WCC 2016 Res 082 - Activity Report

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.

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.

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

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.

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.