Abstract

The greater proportion of species diversity is situated in what is known as the developing world, most of which is in the tropics. The need for identification, assessment and intensive management and monitoring of threatened and near threatened taxa is critical for an ever increasing number of species. Yet, the individuals and even institutions responsible for identification and assessment in tropical countries often suffer from poor communication facilities, low-currency, and vexing administrative, bureaucratic and political scenarios. These thwart efforts to forward conservation action. A variety of skills and a flexible approach are required to address these scenarios and fill lacunaes in information and communication and give impetus to action. The Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, SSC, IUCN has evolved a dynamic set of tools and processes in both conservation and communication, or man management which can cut through administrative and political hierarchies, facilitate sharing of information and clarify conservation problems and solutions. Regional or national networks of the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, operating at the grass roots level, can make maximum use of these tools and processes to catalyse conservation action where it is most required. These tools are ideal for helping countries fulfill their commitment to the Convention on Biodiversity. This essay describes the work of the Indian National Network of the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group and its utopian dream for Indian conservation breeding facilities and zoos.

The Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG) is the specialist group of IUCN with a mandate to advise IUCN, SSC, and other SSC Specialist Groups on the intensive management of small populations in the wild and the uses of captive propagation for conservation, in accordance with the IUCN Policy Statement on Captive Breeding. It is a global network of specialists in species recovery planning, small population biology, reproductive and behavioral biology, captive animal management, and related subjects. It is the only specialist group which deals with such a broad range of subject areas which, taken together, comprise conservation biology. The Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, in the writer’s opinion should be re-named the Conservation Biology Specialist Group to better reflect its range of activities and expertise.

CBSG Regional Networks, which are modelled on the unique organisational ideals of CBSG and are committed to its scientific and technical standards can take CBSG tools and principles deep into the grass roots conservation scenario of a region or country otherwise isolated from cutting edge, mainstream conservation sciences. The stakeholders in that region or country can then work with the basic conservation tools and techniques and adapt them to their own needs and requirements, thus strengthening their expertise and establishing their regional conservation identity.

CBSG describes itself as "a catalyst and coordinator for intensive management of threatened small populations". CBSG, SSC has more than 800 members from 70 nations around the world and serves as a neutral but dynamic stimulus as well as coordinating agency for individuals and organisations, both governmental and non-governmental which work with wildlife in any capacity. CBSG Regional Networks are catalysts and coordinators at the local or regional level.

CBSG Regional Networks have been functioning since 1991 when a grassroots regional CBSG "satellite" was convened in India as an activity of the Zoo Outreach Organisation, an Indian organisation providing technical and educational support to zoos. A few years afterwards, Indonesia formed a group on the same model but with appropriate modifications for the conservation culture of that country. Since then CBSG regional networks have come about in MesoAmerica, Mexico, Sri Lanka, and Japan with additional networks emerging in their own time in other countries. CBSG Regional Networks all are direct offshoots of the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, SSC, IUCN, started by an individual CBSG member from that region.

The activities which have resulted from the CBSG, India regional network demonstrate that such a linking device for the various conservation specialists within a country can bring about very positive results in a short time. In this discussion, the principles and practices which enable a small, under-funded organisation to raise the conservation consciousness of nearly 1000 indigenous specialists, and to catalyse conservation action at so many levels in a very large, low-currency, high-biodiversity country such as India will be examined.

That a mother organisation would permit, much less encourage, its satellites with such autonomy as CBSG Regional Networks are given is quite amazing. It is, however, one of the main reasons such networks are effective – the flexibility, wisdom and affirmative attitude of the "mother" organisation. In a situation in which it is "normal" behaviour for an organisation to monitor and control its offshoots, and go on getting bigger and bigger (and in many instances less and less effective) CBSG has given carte blanche with (for the most part) very good results.

This flexibility even extends to the organisation’s attractive logo featuring a vignette of the world’s endangered species, which it has permitted every Network to re-draw with its own threatened animals in a similar but individual configuration. This level of freedom to shape the network and its symbols according to the requirements of the culture, society and services of the individual country is a requirement for success. Values as opposed to objectives, and the importance given them, also play a very significant role in making the network effective.

The fact that the first regional network was convened in India, a country of exceptional independence by a CBSG member from USA who was perhaps oversensitive to this characteristic may have set an extreme precedent for autonomy which has, nontheless, worked very well.

