The implementation of the 098 resolution is interlinked with the implementation of the IUCN/SSC Otter Specialist Group 2019 Global Otter Strategy and its 72 targets.
Projected impact for 2021–2025:
- Improve knowledge on status of African species, especially Congo clawless otter and Spotted necked otter.
- Upgrade Lutra sumatrana from CITES appendix II to I.
- Reduce otter pet trade in Asia.
- Improve communities involvement in otter conservation.
- Improve conservation planning capacities of OSG members.
- Support conservation strategies for marine species
- Increased collaboration with other SGs involved in freshwater species conservation and production of shared documents.
- Enhance best practices for captive otters.
- Acknowledge OSG affiliation in otter research publications
Activities and results:
1) ASSESS
- Green Status
.Target 039
Number of new Green Status of Species assessments completed: 5
Result description: The Green Status assessment of the Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra) has been published. The assessment for Hairy-nosed Otter is under revision. Assessments have been drafted for Neotropical Otter (Lontra longicaudis), Congo Clawless Otter (Aonyx congicus) and Marine Otter (Lontra felina).
- Red List
.Target 016
Number of new national Red List assessments published: 0
Result description: The OSG is collecting information and appointing a new member for Morocco.
.Target 017
Number of new national Red List assessments published: 0
Result description: The first Eurasian Otter Workshop was held online 26–28 February 2021. The workshop was attended by 476 participants from 52 countries, including the non-EU countries Norway, Switzerland, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
- Research activities
.Target 014
Number of scientific publications about species research that acknowledge SSC affiliation: 1
Result description: Membership acknowledged in Lerone, L., et al. (2022). ‘A Noninvasive Genetic Insight into the Spatial and Social Organization of an Endangered Population of the Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra, Mustelidae, Carnivora)’. Sustainability 14(4):1943. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14041943.
.Target 021
Number of new climate change vulnerability assessments completed: Ongoing.
Result description: Contacts established with Climate Change Task Force for support to design the questionnaire.
.Target 022
Number of species that have been assessed through the different tools: 13
Result description: Thirteen species were assessed through the global Red List.
.Target 023
Number of species that have been assessed through the different tools: 0
Result description: A session on Red List assessment is planned at the XVth International Otter Congress, to be held in Sospel, France, 19–23 September 2022.
2) PLAN
- Planning
.Target 027
Number of conservation plans/strategies developed: 1
Result description: In 2021, OSG joined the Sea Otter Reintroduction Study Group (SORSG) to discuss outreach aspects of the potential reintroduction of Sea Otters (Enhydra lutris) to habitats of the Pacific coast where they remain absent from their historical range. An OSG meeting on Sea Otter was planned in 2019 and then postponed to March 2023 due to the pandemic.
.Target 028
Number of conservation plans/strategies developed: 0
Result description: An action plan for Nepal is on the way.
.Target 035
Number of conservation plans/strategies developed: 1
Result description: An ‘hybrid’ joint Sea Otter/North American River Otter conference is planned for spring 2023.
.Target 037
Strengthen species conservation in national, regional and global policies ->Meeting organized with ALPARC on June 8, 2022. ALPARC enganged to create a network of Alpine protected areas engaged to support and promote the returno of the otter in the Alps. WWF project involving volunteers to survey selected reas across all Italian regions in the Alpine range
.Target 041
Number of conservation plans/strategies developed: 1
Result description: OSG projects were funded in Benin and Uganda.
- Policy
.Target 037
Number of policies where SSC members provided technical input: 0
Result description: OSG supported Gran Paradiso National Park in the organisation of an international meeting in 2018, setting the base for an Alpine otter network. The meeting ended with IUCN OSG 'Otters in the Alps Manifesto'. A next meeting is planned for 2022, involving all national parks in the Alpine range. WWF Italia is funding an otter survey in Italian Alpine regions, guided by OSG.
.Target 038
Number of policies in which OSG has been engaged: 1
Result description: IUCN World Conservation Congress resolution WCC-2020-Res-098 mentions Hairy-nosed Otter (Lutra sumatrana) needs to be uplisted to CITES Appendix I.
3) ACT
- Conservation actions
.Target 049
Number of areas under management for the species or group of species: 1
Result description: A meeting was held on 24 March to set a collaboration with a GIS expert team to initiate the mapping of conservation projects. An inventory of projects has been set through the OSG Bulletin archives.
.Target 055
Number of threatened species benefiting from in situ conservation action: 0
Result description: A draft of the proposal for CITES upgrading of Hairy-nosed Otter (Lutra sumatrana) was written. The OSG is in contact with trade countries (Thailand, Cambodia).
