A new Strategic Plan for SSC - Guiding the Commission into the new century

Following two years of broad consultation, the Species Survival Commission finalised its new Strategic Plan which sets out the key activities and goals of the network for the next 10 years.

An organisation as diverse and complex as SSC - a vast network of experts around the world - with its mandate to watch over millions of species, could carry out endless conservation actions. Yet to achieve maximum success and impact in the field of species conservation, SSC needs to set priorities, and conservation goals, and develop concrete mechanisms for achieving them.

The new Strategic Plan 2001-2010, which supercedes the previous 1995-2000 Plan, places SSC on a firmer operational footing for the coming decade. It shows how the Commission, through its species expertise, is contributing to the wider biodiversity conservation agenda of IUCN and the targets of the Union's new (quadrennial) Strategic Plan which was adopted at the Second World Conservation Congress in Jordan.

Clear and measurable priority targets, which SSC wants to attain as a Commission, are laid out, emphasising that SSC working in cooperation can be more effective than individual Specialist Groups pursuing their own programmes. The Plan provides reasoning for the choices of additional priorities should opportunities for further expansion of the programme arise, and provides guidance to the Specialist Groups on (a) Commission-wide targets to which they need to contribute and (b) general priority themes and issues they should concentrate on in their individual programmes.

Development of the new Plan sought to involve the network at every stage to ensure that SSC's niche and key strengths were comprehensively re-evaluated. Consultations began in early 1998 and were largely completed during a workshop in March 2000. Final approval was granted at World Conservation Congress. Those involved in developing the new Plan included all SSC leaders, both past and present, Steering Committee members, Specialist Group Chairs, and all IUCN members and regional offices.

The Strategic Plan is available here. Please download the free Acrobat Reader to view the document.