Six members of ESUG, including Chair Julie Ewald, were among the participants at a second physical meeting of the Pro-Coast project in Bergen during 11-13 June 2024. Work is now starting in the nine Case Studies. This is under intensive guidance by social scientists, which reminds us how much this project differs from GEMCONBIO (2006-8), in which study of conservation projects showed that success depended mainly on adaptive management and knowledge leadership, and TESS (2008-11) in which the need for detailed local mapping and ease of collection by trained community volunteers was demonstrated. In Pro-Coast we seek to discover what individual motivations favour conservation behaviour, and to use this knowledge to engender massive roll-out of tools for sustainable use of wild resources. 

The public debate between those opposing and advocating for trophy hunting as a legal sustainable use activity is often shaped by the perception that policymakers have of the electorates views towards this. In 2021, Humane Society International published a survey erroneously extrapolating from a small sample of respondents in Germany and through biased wording that a majority of Europeans opposed trophy hunting. In 2023,  coalition of sustainable use organisations commissioned another study which concluded through robust and representative data that 53% of Europeans accepted the import of trophies from non EU countries while only 22,7% favoured a ban. You may read more on the importance of the wording used to mobilise politicians and civil society in this article: https://www.openaccessgovernment.org/article/analyzing-the-rhetoric-behind-trophy-hunting-narratives/178175/

Pro-Coast (a PROactive approach for COmmunities to enAble Societal Transformation) is running for three years from November 2023 in the EU Horizon Programme. Pro-Coast brings together 20 partners from 14 countries focusing on 9 case studies representing different types of coastal habitats in Europe. Focusing on change agents and combining global with local knowledge to benefit societies, the project will combine social and environmental science to promote restoration of biodiversity by coastal communities.

Pro-Coast is intended to scale up to wider areas along coasts and inland, using the networking developed by the European Sustainable Use Group together with SUME and IAF. A number of project partners, including ESUG as project lead, are associated with SUME. We will work with them to develop global approaches to conserve nature through sustainable use, hand in hand with experts, scientists and local communities. 

SUME and ESUG members attended a 3-day conference in Abu Dhabi on "The Significance of Indigenous People and Local Communities in linking Intangible Cultural Heritage and Wildlife Conservation". This event marked the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between IUCN and the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (IAF) on raptor conservation and stakeholder networking. Adrian Lombard, Elizabeth Leix, Alessandra Oliveto, Janusz Sielicki, Julian Mühle, Robert Kenward and Véronique Blontrock were all speakers and joined many young falconers for a training workshop on running our networks. Janusz launched IAF's new conservation network and presentations from the conference are available for access here.

Members of SULi and SUME (here Gabriela Lichtenstein & Julian Mühle) worked with Team-IUCN at Plenary 9 of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Panel on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Bonn during 3-9 July 2022. A main task of Plenary 9 was to approve the IPBES Assessment of Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, which was started in 2017 and exceeds 1100 pages. An advance version of the 30-page Summary for Policy Makers (SPM) is available online already with a press release from IPBES. The STM is now also covered in a two-page review for SULi and SUME members; comments on the two-pager are welcome, to help prepare for adding much material to our Naturalliance network when IPBES publishes the full six-chapter assessment..

IUCN-CEM's Ecosystem Restoration Thematic Group (ERTG) holds a very useful webinar series on “Ecosystem Restoration: Global Initiatives in Science and Practice” on the third Friday of each month. On 18 June 2021, the topic “Need Restoration be Multilingual?” was presented by members of SUME. We highlighted work on sustainable use solutions via international conventions, scientific papers and multilingual Glocal (Global with Local) networks. Please visit the ESUG website for links to the abstract and talk itself. There is also a copy of the a recording of the presentation for access here and a link to register for further ERTG webinars.

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IUCN-CEMs Ecosystem Restoration Thematic Group (ERTG) hält eine sehr nützliche Webinarreihe zum Thema "Ökosystem-Restaurierung: Globale Initiativen in Wissenschaft und Praxis" jeweils am dritten Freitag des Monats. Am 18. Juni 2021 wurde das Thema "Need Restoration be Multilingual?" (Muss Restauration Multilingual Sein) von Mitgliedern von SUME vorgestellt. Wir beleuchteten die Arbeit an nachhaltigen Nutzungslösungen über internationale Konventionen, wissenschaftliche Veröfentlichungen und mehrsprachige Glocal (Globale Kentnisse Lokal verbreiten) Netzwerke. Bitte besuchen Sie die Siete der ESUG für ein Kurzfassung und wietere Details, sowie eine Aufzeichnung auf Englisch mit einem Link zur Anmeldung für weitere ERTG-Webinare.