- Policy
.Target 056
Number of position statements addressing major drivers/emerging threats of species or population loss: 1
Result description: The OSC has been networking with the Freshwater Specialist Groups and Freshwater Conservation Coordinator Monika Bohm of the Global Center for Species Survival. The Hairy-nosed Otter (Lutra sumatrana) has been included in the Freshwater Conservation Committee publication, Fantastic Freshwater: 50 landmark species for conservation.
- Technical advice
.Target 043
Number of technical consultations provided to support conservation actions: 2
Result description: Research funded by OSG in Benin is ongoing (total US$ 3,000).
A project was funded in Lake Bunyonyi, Uganda (total US$ 952), in partnership between Green Mountain Initiative led by Twinamasiko Luke and Wild Otters Research led by Katrina Fernandez.
.Target 044
Number of technical consultations provided to support conservation actions: 2
Result description: A probe for Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra) was tested in Italy and Himalayan rivers. A funded project on eDNA in Italian freshwater species was approved.
.Target 047
Number of technical consultations provided to support conservation actions: 1
Result description: An eDNA survey of Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra) was run in Italy and Himalayan rivers. Results are already published for Italy (Jamwal, P.S., et al. 2021. 'First assessment of eDNA-based detection approach to monitor the presence of Eurasian otter in Southern Italy'. Hystrix, the Italian Journal of Mammalogy 32(2):176–181. https://doi.org/10.4404/hystrix-00401-2020).
.Target 048
Number of technical consultations provided to support conservation actions: 1
Result description: The following documents were drafted and submitted: (1) Hairy-nosed Otter CITES Appendix I DRAFT Proposal; (2) Hairy-nosed Otter fact sheet for CITES; (3) IUCN OSG otter letter to request support from Malaysian Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources; (4) e-mail to Emma Vovk, Programme Officer – Sustainable Use and Trade in the IUCN Global Species Programme.
.Target 052
Number of technical consultations provided to support conservation actions: 0
Result description: We are developing projects in Benin and Uganda. A new continental representative was appointed.
.Target 053
Number of technical consultations provided to support conservation actions: 0
Result description: Two meetings were organised with Gran Paradiso National Park and regional surveyors to plan the Alpine otter survey and develop a standard protocol for field survey.
4) NETWORK
- Capacity building
.Target 012
Number of people trained in conservation planning: 200
Result description: Jamie Copsey (CPSG) gave an invited lecture entitled 'Principles of planning species conservation projects' to the 1st Eurasian Otter Workshop on 26–28 February 2021, reaching 470 attendants. Co-Chair Anna Loy successfully completed the 'Facilitating Species Conservation Planning Workshops'.
- Documents review
.Target 013
Number of resolutions accomplished with engagement of SSC groups: 0
Result description: The Asian Small-clawed Otter (Aonyx cinereus) was upgraded to CITES Appendix I.
- Membership
.Target 006
Number of SSC members recruited: 34
Result description: Thirty-four (34) new members were recruited from Morocco, Italy, Russia, Brazil, UK, USA, Germany, Croatia, Uganda, India and Mexico. About 250 members were reappointed.
.Target 009
Number of SSC members recruited: 34
Result description: New members were recruited from Morocco, Italy, Russia, Brazil, UK, USA, Germany, Croatia, Uganda, India and Mexico.
- Synergy
.Target 001
Number of funding partners established and maintained: 2
Result description: An SSC internal grant (n.5277-0189) was obtained in 2019 to study African Clawless Otter (Aonyx capensis) and Spotted-necked Otter (Hydrictis maculicollis) population densities along the lower Orange River in the Nama-Karoo, Namibia, using camera trapping surveys. OSG also funded US$ 2,500 to an education project in Benin on the Spotted-necked Otter.
.Target 008
Proportion of SSC groups that advance their targets through collaborations with other IUCN components: 3
Result description: OSG promoted a discussion meeting at the Fourth SSC Leaders' Meeting in Abu Dhabi in 2019 focused on the need for networking among Specialist Groups involved with freshwater species. The meeting was attended, among others, by the Freshwater Fish Specialist Group and the Freshwater Plant Specialist Group. OSG also attended the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille in 2021 and established contacts with the Freshwater Conservation Coordinator of the Global Center for Species Survival.
.Target 011
Number of institutions and stakeholders involved: 2
Result description: In Italy, Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni National Park (NP CVDA) and the National Veterinary Service (Istituti Zooprofilattici Sperimentali, IZS) have become involved.
5) COMMUNICATE
- Communication
.Target 070
Number of digital communication outputs developed in relation to specific taxonomic groups: 1
Result description: The first Newsletter was released in February 2022.
- Scientific meetings
.Target 069
Number of scientific events organised: 0
Result description: The XVth International Otter Congress has been planned and announced. The Congress will be held in Sospel, France, on 19–23 September 2022. Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco will sponsor the Congress and will cover accommodation expenses at the venue for about 70 participants.
