Oman, Sir Peter Scott IUCN/SSC Action Plan Fund

Wild chimpanzees are only found in tropical Africa, where their populations have declined by more than 66% in the last 30 years. This action plan focuses on one of the four chimpanzee subspecies, the western chimpanzee, which is one of the two subspecies most threatened with extinction.

The African elephant is the largest living land mammal, and their potential impact on their habitats raises important management issues both for protected areas and unprotected land. This Status Report, derived from data contained in the African Elephant Database, is rich in data and information on numbers, distribution and current issues, and provides continent-wide information that is vital for conservation.

Cycads were a dominant part of the earth’s flora during the age of the dinosaurs and many species were common even in more recent times. However, many of the 297 species and sub-species dealt with in this Action Plan are threatened by habitat destruction and plant collecting, and more than half the known species are now classified as threatened.

This collection of 52 papers and 21 abstracts focuses on sharing available knowledge to combat the threat of invasive alien species. Turning the target_ide of biological invasion by eradicating invasive species can yield substantial benefits for biodiversity conservation. As more eradications are attempted worldwide, it is increasingly important that lessons are learned from each and every one of these attempts, whether successful or unsuccessful.

These proceedings provide an overview of the ongoing research and management activities on polar bears in the circumpolar arctic. Together with the previous 12 proceedings, they provide an historic record of international efforts in protecting polar bears from over-harvest and document more recent concerns of threats arising from increased human activities in both the Arctic and in regions far beyond the realm of polar bears.

Once one of the most abundant grazing animals, now only seven species remain. Equids persist in some of the harshest climates and terrains in the world, habitats which are also home to many human populations. Conservation will depend on local nomadic pastoralists participating in, and benefiting from, the conservation management of their areas.

Use of and trade in wildlife is a fact of life for human society around the globe. Article IV of the CITES Convention requires that exporting countries restrict trade in Appendix II species to levels that are not detrimental either to species’ survival, or to their role within the ecosystems in which they occur (known as the “non-detriment finding”).

The fourth part in a series of action plan, this publication covers less than one-quarter of the world's antelope species that are found in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Herds numbering in the tens of thousands formerly occurred across the steppes and semi-deserts of Eurasia and India, but these have nearly all been reduced to fractions of their earlier size. Populations are fragmented across the region and several species have disappeared altogether during recent decades.

Bats make up a quarter of all mammals, and almost half of the species can be considered threatened or near threatened at a global level. This publication offers the results of the first comprehensive review to identify the conservation priorities for the 834 species of Microchiroptera.

These species, a group of about 150 ground-dwelling gamebird, are found on every continent apart from Antarctica. They live in a wide variety of habitats from tropical forests, high-altitude alpine zones, temperate forests, open country, to desert environment. Although widespread, little is known of the species occuring outside Europe and North America, but several species are considered at grave risk of extinction.