CBSG Europe Activities October 2014 – October 2015 Revision of the IUCN/SSC Guidelines on the Use of Ex Situ Management for Species Conservation A drafting team composed of Kristin Leus (CBSG Europe), Kathy Traylor-Holzer (CBSG headquarters), Phil McGowan (Galliformes SG and Newcastle University and the SSC Policy Subcommittee), Mike Hoffmann (functioning as SSC SC liaison) and representatives of the Plant, Marine, Invertebrate, and Freshwater Conservation Subcommittees, the Species Conservation Planning Subcommittee and the Reintroduction SG has been working on a revision of the Guidelines on the Use of Ex situ Management for Species Conservation since December 2010. Following numerous rounds of comments and editing and approval of the final version by the Steering Committee (SC) of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) in August 2014, the guidelines were published in January 2015. The guidelines outline a five-step decision process that defines potential ex situ conservation roles, determines the type of ex situ activities needed to fulfil those roles, and identifies the feasibility, risks, and likelihood of success. The revised guidelines are brief and concise to facilitate ease of use, and supporting material will be produced alongside them that will contain examples, further explanations, links to publications, position papers, and other relevant information for their implementation. Workshop on Population Management – French Zoo Association CBSG Europe gave presentations on ex situ population management and facilitated a half day future policy discussion for the French Zoo Association (Association Française des Parcs Zoologiques (AFdPZ)) during their workshop on population management and population control (21-23 January, Zooparc de Beauval, France). EU strategic approach to wildlife conservation in Africa Kristin Leus represented CBSG within a group of SSC and IUCN attendants at a meeting at the EU to be informed about and give comments to a draft of the document “Larger than elephants – inputs for an EU strategic approach to wildlife conservation in Africa” - a study funded by the European Commission. This was an activity within the EU Biodiversity for Livelihoods (B4Life) umbrella framework that aims to ensure better coherence and coordination of EU actions for natural resources and ecosystems. CBSG provided comments that were joined with those from the other IUCN participants and submitted by IUCN as the IUCN response. The final version of the document can be downloaded from: http://capacity4dev.ec.europa.eu/b4life/document/eu-strategic- appraoch-african-wildlife-conservation-all-volumes-draft-document Training: Facilitation skills for Conservation Managers The Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, the International Rhino Foundation and CBSG Europe co- taught the 5-day course on Facilitation Skills for Conservation Managers as part of Durrell’s International Conservation Training Programme. This edition took place 23th – 27th February 2015 at Durrell’s International Training Centre on Jersey (Channel Islands, UK). The course is designed to develop the skills needed to facilitate meetings or workshops involving multiple stakeholders with potentially conflicting interests and to provide the participants with the confidence to organise and conduct their own meetings and workshops tackling complex and contentious issues. During the course the participants learned, and had ample time to practise, essential workshop facilitations skills, including decision making, conflict management, cross-cultural sensitivity, group dynamics, active listening and consensus building. Annual Conference of the Brazilian Zoo Association (SZB) CBSG Europe and CBSG Brazil facilitated a short meeting with SZB to review progress towards the Action Plan for the Brazilian Zoo Association that had been developed during a CBSG facilitated workshop in 2014. Progress or problems were discussed and all action points were reviewed and adapted where necessary. While on a number of fronts impressive results were achieved, one of the main hurdles for faster progress identified was the lack of a paid executive director to coordinate and facilitate actions by others within the association. It was therefore wonderful news that already by the end of the conference funding was put forward by Parque das Aves for a part time executive director for SZB. Hiring for the position is in progress. During the conference Kristin Leus gave a one hour plenary presentation on “Integrated in situ and ex situ conservation and the potential role of zoos and aquaria”. The in situ and ex situ lion tamarin community together organized a series of plenary presentations on in situ and ex situ lion tamarin conservation work to rekindle awareness and enthusiasm with the Brazilian zoos regarding their important role in the conservation of the four species of lion tamarins. During an introductory presentation touching on the international network behind these programmes, Bengt