Ex Situ Conservation Assessment
Ex Situ Conservation Planning
Agreeing which species would benefit from ex situ management and developing plans for realising those benefits.
Species with small, fragmented wild populations may need a multi-faceted conservation approach to ensure their survival. Ex situ management activities can be an important component of this.
CPSG’s Ex situ Conservation Assessment process supports field- and ex situ-based experts to explore the conservation value and feasibility of ex situ activities for species. Where decisions are made to move forward with ex situ management, plans for this are built collaboratively using the One Plan Approach.
Our Process
Ex situ Conservation Assessments
The CPSG Ex situ Conservation Assessment is a practical application of the IUCN SSC Guidelines on the Use of Ex Situ Management for Species Conservation, which advocates a five-step decision process to determine if and which ex situ activities might be appropriate to be included in an overall conservation strategy for a species. These five steps are as follows:
- Conduct a thorough status assessment (of both in situ and any known ex situ populations) and threat analysis.
- Identify potential roles that ex situ management can play in the overall conservation of the species.
- Define the characteristics and dimensions of the program needed to fulfill the identified potential conservation role(s).
- Define the resources and expertise needed for the ex situ management program to meet its role(s) and appraise the feasibility and risks.
- Make an informed and transparent decision as to which ex situ roles and activities (if any) to retain within the overall conservation strategy of the species.
In a CPSG-facilitated Ex situ Conservation Assessment workshop, field-based and ex situ experts work through these steps together to reach consensus findings on what will produce the best conservation outcomes for species.
Ex situ Conservation Planning
Our process for Ex situ Conservation Planning builds on the outputs of an Ex situ Conservation Assessment and uses a combination of CPSG’s Principles and Steps, tailor made analytical tools such as PMx and Vortex, and the One Plan Approach, to develop achievable plans for establishing and managing conservation-directed ex situ populations.
Integrated Collection Assessment and Planning
Integrated Collection Assessment and Planning (ICAP) workshops are another practical application of the IUCN SSC Guidelines for the Use of Ex Situ Management for Species Conservation. Aimed at global or regional zoo and aquarium associations, or other coalitions of ex situ conservation organisations, the ICAP workshop process aims to enhance the conservation of species by:
a) providing guidance to zoos and aquariums on which species to include in their animal collections, conservation education messaging, research, and in situ field support;
b) promoting collaboration among regional zoo associations, field‐based conservationists, and IUCN SSC Specialist Groups.
The plant lab at Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo successfully reproduced Governor Laffan's ferns, using protocols inspired by an earlier CPSG workshop. In 2020, 16 reintroduced subpopulations of fern were thriving in Bermuda with hundreds more soon to be returned to their native habitat.