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El Grupo Temático de Restauración de Ecosistemas (ERTG) de la UICN-CEM celebra una serie de seminarios web muy útiles sobre "Restauración de ecosistemas: Iniciativas globales en la ciencia y la práctica" el tercer viernes de cada mes. El 18 de junio de 2021, el tema "¿Es necesario que la restauración sea multilingüe?" fue presentado por miembros de SUME. Destacamos el trabajo sobre soluciones de uso sostenible a través de convenios internacionales, artículos científicos y redes multilingües Glocal (Conocimientos Globales applicados a nivel local). Por favor, visite el sitio web de ESUG para más detalles y una grabación en Ingles. En ambos casos puede seguir el siguiente enlace para inscribirse en otros seminarios web de ERTG.

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Le Groupe thématique UICN-CEMs sur la restauration des écosystèmes (ERTG) organise une série de webinaires très utiles sur « Restauration des écosystèmes : initiatives mondiales en science et en pratique » le troisième vendredi de chaque mois. Le 18 juin 2021, le thème « La restauration doit-elle être multilingue ? » a été présenté par des membres de SUME. Nous avons mis en lumière les travaux sur les solutions d'utilisation durable via des conventions internationales, des papiers scientifiques et des réseaux multilingues Glocal (Global with Local). Veuillez consulter le site Web de l'ESUG pour une resume et plus de détails et un enrigistrement en anglaise avec un lien pour vous inscrire à d'autres webinaires ERTG.

¡Todos están invitados a una encuesta de las Naciones Unidas! El observador de la ONU con experiencia específica en biodiversidad, conservación de la naturaleza y uso sostenible es la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN).  Por ello, se insta a visitar nuestro sitio Naturalliance. En cada caso, por favor elija su idioma en la parte superior derecha.

A lot of ‘wildlife crime’ occurs because local traditions are rendered illegal by decisions made in English at international conventions without the awareness, let alone with consultation in their own language, of those affected. Such crime can be addressed by giving more scope for local people to act legally and explaining in local languages why that is important. Recommendations to that effect were one outcome of a workshop organised on 27 August in Abu Dhabi by the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey, the Convention on Conservation of Migratory Species and the Bern Convention. After a talk by SUME chairs and members of ESUG, our network to promote legal use of Saker Falcons was re-launched in 10 languages by an Emirati diplomat, HE Awadh Ali Sali, by pressing the button to publish www.sakernet.org.

The network for conserving ecosystems through sustainable use launched with 22 languages when Ambassador Andrew Dalgleish pressed the button at Aquatika in Croatia on 23 April 2019. This was part of a Regional Meeting of SUME, which was held with European Sustainable Use Group in Karlovac, Croatia, during 23-25 April 2019. See the Croatia Meeting page for details.

SUME's 4th meeting was kindly hosted during 26-27 October 2017 by the 

Instituto de Ciencias de la Naturaleza, Territorio y Energía Renovables at the

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Download proceedings of the meeting to read the abstracts, linked to Powerpoint presentations and other useful information.

SUME’s third meeting since its creation in 2014 was in the small town of Cholpon Ata, on the shores of Lake Issyk Kul in Central Asia. The meeting was kindly hosted on 7 September 2017 by the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (IAF). Download the report.

Piet Wit, CEM Chair during 2008-16, is the keynote speaker in a Conference on the Saker Falcon in Cholpon Ata, Kyrgyzstan at 08.45 on 7 September. Piet and SUME members who coordinate three continents will attend the SUME meeting that follows. If you can come for the day, there is still time to contact reke@ceh.ac.uk.

The next SUME meeting will be in Lima, Peru, during 26-27 October 2017. If you live in South America, do try to come to this meeting, which will be attended by CEM Chair Angela Andrade and all the SUME coordinators for the Americas. See the pages for more details in English and Spanish.