Holst was able to highlight CBSG’s crucial historical and current contributions to the conservation planning for these species. CBSG Europe participated in the CBSG Strategic Committee meeting (24 April) and Regional Network Meeting (25-27 April) in Minneapolis ZIMS R3 workshop In a dual capacity of EAZA/CBSG Europe, Kristin Leus participated in an ISIS/CBSG HQ facilitated workshop on ZIMS Release 3, which will deal with the studbook and population management aspects of zoo animal management. ALPZA Strategic Planning Workshop for Integrated Conservation CBSG Europe and CBSG Brazil facilitated a strategic planning workshop for the Conservation Committee of ALPZA that took place in Buenos Aires, 29-31 May 2015. Eight institutions from six countries represented the ALPZA community. Among the national, regional and global zoo associations represented were ACOPAZOA (Asociación Colombiana de Parques Zoológicos, Acuarios y Afines), AFdPZ (Association Française de Parcs Zoologiques), AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums), AZCARM (Asociación de Zoológicos y Acuarios de México), EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquariums), SZB (Sociedade de Zoológicos e Aquários do Brasil), SPZ (Sociedade Paulista de Zoológicos) and WAZA. In addition, Conservation International as well as four NGOs that lead Latin American in situ conservation initiatives were present (Proyecto Tití from Colombia, Fundación Biodiversidad Argentina, Conservation Land Trust Argentina and the Latin American representative of BirdLife International). Over the course of three days a new, exciting and ambitious conservation strategy with innovative and measurable objectives to be reached by the ALPZA community for the upcoming years was created. Giraffe Indaba (Hoedspruit, South Africa 23-28 August) In a dual capacity of CBSG and IUCN SSC Giraffe and Okapi SG member, Kristin Leus will give a presentation at the 3rd Giraffe Indaba about the “Potential use of the stochastic population simulation software programme ‘Vortex’ in giraffe conservation planning”. The same topic will also be discussed during the preceding meeting of the Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group. The vortex model created for the Niger Giraffe PHVA (2008) will be used as an example and inspiration. This will allow us to highlight the potential use of Vortex in a species conservation planning process and CBSG’s expertise in both modelling and planning activities. The Giraffe Indabas are organised by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and the Giraffe and Okapi Specialist Group and bring together scientists, students, wildlife managers and decision-makers in the fields of giraffe and okapi research, conservation and management for presentations, workshops and discussions. The theme of this edition is “Sticking our necks out for giraffe conservation in Africa”. 10th International Conference on Behaviour, Physiology and Genetics of Wildlife EAZA, CBSG Europe and WAZA are jointly organizing a symposium on the One Plan Approach to species conservation planning during the 10th International Conference on Behaviour, Physiology and Genetics of Wildlife, organized by the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) and EAZA (28th September – 1 October, Berlin, Germany). During a three hour session a series of seven presentations will be followed by a discussion. Presentation topics include an introduction to the One Plan Approach, the revised IUCN SSC guidelines on the use of ex situ management for species conservation, OPA for tapir conservation, adaptive management for golden lion tamarin conservation planning, ex situ and in situ approaches for bearded vulture conservation, science and African penguin conservation planning and integrated conservation for African Wild Dogs. Further plans: Chacoan Peccary conservation planning The IUCN SSC Peccary Specialist Group, CBSG Brazil, CBSG Europe and the IUCN SSC Species Conservation Planning Subcommittee are working with other colleagues to develop a conservation planning workshop for the Chacoan peccary due to take place in Paraguay early in 2016. Cheetah Population Viability Analysis CBSG Europe has committed to work with the Cheetah Conservation Fund and other cheetah and model specialists to develop a range wide population viability analysis for this species, to be published in the book “The Biology and Conservation of Cheetahs” (eds. Laurie Marker, Lorraine Boast, Anne Schmidt-Küntzel - Publisher: Academic Press, an imprint of Elsevier), as part of the book series ‘Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscape’. This work will be completed by the end of May 2016. Publications: IUCN/SSC (2014). Guidelines on the Use of Ex Situ Management for Species Conservation. Version 2.0. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN Species Survival Commission. Available online at: www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/publications/iucn_guidelines_and__policy__statem ents/ .