Sustainable Use Specialist Group (SUSG)
Using renewable natural resources sustainably means doing so in such a way that does not threaten a species by over-use, yet it will optimize benefits to both the environment and human needs. Sustainably using natural resources, including plants, forests, fish, and other wildlife, is an important conservation tool when addressing the increasing pressures on nature by people.
The IUCN Sustainable Use Specialist Group (SUSG) was first developed to implement the IUCN Sustainable Use Initiative, founded in 1995 to enhance and share knowledge of the social and biological factors affecting the sustainable use of wild renewable resources. Today, the SUSG's mission is to promote the conservation of biological diversity and alleviation of poverty by:
- Improving the understanding of the social and biological factors that enhance the sustainability of uses of wild living resources;
- Promoting that understanding to IUCN's members, decision-makers, and others; and
- Assisting IUCN members, partner organizations, and governments in the application of that understanding.
At the 2nd World Conservation Congress in Amman in 2000, the IUCN Sustainable Use Policy Statement, developed by the SUSG in a highly participatory manner, was adopted. Download the statement (Français, Español, Deutsch).
In 2009, the SUSG continues to be IUCN's main vehicle for promoting understanding of sustainable use. It includes a Global Concepts initiative and several decentralized networks of regional groups. The Global Concepts group includes many of the leading conceptual thinkers around issues of sustainability, human livelihoods, and the exploitation of natural resources. The regional groups function under the auspices of IUCN's Species Survival Commission. Each volunteer group decides its own membership, leadership, activities, and priorities within a global framework.
The importance of sustainable use
People have used, and will continue to use, living natural resources. As the global population increases and production decreases, some wild species may risk local extinction through excessive harvesting, fishing and hunting. There is an urgent need for better advice regarding management and use of natural resources globally and locally. The Convention on Biological Diversity recognizes the importance of this issue and made sustainable use of natural resources a central plank of the convention. In order to conserve resources, many experts believe we must have incentives in place to motivate people to use their available resources sustainably, thus benefiting nature and people.
IUCN’s involvement
IUCN recognizes that the economies, cultures, and well-being of all human societies depend on the use of biodiversity. Conservation must address the way that we use biodiversity, rather than construct artificial distinctions between people and nature.
The concept of sustainability is central to conservation but it embodies social dimensions - including distribution, values, and equity - as well as an understanding of the intrinsic limitations on the supply of biological products and ecological services.
The goal is to adopt uses of biodiversity that are sustainable. This may sound simple, but in designing such activities a broad range of issues must be addressed. For example:
- Who are the user groups? What are their patterns of consumption and demand?
- If a species or stock is being used, what is the condition of its habitat? Does it depend on other species? Is its size changing?
- Is the availability of the resource affected by natural disturbances? By human alteration of ecosystem processes? By declines in diversity?
- How are the benefits of resource use distributed? How is this determined?
Providing answers to these kinds of questions is the goal of the SUSG. Because there is such diversity in resources, uses, and users, there is no universal formula for sustainability.
Not just talking, but doing
The ability to assess biodiversity use in context is essential. Without this capacity conservation approaches will remain superficial and ineffective.
The SUSG’s output is as large and diverse as its membership. It generates case studies of sustainable projects, undertakes inventories, creates policies, implements projects, suggests approaches, and provides valuable overviews of sustainable use challenges and opportunities worldwide. Keep up to speed with the latest developments via the SUSG newsletter.
