Ensure urgent management actions tohalt human induced extinction of known threatened species and for the recovery and conservation of species, in particular threatened species, to significantly reduce extinction risk, as well as to maintain and restore the genetic diversity within and between populations of native, wild and domesticated species to maintain their adaptive potential, including through in situ and ex situ conservation and sustainable management practices, and effectively manage human-wildlife interactions to minimize human-wildlife conflict for coexistence.
Aims | Actions | Assessment
Priorities
Halting the extinction of known threatened species
Reducing extinction risk through recovery and conservation efforts, particularly directed to threatened species
Restore and maintain genetic diversity to support adaptive potential (within and between populations)
Support and encourage coexistence by managing and minimising human-wildlife conflict
This webinar was hosted by the IUCN Species Survival Commission to discuss the links between the Global Biodiversity Framework and the SSC Network and presented the species-focussed ambitions within Goal A and Targets 4, 5, and 6.
Speaker line-up:
Together these talks clarify the concepts and terms within each target and highlight routes for effective management approaches and policy interventions by drawing on the presenters’ extensive and diverse expertise developing resources, national reports, and toolkits.
Take a look at the recording below:
Presentation Overview:
Phil McGowan, from Newcastle University and chair of the IUCN SSC GBF Task Force, starts off the webinar with an overview of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and highlights how the SSC Post-2020 Biodiversity Targets Task Force (now the SSC GBF Task Force) was instrumental in ensuring a focus on the need for targeted recovery actions for threatened species during the negotiations for Target 4.
Sean Hoban, a memeber of the IUCN SSC GBF Task Force and the Coservation-Genetics Specialist Group, then zooms in on Target 4’s focus on genetic diversity and species management actions and discusses the guidance and support tools available to track progress on the genetic component of Target 4.
Anastasiya Timoshyna, who co-chairs the IUCN SSC Medicinal Plant Specialist Group and is the European Programme Director at TRAFFIC, then introduces Target 5 (sustainable, safe, and legal wildlife use). She also outlines the 5-Dimensional sustainability assessment framework, along with other measures, that can assist in regulating and measuring the sustainability of wildlife use.
Aileen Mill, also of Newcastle University and a member of the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group, then guides us through Target 6 (managing and reducing the impact from invasive species) and gives a sneak preview of the Invasive Alien Species Toolkit which is currently under development.
Associate Professor, Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IBCAS)
Xiaoli is an associate professor at the State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, IBCAS. She has a particular interest in demonstrating the use of CBD-recognized indicators (e.g., WPI) to measure countries’ conservation progress.
Her current research focuses on conservation planning and effectiveness of protected areas. She received her PhD. in Zoology from Peking University in 2009 and had experience working as a visiting scientist at Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Virginia. She has served as an associate editor for Biodiversity and Conservation since 2011.
Deputy Leader of the Wildlife Practice, WWF-International
Wendy is the Deputy Leader of the Wildlife Practice at WWF-International, working primarily on strategic design, implementation support and evaluation of WWF’s wildlife conservation portfolio.
Wendy has worked at the intersection between science and policy for most of her career, leading targeted advocacy initiatives in many contexts, both environmental (e.g. CITES, CMS, IWC) and beyond (e.g. UN Crime Fora, UN Security Council).
Stuart is a Chief Scientist at BirdLife International, where he leads a team developing BirdLife’s scientific datasets, research and priority-setting to underpin BirdLife Partnership’s Conservation Programmes.
He has been involved in the development of biodiversity indicators and the assessment of progress towards global biodiversity taargets for over 20 years and is a member of the CBD’s Ad-Hoc Technical Expert Group on indicators for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Sean has played a leading role in the IUCN Conservation Genetic Specialist Group since 2017, and also leads the Genetic Composition Working Group in GEO BON. He co-founded and leads the Coalition for Conservation Genetics. Since 2019 he has engaged with CBD issues on genetic diversity and species recovery. His research focuses on developing science-based advice for ex situ conservation, understanding the genetics and ecology of threatened species, and bringing knowledge on adaptive capacity of populations to national and global policy.
He has helped develop and deploy several novel methods for assessing and reporting on genetic diversity, including a CBD Headline Indicator. He regularly works with organizations like the Center for Plant Conservation, BGCI, US Forest Service, and US Fish and Wildlife Service. He also has interests in seed dispersal, hybridization, and population bottlenecks. You can read more about his group at hobanlab.com.
Vice President and Chief of Conservation, Wildlife Trust of India
Rahul has over 30 years of experience in wildlife research and conservation. After obtaining his Ph.D. on the ecology of the Cheer Pheasant, he ran the South Asia Field Office of the World Pheasant Association for 13 years from Delhi before moving to the Wildlife Trust of India in 2005 where he now oversees conservation with special interest in species recovery and protected areas.
He has been involved with assessing the organisations contribution to meeting the Biodiversity targets, also leading into the National report for IUCN on the matter.
Secretary General, Botanic Gardens Conservation International (BGCI)
paul.smith[at]bgci.org
Paul is the Secretary General of the BGCI, which coordinates and monitors the progress of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation, the first target-oriented work programme of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
With a career spanning 30 years working in conservation and botanic gardens, Paul has trained as a plant ecologist and is a specialist in the plants and vegetation of southern Africa. He chairs Forestry England’s Arboreta Advisory Committee and is a Trustee of the National Botanic Garden of Wales.
Paul is the recipient of the New England Wildflower Society’s Medal for Services to International Plant Conservation and the David Fairchild Medal for Plant Exploration.
Neil is the Head of the Science Programme at UNEP-WCMC and a Professor at the Centre for Marcoecology, Evolution and Climate at the University of Copenhagen.
He has a long standing interest in the biogeography and conservation of African biodiversity. This has broadened in recent years to issues of the effectiveness and equity of protected areas and other conservation interventions, with regard to biological and human outcomes. He also has, and continues to, manage various forms of conservation projects in Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe over the past 25 years.
