IUCN SULi Strategy ‘21 - ‘25
A knowledge network enhancing sustainable use of wild resources
Globally, people in all regions rely on use of wild species for cultural, livelihood and recreational needs. This is particularly true for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. But over-exploitation is driving declines of wild species across many taxa and regions – from fish to fungi, from large mammals to medicinal plants, from timber species to tortoises. The drivers are multiple and complex, arising from the interplay of institutional, economic, and cultural factors.
The IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group (SULi) is a global volunteer network formed by the International Union of Conservation of Nature in 2012, as a joint initiative of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) and the Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy (CEESP). It aims to mobilise global expertise across the science, policy and practice sectors to address the urgent challenges of over exploitation of wild species and support robust, equitable models of sustainable use that meet human needs and priorities.
In its first years of operation SULi has established itself as a credible, influential voice in some of the most controversial and high profile issues facing the global conservation community, including on illegal wildlife trade (fauna and flora) and hunting. We have successfully built partnerships, marshaled knowledge, and influenced high level deliberations and policy. This strategy is based on experience gained over our first six years of operation, building on our successes and responding to the challenges identified in this period.
Our Approach
We work for conservation policy and decision-making that addresses and integrates human needs, and is formed with the strong participation of the communities who live close to wildlife. Our work is founded on the recognition, based on many years of practice and scholarship in diverse settings around the world, that conservation efforts are more likely to be effective and lasting when they contribute to the rights and well-being of the people living with wildlife. Realistic incentives (financial or non-financial) are needed at all levels – particularly the local – to encourage and motivate stakeholders to support conservation and actively contribute to protecting, managing and conserving wildlife.
Sustainable use of wildlife can provide such incentives. Sustainable use is use of species and ecosystems at a level that maintains their potential to meet current and future human needs and aspirations, and prevents their long-term decline. It includes both consumptive forms of use (hunting, harvesting, fishing, forestry) and non-consumptive (tourism). It further requires reducing any adverse or unintended impacts on the broader ecosystem to acceptable levels, consistent with long term species and ecosystem conservation. Use takes place as part of complex social-ecological systems, and its sustainability is affected by cultural, economic, social, and political dynamics.
Livelihoods are simply people’s means of “making a living” or securing the necessities of life. Using wild species and their associated ecosystems is, for millions of people across all regions, an important or essential part of making a living, and this is particularly true for many Indigenous Peoples and rural local communities (here called “communities”).
However, conservation narratives and practice are often top-down and exclusionary, and policy settings and frameworks are often unsupportive of sustainable use and incentive-based approaches. This is evident in a wide range of contexts – from elephant conservation to models for Marine Protected Area creation, and has arguably been exacerbated in recent years by “crisis mode” responses to the surge of poaching and illegal wildlife trade for high-profile species, and the increasing unacceptability of rise of consumptive wildlife use among (mainly developed-world) constituencies. Such approaches can cause local hardship, alienate potential conservation partners, remove incentives for conservation, and undermine collaborative conservation efforts.
We recognise that achieving sustainable use requires insights from far beyond the traditional realm of conservation biology, including governance, economics, and political ecology. SULi brings together an exceptionally diverse range of expertise, across the biological and social realms and across the divides of science, policy and practice.
To maximize our impact we focus our efforts on issues that are high priority for sustainable use and community livelihoods; where provision of specialist expertise can make a difference, alone or with partners; where a policy issue or process is dynamic and there is opportunity for long-term impact; and where we can harness the right expertise and capacity to engage with and contribute. We work extensively with partners at all levels – from on-the-ground community based organisations to key donors and the Secretariats of international conventions.
Our Theory of Change
A huge array of factors and dynamics affect the human use of wild species and whether it is sustainable – across the social, policy, governance, economic, and ecological realms, and at scales from local to global.
There are a number of crucial “disabling” factors at play that hamper sustainable use, leading to unsustainable use, habitat loss, and other detrimental outcomes for biodiversity conservation. There is a widespread lack of understanding of sustainable use – what it is, why it is important, and how to achieve it. In some cases this is exacerbated by lobbying of groups ideologically opposed to consumptive use of some charismatic species. Communities continue to have little ability to participate in and influence conservation debates and decision-making at all scales, meaning outcomes of decision-making often fail on the ground or have unacceptable human costs. Policy and governance frameworks are often unsupportive of sustainable use – they may impose regulatory barriers to some uses, fail to provide secure and enforceable property rights, fail to devolve meaningful rights and benefits to communities, or fail to adequately recognise the social and economic values of wild species and habitats. In consequence, wildlife frequently fails to deliver adequate benefits to people to out compete other land uses (particularly livestock and crops), habitat is lost, and there is widespread illegal/unsustainable use. External factors such as corruption, market pressures and economic and political shocks exacerbate all these dynamics.
To change this, we focus on intervening and changing particularly influential decision-making dynamics that have potentially large impacts. We seek to build a stronger base of knowledge and understanding on key high profile and important issues, create much greater awareness among a broad range of constituencies of the importance and role of sustainable use of wildlife for conservation and livelihoods, and boost the ability of the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who live with wildlife to effectively participate in conservation decision making. On this basis we engage with policy debates and with decision makers to help create a supportive and enabling policy, governance and economic environment for sustainable use and its contribution to livelihoods.
Our Intervention Logic
SULi’s unique strengths in pursuing this approach are that it:
includes over 300 experts from all continents;
brings together a broad and interdisciplinary array of expertise including management of forestry, fisheries, medicinal plants and wildlife; traditional knowledge; community based natural resource management; and rural development, governance and economics expertise;
links the intergovernmental, government, academic, NGO, private sector, and Indigenous Peoples and local community sectors;
as part of IUCN, draws on IUCN’s convening power, international policy influence, and network of expertise, and works with its thematic and regional programmes and members.
