The RZSS Conservation team regularly contribute to global strategy and management plans for a range of endangered species.
- Strategic planning for species is one of the three key elements in the assessment-planning-action cycle promoted by the IUCN Species Survival Commission.
- Species Action Plans provide global frameworks developed by stakeholders to foster cooperation, identify priority actions, and inform decisions on allocation of limited human and financial resources.
- Species strategies and action plans also contribute to the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Target 12 on improving the status of threatened species.
Here are some of the latest resources that RZSS has contributed to:
IUCN SSC ASG and RZSS. 2020. Slender-horned Gazelle (Gazella leptoceros): Conservation strategy 2020-2029. IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group and Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.
Slender-horned gazelle are endangered with fewer than 2500 individuals remaining in the wild. This plan provides a roadmap for how to conserve the species and includes input from experts and range states.
Read the strategy in French or English
Cat Specialist Group. 2019. Pallas's cat Status Review & Conservation Strategy. CATnews Special Issue 13.
The goal of this Special Issue on the Pallas’s cat is to (1) compile and critically review all available information relevant for the conservation of the Pallas’s cat, (2) identify gaps of knowledge, prioritise important research questions, and urgent conservation needs, and (3) present a Conservation Strategy at global level to inform future cooperation. It addresses scientists and conservationists working on the Pallas’s cat, but it also aims to raise awareness for this awesome felid among national conservation authorities within range countries and the global conservation and donor community.
Read the strategy here
Al Ain Zoo, IUCN SSC Antelope Specialist Group and Royal Zoological Society Scotland (2019). Dama Gazelle (Nanger dama) Conservation Strategy 2019 - 2028. Al Ain Zoo, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The dama gazelle is one of the most threatened antelopes in the world and perhaps fewer than 100 remain in the wild.
RZSS, BAS, CEBC-CNRS, RSPB, TAAF, TCD. 2018. Northern Rockhopper penguin Eudyptes moseleyi action plan 2017-2027. Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Northern rockhopper penguins are listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List due to significant population declines combined with a limited distributional range and increasing land and sea-based threats. This action plan synthesises the results from an Action Planning workshop held at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland in October 2017 and the knowledge and input from >15 key stakeholders and experts from governmental, non-governmental and research organisations to detail the actions needed to secure populations of the northern rockhopper penguin into the future.
RZSS and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Jones S., and Campbell-Palmer R. (2014) The Scottish Beaver Trial: The story of Britain's first licensed release into the wild. Final Report. Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
The Scottish Beavers project started back in 2009 as the Scottish Beaver Trial, one of the largest field trials of its kind. Using Knapdale Forest in mid-Argyll as a trial site, we worked in partnership with the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and with support from Forestry and Land Scotland, and NatureScot to reintroduce Eurasian beavers into a landscape they’d been absent from for over 400 years.
RZSS and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Dowse G., Taylor H.R., Girling S., Costanzi J.-M., Robinson S., and Senn H. (2020) Beavers in Knapdale: Final report from the Scottish Beavers Reinforcement Project. Published by Scottish Beavers, Edinburgh UK
The Scottish Beavers Reinforcement Project was led by Scottish Beavers, a partnership between the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) and the Scottish Wildlife Trust created to continue the work of the Scottish Beaver Trial. It took place on land managed by Forestry and Land Scotland (previously Forestry Commission Scotland) and was licensed by NatureScot (previously Scottish Natural Heritage), which also coordinated the monitoring requirements at the site
Read the final Reinforcement report
