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CURRENT ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION AT THE SPECIES SURVIVAL COMMISSION STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING JUNE 2005 |
| Draft 10505 In order to find new support for veterinary issues in conservation, we propose to table some key concerns at the SSC Steering Committee meeting in June. We would like this effort to reflect the VSG members’ mainstream opinion so any input or comments are welcome. Silence will be taken as endorsement. We have selected the following broad areas of conservation, highlighted the key veterinary concerns associated with each, and suggested how we would like to see these issues tackled. VSG members can help by commenting on these points. We would like to prioritize and focus on only 1 to 3 of the themes at the SSC Steering Committee meeting and put an action plan together for the next 2 to 5 years on each topic. If you are willing to assist the development of this, please let us know, as it is a huge task. These concepts in no way limit or restrict the activities of the VSG. They are being proposed to the SSC Steering Committee to seek their participation in VSG direction-setting. 1) The Wildlife Trade Wildlife can pose sanitary risks when transported alive or dead across continents. Regulations exist in most countries to reduce the risk, but they are often inadequately implemented as the trade is complex and peripheral to mainstream export and import. VSG recommends establishing a joint working group between the VSG, OIE, the trade components of the agricultural community, and the public health sectors to better integrate control of this trade to reduce risks. Involvement of these other parties would serve to include them in discussions of wildlife conservation issues, and gain seats at the table for conservation when domestic animal and human health planning is taking place. 2) Disease/Health Threats Use significant disease issues to highlight integrated approaches to health that include wildlife conservation considerations. Diseases or threats could include: tuberculosis, emerging disease threats such as the Tasmanian Devil Facial Tumor disease, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, SARS, Anthrax, etc. What are the optimal control measures? What are the options most suited to maintaining healthy environments with or without these pathogens? Do we consider pathogens as biodiversity? Do we really understand the ecological implications of pathogen eradication paradigms? VSG could produce a policy paper/guidelines for adoption by the SSC in relation to the control of certain diseases to improve the health of animals, humans, and the ecosystems we depend on. The spin-off is clearly good conservation practice. This could be circulated to the country veterinary officers, and wildlife and public health authorities in all countries. EXAMPLE: VSG to support an African initiative on Anthrax, as epidemics appear to be increasing in frequency for some unknown reason on the continent. 3) Effects of Drugs as Poisons on Non-target Species Examples: VSG recommends to SSC that a working group be set up with the pharmaceutical industry and state regulatory bodies for pharmaceuticals to implement control, labeling of risk, etc. VSG also to head a task force with the vulture specialist group under the SSC to facilitate resolution on the use of Diclofenac in all vulture range states. 4) Rangelands - Last Refuge for Cattle, Wildlife, and Traditional Communities Globally, the current situation for rangelands is grim with rapid declines in most large mammal communities and environmental degradation. Where veterinary care is scarce, there is excessive resource utilization on rangelands by unhealthy and unproductive livestock. Yet this is the last refuge for traditional pastoral communities and often wildlife. With the opportunity cost of wildlife too high in higher production lands, they are being rapidly turned over to agriculture. VSG recommends establishment of a SSC task force (incorporating all relevant SSC elements and other Commissions like the WCPA) to look at and promote: -Guidelines for appropriate co-existence of livestock
and wildlife on rangelands that are not currently instituted in many national
park systems occupied by livestock. Details of an example programme in Southern Africa is described below. AHEAD – Animal Health for the Environment And Development, transboundary management of natural resources, and the importance of a “One Health” Approach The transboundary management of natural resources, particularly of water and wildlife, and the associated development of Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCAs), has been a major focus of attention over the last few years in Southern Africa. Twenty potential and existing TFCAs have been identified in the SADC region, involving 12 continental African member states. The TFCAs include many national parks, neighboring game reserves, hunting areas, and conservancies, mostly occurring within a matrix of land under traditional communal tenure. Altogether, the proposed TFCAs cover about 120 million hectares. Transboundary natural resource management and TFCA development has also been closely linked to emerging Spatial Development Initiatives (SDIs) and corridors within Southern Africa. A key economic driver linking these conservation and infrastructure development initiatives is wildlife-based tourism that seeks to maximize returns from marginal lands in a sector where Southern Africa enjoys a global comparative advantage. However, the management of wildlife and livestock diseases within the envisaged larger transboundary landscapes remains unresolved and an issue of major concern to other economic sectors in the region. The interactions at the interface between animal health, ecosystem services, and human health and well-being are also poorly understood, resulting in policy development compromised by a lack of appropriate information and understanding of the complex systems and issues involved. With the ongoing philosophical and practical expansion of the TFCA concept, the needs of communities living in and near these areas must be addressed, as transfrontier conservation areas have the potential to have both positive as well as negative impacts on sustainable livelihoods. In particular, disease issues are a significant concern when contact between wild animals and domestic stock increases with changes in land-use patterns. 5) Great Ape Conservation Diseases, along with hunting and habitat loss, are playing a role in the severe, ongoing decline in gorilla and chimpanzee populations. For these species so closely related to man, zoonoses are an obvious entry point for health education for those living around their habitats. Conservation education can be used to promote respect and better habits, especially with respect to consumption of primates and specifically great apes, as well as provide recommendations to reduce the risk of human diseases entering ape populations. The object should not be to encourage a negative perception in relation to the infection risk from great apes and primates, but to convince the population of the need to respect species with so much in common with mankind and conserve them. VSG recommends the setting up of a human-great ape international health working group with representation from the human health sector, the primate conservation community (e.g. SSC primate), and the VSG under the auspices of the SSC. This would focus on the endangered apes globally and the conservationists and scientists working most closely with the problems and the zones affected. The task will be to set up a monitoring system for the major health concerns, a funding basis for intervention and an action plan for institutional support and implementation. 6) Carnivores The impact of domestic pets on wild carnivores is an issue from the perspective of disease (e.g. distemper, rabies), genetics (e.g. crossing Ethiopia wolf, wild cat); displacement; domestic animals occupying predator niches so local wild carnivores go extinct as prey base is reduced; destruction of rodent and bird populations; and feral control with side effects from poison use etc. Through SSC, VSG would like to initiate recommendations to pet owners and government authorities on the impact of domestic animals on the environment and in areas with endangered species that are affected, initiate campaigns to mitigate their impact. This would focus on disease issues initially and encourage other interest groups to tackle specific issues (e.g. Ethiopian wolf, hunting dog communities). PLEASE SEND YOUR COMMENTS DIRECTLY TO DR. RICHARD KOCK:
richard.kock@au-ibar.org before
May 30, 2005
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