Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan Compiled by ... - Wildpro

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Many people worked on the production of this document. First of all thanks are due to the experts on bears worldwide who were the authors of this document: Miha Adamic, Vivian Banci, Anders Bjarvall, Giorgio Boscagli, Jean Jacques Camarra, Igor Chestin, Anthony Clevenger, Alex B. Coley, Do Dinh Sam, Diana L. Doan Martinez, Thomas H. Eason, Slavomir Find’o, Wiltold Frackowiak, Robert Franzen, David Garshelis, Jein Gong, Roman Gula, Toshihiro Hazumi, Pavel Hell, Steve Herrero, Djuro Huber, Ovidiu Ionescu, the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group, Cheng Jizhen, Jeffery Jorgenson, Anup Joshi, Tor Kvam, Li Xiaomin, Tsutomu Mano, Tom McCarthy, Bruce McLellan, Jorgos Mertzanis, Sterling Miller, Joseph Moll, Javier Naves Cienfuegos, Erik Nyholm, Kai-Eerik Nyholm, Jorge Orejuela, Fabio Osti, David Paetkau, Joel A. Pederson, Michael Pelton, Kajetan Perzanowski, Bernie Peyton, Francisco Purroy, Carlos Nores Quesada, Georg Rauer, Don Reid, Clifford Rice, Damian Rumiz, Jorge Salazar, Richard Salter, Finn Sandegren, S. Sathyakumar, John Schoen, James Smith, Arne Soderberg, Ole Jakob Sorensen, Nikolai Spassov, G. Spiridonov, Curtis Strobeck, Luis Suarez, Jon Swenson, Mitch Taylor, Frank T. van Manen, Petter Wabakken, Lisette Waits, Keith M. Weaver, Ying Wang, Oystein Wiig, Edgard Yerena, Ma Yiqing, Victor Yudin. These people represent the experts on bear biology status and management as well as specialists in genetics and other fields. Thanks are due to Dr. George Rabb who had the vision to support the production of this document and whose support started the whole project rolling. Whitney Tilt and Acknowledgements vi Amos Eno of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation were very supportive and made commitments that allowed us to complete this task. Alison Wilson and Elise Blackburn worked tirelessly editing and proof reading, and checking tables, figures, and citations. Mariano Giminez-Dixon at IUCN was a constant supporter of this project and helped in many ways. Thanks are also due to the International Association for Bear Research and Management, the professional organization of bear biologists, and its past president Dr. Sterling Miller for support and encouragement throughout this process. Recognition and special thanks are due to the editorial efforts of Kristy Pelletier, Kana Moll, and Joe Moll who carried the burden of so many details in such a complex and long-term project. Their skill and dedication at organizing such a large amount of diverse information from so many people is sincerely appreciated and this project would not have been completed without them. They spent many hours at the computer reading manuscripts, checking details, and contacting authors. Given the scope of this document, it is recognized that some errors exist, and I take full responsibility for them. In some cases, there was disagreement between authors or discrepancies in the text. Judgment was used to make decisions in these cases, and I accept responsibility for such decisions. Christopher Servheen Co-chair, IUCN/SSC Bear Specialist Group University of Montana Missoula, Montana 59812 USA
This status survey and conservation action plan describes the status and conservation needs of the eight bear species of the world. These species currently live in more than 65 countries/autonomous regions in four continents. They are a diverse group of large mammals living in a variety of habitats from tropical rainforests to arctic ice. Bears are the umbrella species in most of the ecosystems they inhabit. The conservation of bears and their habitats will preserve the most biodiversity in these areas and focus management efforts on preserving watershed resources that also sustain human populations. Conservation efforts for bears in North America and Western Europe are much more intensive and coordinated than in Asia or Latin America where research and management are minimal or nonexistent. The exception to this in Asia is the intensive conservation of the giant panda in China. The greatest threats to bears exist in Asia, the Middle East, and parts of South America (Table 1). All bear species have declined in numbers and distribution due to the impacts of human activities. Major activities that impact bears are habitat alteration and destruction resulting from forest conversion to agriculture, human settlement in bear habitat, and excessive forest harvest. Unregulated killing of bears for sport, sale of their parts in medicinal products, protection of crops or livestock, and fear of these powerful animals has led to their decline. Asian bears face a particularly destructive combination of all these threats as well as a critical lack of knowledge about their status, distribution, and requirements for survival. Many bear populations in these areas will disappear before they are ever documented. Bear populations at greatest risk include Asiatic black bear populations in Baluchistan, Taiwan, and many areas of Southeast Asia; many small isolated sloth bear Table 1. Bear species at greatest risk. Executive Summary vii populations throughout their range; sun bear populations throughout their range; brown bear populations in Mongolia, Tibet, France, Spain, and Italy; all giant panda populations; and the spectacled bear populations in Venezuela, Columbia, and the desert populations in Peru. Priority actions for bear conservation include: • Initiate surveys of status and distribution for Asian bears; particularly sun bears and Asiatic black bears in Southeast Asia and southwest Asia, and brown bears in the Middle East and southern Asia. • Develop cooperative projects to work with select countries in the range of sun bears, Asiatic black bears, spectacled bears, and Asian brown bears to establish local managers with knowledge of and experience with bears and to develop management plans. This is particularly important in countries with unknown bear populations like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, and Venezuela and in countries with significant bear populations where more effort is needed such as China, Far East Russia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru. • Enhance cross-border management efforts as many of the best remaining populations and habitats exist across international borders such as Peru-Bolivia-Ecuador, Columbia-Venezuela, Laos-Vietnam, and Greece- Bulgaria-Macedonia-Albania, and France-Spain. • Support research projects to develop basic knowledge of habitat requirements, population status and survey methods, and mortality management to serve as the biological basis for management plans. • Document the impacts of illegal trade in bears in Asian countries and select study areas to document these impacts on representative populations of Asiatic black bears in China and in places in Southeast Asia such as in Laos or Vietnam. Distribution Conservaton Species areas Status Threats efforts Giant panda China Endangered Small numbers; fragmented populations Intensive Asiatic black bear Asia Threatened to Highly fragmented; virtually unknown in the None Endangered wild; ongoing killing for parts trade Sun bear Southeast Asia Threatened or Highly fragmented; unknown in the wild; None Endangered but basically unknown habitat conversion Sloth bear Indian subcontinent Threatened Highly fragmented; intensive human pressures Few Spectacled bear South America Threatened Habitat loss; illegal hunting; lack of sustainable resource use by local people Few
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Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan Compiled by ... - Wildpro

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