Our strategic objectives
Build knowledge and understanding on sustainable use and how to achieve it
Foster learning among our own community by sharing information and promoting debate;
Generate new thinking, policy exploration and understanding by convening key stakeholders on important issues, catalysing debate, and stimulating research;
Collect existing information/research into accessible knowledge resources;
Develop evidence-based recommendations, tools and guidelines to support decision-making and management.
Raise awareness of the importance of incentives, rights, and sustainable use among a broad conservation and development audience
Communicate with a wide variety of audiences, working with social media and a range of media outlets, to increase understanding and acceptance of the role of sustainable use in supporting conservation and livelihood outcomes and the importance of rights and incentives in achieving robust conservation outcomes.
Boost community voice
Enhance opportunities for communities to exercise their voices in key conservation decisionmaking arenas;
Support community representatives in articulating and presenting their perspectives and views
Enhancing the respect and recognition of Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK) in decision-making on conservation and sustainable use.
Influence practice and policy
Engage in national, regional and global policy debates and policy processes of high importance for sustainable use to create a more supportive policy environment
Act as a focal point on sustainable use for the IUCN “One Programme” approach, providing technical advice and developing coherent positions and inputs;
Engage with relevant corporates, governments, biodiversity users and others to promote and encourage more effective approaches in the context of sustainable use.
Funding
SULi has been funded since its inception through the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi’s framework grant to the IUCN Species Survival Commission, with further project support provided by the Austrian Ministry of the Environment; USAID (including through the Wildlife TRAPS project); the Polifund project of the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) and Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), implemented by GIZ; the United Nations International Trade Centre, and the United Nations Environment Program.
Operational Planning
These areas of work can be added to or amended at any time, in keeping with the above broad strategic objectives.
We pursue the above objectives by cross-cutting work as well as work focused on specific high-profile and important thematic areas.
Global Priorities
Build knowledge and understanding
Develop research and consultative project focused on understanding the conservation and livelihoods impact of the shift from wild to ex situ production for trade (wildlife farming)
Explore linkages between sustainable use and the recognition and support of ICCAs
New Annex on harvesting of threatened species for SSC Guidelines for Appropriate Uses of Red List Data (end 2017)
Awareness-raising on sustainable use
Increase publicly accessible resources and guidance on sustainable use.
Build new major website resources on SU, to act as a repository of knowledge, enhance understanding of the diversity and impact of sustainable use approaches, serve as a resource for communications efforts and media engagement, and provide useful general guidance for implementing SU (initiated 2018)
Significantly lift the level of engagement in outward-facing communications
Develop strategic communications plan (end 2017)
Implement (2018)
Communities and illegal wildlife trade
Provide thought leadership and catalytic policy inputs in the illegal wildlife trade (IWT) debate and shape policy frameworks
Communication and dissemination of “Wild Life, Wild Livelihoods” report and its key messages (end 2017, early 2018)
Planning and launch of GIZ-funded Learning Platform on Communities and IWT (early 2018)
First Line of Defence initiative rolled out in further countries in East/Southern Africa (ongoing)
Latin America workshop with CBD Secretariat, Mexico, IIED, TRAFFIC, UNEP-WCMC (first half 2018)
Engagement in planning and activities aimed at influencing London Conference on IWT (2018)
Sustainable wildlife management and hunting
Work within the Collaborative Partnership on Wildlife to promote greater understanding and policy guidance on sustainable management of terrestrial vertebrates for conservation and human wellbeing
Contribute to formulation and dissemination of CPW high-level policy document on sustainable wildlife management
Lead development of CPW publications on hunting in North America, and work with CIC on publication on hunting in Europe
Help shape CPW Strategic Plan 2018-2020
Build the knowledge base on the conservation and livelihoods impacts of recreational hunting globally (including trophy hunting)
Dissemination of Briefing Paper at appropriate opportunities (including in the EU)
Secure funding for, and initiate, the SSC Situation Analysis on conservation and livelihood impacts of hunting (2018)
Conservation and livelihood benefits from legal and sustainable wildlife trade
Supporting community voice in CITES
Supporting the establishment and operation of the CITES Rural Communities Working Group (initially 2017 then through 2018)
Highlighting key messages from the Wild Lives, Wild Livelihoods report regarding opportunities for community participation in various conservation arenas (including CITES) (ongoing)
Develop case studies or other synthetic products exploring the livelihoods impacts of legal, sustainable wildlife trade, for 2018 workshop hosted by China
Small scale fisheries
Develop dialogue, resources and guidance on integration of ILK into small scale fisheries management
Regional Priorities
North America: Provide technical advice and support to the Wild Harvest Initiative, focused on gathering information on the biological, social and economic significance of wild harvest for food. Explore implications of declining hunter numbers on conservation models in North America and other countries.
East/Southern Africa: Developing thinking and knowledge on how diversified benefit streams for communities can support wildlife-based land uses, and engage with national/regional policy frameworks to create a more supportive environment for this.
Central Asia: Support development of community-based wildlife management initiatives, through technical support and engaging hunting organisations to help combat illegal trophy hunting activities and support community enterprises.
Europe: Engage with Member States and European Union institutions to increase understanding and awareness of the potential of sustainable use to meet conservation and human wellbeing objectives.
Operational
Engage the expertise and energy of a wider group of members from a wide range of regions, through supporting regional meeting and development of regional networks and work, supporting programmatic work that draws on a wide range of members, and establishing new Working Groups and Task forces led by members.
Establish a larger and more sustainable funding base to enable more Program Officer staffing, and an office space.