| Capacity-building | The Specialist Group is currently in the final stages of drafting the IUCN Guidelines on the Management of Human-Wildlife Conflict & Coexistence, for which it aims to publish in the first quarter of 2023 to support practitioners and parties in the better management of human-wildlife conflict. The Guidelines will provide the essential foundations and principles for good practice, with clear, practical guidance on how best to tackle conflicts and enable coexistence with wildlife. They have been developed for use by conservation practitioners, community leaders, decision-makers, researchers, government officers, and others. Focussing on approaches and tools for analysis and decision-making, they are not limited to any particular species nor region of the world. | On-going |
| Convene stakeholders/Networking | On 8 June 2022, the Specialist Group convened a workshop which included members of the Specialist Group and colleagues from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), WWF, as well as the CBD Secretariat and OEWG, UNEP-WCMC and several government parties (incl. Angola, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Mozambique, Namibia, Uganda, UK). The workshop participants discussed the potential metrics for an indicator on human-wildlife conflict and to what extent data collection for three proposed components would be feasible. The Specialist Groups will be convening further workshops in the build up to COP15 to support parties. | On-going |
| Education/Communication/Raising awareness | In September 2021, during the IUCN World Conservation Congress, we organised a press conference on ‘Addressing the global challenge of human-wildlife conflict’. The press conference discussed what action is needed to achieve human-wildlife coexistence, and how IUCN is convening efforts for improving knowledge and practice to this aim.
In September 2021, in collaboration with the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations, we hosted a session during the Collaborative Partnership on
Sustainable Wildlife Management (CPW) Wildlife Forum on monitoring human-wildlife conflicts for the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. A recording of the session can be accessed here: https://youtu.be/C6cM6nu7TJY?t=8685. | - None - |
| Education/Communication/Raising awareness | The Specialist Group continuously tries to raise the profile of human-wildlife conflict through regularly posting articles and papers on its social media platforms and attending webinars and sessions to engage with a wider audience, while also provide expert input into media outputs. | On-going |
| Education/Communication/Raising awareness | The Specialist Group published an IUCN Issues Brief on Human-Wildlife Conflict. IUCN Issues Briefs provide key information on selected issues central to IUCN’s work. They are aimed at policy-makers, journalists or anyone looking for an accessible overview of the often complex issues related to nature conservation and sustainable development. The Issues Brief on Human-Wildlife Conflict explains what the issue is, why it is important and what can be done. | Completed |
| Policy influencing/advocacy | The Specialist Group has produced four information documents to support the parties on the inclusion of a Target on human-wildlife conflict & coexistence in the Convention on Biological Diversity post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The documents cover inclusion of a target on Human-wildlife conflict in the framework, developing indicators for a target on human-wildlife conflict in the framework, a summary document on key points regarding human-wildlife conflicts inclusion in the framework and a document regarding the indicator for Human-Wildlife Conflict in Target 4. All the documents can be found at: https://www.hwctf.org/policies
The Chair of the Specialist Group attended the Convention on Biological Diversity meetings in Geneva, Switzerland in March 2022 as part of the IUCN delegation to support as the parties negotiated the text of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework ahead of COP15. | On-going |
