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Crane. Among other actions, we are assisting with the
development of a water management and monitoring plan for
the nine sub lakes within Poyang Lake National Nature Reserve.
We co-organized the workshop ‘Cranes and Sustainable
Agriculture’. The workshop, with over 100 participants, issued
A Call to Action sent to governments of Northeast Asia. A side
event launched a global network aimed at reducing impacts of
power lines upon cranes.
The Crane SG is now working on a practical handbook for
reducing conflicts between cranes and agriculture.
A website has been established including the posting of
Global Crane News.
Mr Jim Harris
Chair, Crane Specialist Group
Crocodile Specialist Group
The mission of the Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG) is to
assist IUCN and SSC to meet their missions with regard to the
conservation, management and sustainable use of world
crocodilians. The CSG has 496 members throughout 62
countries and conducts global working meetings biennially.
Red List assessments were completed for Crocodylus
siamensis, Tomistoma schlegelii, C. mindorensis and
C. plaustris. Of the 23 species of living crocodilians, the Red
List assessments now categorize the global populations of six
species as Critically Endangered, one as Endangered and
three as Vulnerable.
CSG members have been intimately involved in successful
reintroductions of two species listed as Critically Endangered
on The IUCN Red List; Alligator sinensis in China and
Crocodylus mindorensis in the Philippines. Various proposals
are being considered to embark on reintroduction programs
for another species listed as Critically Endangered; Crocodylus
siamensis in both Thailand and Cambodia.
Management programs for the 23 species of crocodilians,
across some 100 countries, are highly diverse. All species are
listed on the Appendices of CITES, with 12 species involved in
regulated international trade, producing either “classic”
(A. mississippiensis, Crocodylus acutus, C. moreletii,
C. niloticus, C. novaeguineae, C. porosus and C. siamensis),
or caiman (Caiman crocodilus, C. yacare, C. latirostris,
Melanosuchus niger) skins. The conservation management
programs for these commercially valuable species are highly
Saltwater Crocodile. © Grahame Webb
diverse. Production is through captive breeding, ranching
(eggs or juveniles), wild harvest, or various combinations of
these. The CSG is committed to fostering protection strategies
where they are the ones most needed within a national
context, and sustainable use strategies where incentives are
required to tolerate crocodilians. A key CSG aspiration in
countries which trade in crocodilians is that trade is legal,
sustainable and verifiable.
Through supporting sustainable use programs, the CSG
contributes to economic development within countries
managing their crocodilian populations for this purpose. The
CSG also assists by making small grants available to graduate
students working on crocodilians for their research projects
anywhere in the world. In 2013, a further 13 students were
granted CSG Student Research Assistance Scheme grants,
which makes a total of 65 recipients from 22 countries, since
the scheme was initiated in 2009.
Virtually all donations in cash and in-kind received by the
CSG come from or through its members. These donations are
made to an NGO (International Association of Crocodile
Specialists Inc.), whose mission is to support the IUCN SSC
Crocodile Specialist Group.
Prof. Grahame Webb
Chair, Crocodile Specialist Group
Crop Wild Relative Specialist Group
Our mission is to help ensure that crop wild relatives are
adequately conserved and sustainably utilized, to enhance
global food security and aid poverty alleviation. The key
objectives of our Specialist Group are to develop effective
strategies for gathering, documenting and disseminating
baseline information on crop wild relatives (CWR); promote
the conservation and use of CWR; provide advice, expertise
and access to appropriate contacts to enhance the actions
of individuals or organizations working on CWR conservation
and use, and increase awareness of the importance of
CWR diversity to agriculture and the environment among
governments, institutions, decision-makers and the general
public.
At the request of the FAO Commission on Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture, the group prepared an
Lepidium turczaninowii Lipsky is a wild relative of cabbage crops and garden
cress. Assessed as Critically Endangered on The IUCN Red List, it is
endemic to the surroundings of Feodosija in eastern Crimea and has
recently only been found in Ilyi Capes. © Victor Melnik
48 IUCN species Annual Report 2013