Noticias de Crácidos Notícias de Cracídeos Cracid News

BULLETIN of the CRACID GROUP - GSG - Vol. 35 – January 2013
Welcome to the IUCN-SSC Galliformes Specialist Group: A message from the Co-
Chairs, Peter Garson and Ilse Storch
Juan Cornejo and Luis Fabio Silveira have worked together with many of you to
complete a merger between the previous Cracid Specialist Group, and the Galliformes
Specialist Group (GSG), which is a full member of the great family of such groups
working under the auspices of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the
International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
As a result the GSG can now be said to truly represent the interests of all species of
Galliformes. But you need not fear that you may become less visible as a Cracid
conservation specialist as a result of this joining of forces. It is agreed that you will all
maintain your identity as the Cracid Group within the GSG, with your Cracid Bulletin
continuing, along with your own webpages. You can see an existing replica of how you
will operate with us in the shape of our Grouse Group, which publishes Grouse News
and maintains a web presence within the GSG site (http://www.galliformes-sg.org/). This
group is overseen by one of us (Ilse).
The benefits of being a member of the GSG derive mainly from the automatic
membership of IUCN-SSC which goes with it. You thereby join the largest and most
influential international organisation dedicated to balancing conservation with
sustainability and human livelihood on this one precious planet of ours. The SSC is one
of six Commissions within IUCN, the others dealing with education, policy, law,
ecosystems and protected areas (see http://www.iucn.org/about/union/commissions/).
The SSC itself has over 8,000 individual members organised into around 130 Special
Groups. Most of these are centred on a taxon and/or a region of the world, but this still
leaves many species unrepresented. Apart from the GSG there are 14 SGs for other
groups of birds, collectively dedicated to the conservation of some of today’s most
threatened species
(http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/who_we_are/ssc_specialist_group
s_and_red_list_authorities_directory/birds/). There are also so-called disciplinary SGs,
dealing with climate change, conservation breeding, sustainable use, invasive species,
re-introductions and wildlife health
(http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/who_we_are/ssc_specialist_group
s_and_red_list_authorities_directory/disciplinary_groups/). Visiting the websites of any of
these SGs via SSC can put you in touch with acknowledged world experts (like you for
the Cracids!) in moments. This is the world’s professional network for conservation, to
which you have full access.
Arguably the most important barometer of the state of biodiversity in the world is the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
2
TM (http://www.iucnredlist.org/), which is
republished on the web annually. It is produced by staff in the IUCN Global Species
Programme, in conjunction with the whole SSC membership and others. In the particular
case of birds, IUCN has delegated responsibility for undertaking this work to BirdLife