Strategic Planning for Species Conservation: A Handbook - IUCN

• There are common threats to a group of species.
16
3. When should a SCS be developed?
• There are limited resources for or interest in multiple plans for individual species in a
group.
Multi-species strategies would most commonly be prepared for a group of related species
(e.g., the Asian Wild Cattle and Buffaloes Conservation Strategy described in Chapter 2),
but it might also be beneficial to design such strategies for a group of species that have
common ecological roles e.g., pollinators), share habitat (e.g., reef fish), are linked by
strong ecological relationships (e.g., a predator and its prey), or face similar threats in
similar areas and at similar spatial scales (e.g., cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) and African
wild dogs (Lycaon pictus); IUCN/SSC in press). It may also be appropriate to develop a
higher level SCS for a group of species, with more detailed species-specific SCSs for a few
representative, threatened, or focal species from the group.
As more species are included, the SCS may take on more of the characteristics of an areabased
conservation plan (e.g., Bottrill and Pressey in press), as the Objectives and Actions
will often be focused more on protection of the areas of habitat on which the suite of species
depends than on measures to protect each species individually. If the group of species is
vulnerable to a common threat (e.g., over-exploitation), however, then a threat-based SCS
might be needed to address the cause of the threat (e.g., by reducing demand) beyond just
protecting areas of habitat. Usually there will not be a rigid demarcation between speciescentred
conservation plans, area-based plans, and threat-based plans, with plans focused
at any of these dimensions often requiring attention to the others as well. For example, a
conservation strategy for an important conservation area will often need to include specific
Actions to protect a few keystone species within it, while a SCS will need to ensure that the
ecological communities and systems on which the species depends continue to maintain
their structure and function. Finally, we note that a species-focused conservation strategy
may not be appropriate at all for some very speciose groups, if there are insufficient data to
define threats to any of the species, or if the different species have ecologies, threats, and
conservation needs that are too dissimilar to be addressed within a common strategy.