WCC 2016 Res 082 - Progress Report

General Information

Resolution
46499
Period covered
Activities to implement this Resolution from Activity Reports
Relevant operative para(s) of Res/Rec Activities Overview Description Status Action
Education/Communication/Raising awareness Lead ammunition and need for transition to non-lead ammunition has been the focus of numerous meetings and conferences e.g.

The Conservation Symposium conference in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in November 2019, had a valuable session on lead ammunition with an invited keynote speaker addressing the issue and need for transition to non-toxic ammunition.

The European Federation of Hunters (FACE) at their European Hunters’ Conference in March in the Netherlands, held a session entitled ‘is there a future for lead ammunition?’ where CEOs and other senior staff from most of Europe’s hunting organisations heard perspectives for and against and could discuss the issue.
On-going Full activity report
Other (please specify) In the UK, supermarkets selling game meat are committing to going lead-free which is a powerful signal to the non-acceptability of marketing and selling meat containing large amount of lead. On-going Full activity report
Policy influencing/advocacy Global Policy
Resolution WCC 2016 Res 082 is acknowledged in the preamble to UNEP/CMS/Resolution 11.15(Rev.COP12) to be considered at CMS COP13 in February 2020.
“Acknowledging also the Resolutions of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress WCC-2016-Res-014 on combatting the illegal poisoning of wildlife, WCC-2016-Res-022 on conservation measures for vultures, including banning the use of veterinary diclofenac, and WCC-2016-Res-082 on a path forward to address concerns over the use of lead ammunition in hunting,” And IUCN and its SSC are invited to play an active role in the CMS Preventing Poisoning Working Group and its Lead Task Group: “Invites the IUCN and its Species Survival Commission (SSC) to cooperate actively with CMS and the Preventing Poisoning Working Group (PPWG) on a global analysis of the impact of poisoning on wildlife, resources permitting; Lead Task Group – will invite a representative of IUCN” https://www.cms.int/sites/default/files/document/cms_cop12_res.11.15%28rev.cop12%29_bird-poisoning_e.pdf

Late report for 2018: At the AEWA MOP7 in Durban, South Africa, a lead poisoning side event produced a strong voice from some in the shooting community to hasten regulation of lead to allow all stakeholders to overcome this on-going issue. This is illustrative of a direction of travel on this issue and an open mindedness from some quarters of the hunting community about the need for change.

Lead is featured highly in the CMS Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures and much of the work framed within that:
https://www.cms.int/raptors/en/workinggroup/multi-species-action-plan-conserve-african-eurasian-vultures
On-going Full activity report
Policy influencing/advocacy Regional and National Policy

EU Policy
Lead shot in wetlands: Under the EU REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) regulation, the proposal developed by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) to restrict use of lead shot in wetlands was passed to the European Commission and then to Member States in the REACH Committee for consideration. It will be voted on in early 2020. Lobbying against the proposal by some hunting organisations and the shooting/ammunition industry has been great.
Total use of lead ammunition and fishing sinkers: Following an investigation report from the ECHA, the European Commission formally requested ECHA to begin a restriction proposal for the use of all lead ammunition and fishing sinkers. If successful this would significantly reduce risks not just to waterbirds, but also terrestrial birds including raptors and scavengers, as well as human health and reduce contamination to soils and then the wider ecosystem. Advances made in the EU will bring significant knock on benefits to other shooting areas of the world by increasing demand for non-toxic ammunition, and normalising their use for the benefits of all.
During this latter process there was a call for evidence from ECHA on this restriction proposal:
- the IUCN Wildlife Health Specialist Group contributed to this public consultation recognising that the ill-health brought about by lead ammunition is a comparatively straightforward problem to solve.
- Resolution WCC 2016 Res 082 was cited by the European Scientists in their publicly available Open Letter in their submission to the consultation: http://www.europeanscientists.eu/open-letter/

National Policy: USA
- 2019 saw California make it illegal to hunt game with all lead ammunition (both shot and bullets) state-wide.
On-going Full activity report
Scientific/technical activities A special issue of the journal Ambio entitled Lead in Hunting Ammunition: Persistent Problems and Solutions was published with an array of papers exploring evidence of widespread risks, economic costs, regulatory and sociological aspects, lessons learned, with an overall theme of the benefits of a non-toxic ammunition for all stakeholders. The publication was timely for the ECHA call for evidence on EU restriction of lead ammunition (see above). https://link.springer.com/journal/13280/48/9


In addition to the Ambio special edition a large number of scientific publications on the risks from lead ammunition and the benefits of non-toxics were produced. See
http://www.leadammunitiongroup.org.uk/information/ for links to many.
On-going Full activity report
Actors involved from Activity Reports
IUCN Members IUCN Commissions IUCN Secretariat Other non-IUCN related organisations
  • Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust ( United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland )
  • SEO/BirdLife, Sociedad Española de Ornitología ( Spain )
  • 3B5EC7B3-D2A1-E611-B6EC-005056BA6623
  • Yes
Challenges / lessons learned from Activity Reports
Report status
Published

I. IUCN Constituencies implementing this Resolution

IUCN Members
SEO/BirdLife, Sociedad Española de Ornitología ( Spain )
IUCN Commissions
F717E09E-5094-E611-97F4-005056BA6623
IUCN Secretariat
No

II. Implementation

Activities carried out to implement this Resolution
Convene stakeholders/Networking
Policy influencing/advocacy
Describe the results/achievements of the activities
These activies were on-going from previous years. There was no activity report from the member-assigned focal point of the resolution for 2019. However, activites have been carried out and there was intension formt the focal point to report back but efforts have not been made to report back.
Challenges/obstacles encountered in the implementation of this Resolution and measures taken
N/A
Future actions / activities needed for the implementation of this Resolution
N/A
Are these actions/activities planned?
No

III. Status of implementation

Implementation status of this Resolution
On-going: implementation consisting of repetitive, recurrent action (attending meetings, reporting, etc.)