takes place in November) are available on the SSC website at http://iucn.org/themes/ssc/citescop12/cop12analyses.htm

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