Regional or National networks or offshoots of CBSG are not just desirable but necessary due to the very wide variety in environment, social and economic conditions, as well as in policy and philosophy extant in different countries and regions. Sometimes these differences are very significant and sensitive. IUCN has recognised the need for local organisation by setting up IUCN offices in some countries with varying degrees of success.

Regional networks can not only inform CBSG of these differences or sensitive areas when CBSG is contemplating a workshop but also adapt and extend the CBSG workshop processes, models and modus operandi to suit individual conditions. This has the additional advantage of acting as a mechanism for creativity as well as evolution of new methodologies and processes.

One of the problems of coordinating an international conservation network is the sheer size of the task and the number of individuals who belong to the global conservation community. SSC Specialist Groups like to have representatives in all countries where their specialty or discipline is required, but it is difficult to keep up with local specialists, particularly in countries where economics and development make communication tedious. As a result many of the specialist group membership is skewed in favour of specialists from temperate countries when, considering that much of the earth’s biodiversity is in the tropics, it should be the other way around. Regional networks can inform CBSG about particularly knowledgeable or key individuals who should be part of CBSG and even SSC as well as providing exposure to advances in conservation science to a great number of specialists within the country.

An example of differences in cultural and religious tradition which impacts on scientific management of zoos is that euthanasia and culling, whether practised as a management tool or as an act of mercy is not normally done in India although there is a legal provision for it. A Regional Network can assess the importance of the tool as against the strength of tradition and make appropriate adjustments. Another example, common to many countries, particularly in tropical regions, is the mandatory transfer of officials every few months or years. This has a serious consequence on the practice of scientific management in zoos and protected areas and has to be considered. In fact, one of the reasons why CBSG, India seemed a good idea was that it provided a means of pulling together forest officers who had served in zoos and protected areas, even after their transfer so that their expertise could be availed.

In India, although it is a zoo organistion which is hosting and promoting CBSG, it is not the zoo personnel but the community of university and other institutional researchers and field biologists which have become closely associated with the regional network. Indian zoos have become more organised in the last decade but have not yet demonstrated the administrative capacity to sustain viable species management programmes. CBSG, India as a Regional Network has adopted a "wait and see" policy regarding the zoos while continuing to work with the field community on activities which impact the zoos peripherally and could spur them into a more sustained and coordinated effort. This requires a deep understanding and subtle interaction with the System which probably can be done only by an organisation on site. CBSG activities and workshop outputs in India have provided a framework around which a collection plan can be engineered. This will be discussed at length later.

Conservation resources being limited, Regional Networks provide a sort of "extension" division for CBSG and even SSC to an extent to expend their reach and become more efficient and effective. Disbursal of CBSG as well as other SSC literature through local publications and a reprint service or for a low cost is one of the many services a regional network can provide. Although there are 60 full CBSG members in India there are relatively few members of other SSC Specialist Groups. Therefore, all the SSC Specialist Group newsletters are collected from SSC copied, and offered to anyone who wants them at cost, for CBSG activities rely on all species and subject area specialist group material, e.g. Cervid, Cat, etc. and Reintroduction, Veterinary, etc. This is a Regional adjustment to a regional need.

CBSG, India maintains strong links with Indian regional branches of some SSC specialist groups, and its host organisation, Zoo Outreach Organisation, (Z.O.O.) even serves as a sort of administrative or network branch office of the regional office of some groups, such as DAPTF-SA (Declining Amphibian Populations Task Force South Asia) and SARASG (South Asian Reptile and Amphibian Specialist Group) with plans to network others. Post workshop follow-up in conservation action is also done through the taxon based specialist groups of SSC.

Regional and national networks, then, are not just clones of CBSG but independent organizations which can, within the context of holistic conservation and the science that CBSG promotes, adjust their priorities to fit local or regional needs and characteristics.

Being associated with the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, teaching, promoting and utilising their tools and processes, also has other advantages besides the obvious one of their excellence. CBSG has come to stand for the scrupulous practice of conservation biology and holistic conservation. Being associated with these methodologies and a singular direction which CBSG respresents can give the organisation hosting it as well as the network and its members a regional conservation identity, which is very useful.

Regional networks do what many conservation organisations and societies do, but there are many other special advantages from being allied with CBSG One advantage is the linkage with IUCN and the Species Survival Commission which gives status and importance to the regional network in the eyes of the conservation community. Also, it links the network to all the specialist groups in SSC in some way or other. As CBSG involves SSC Specialist Group members in appropriate workshops, CBSG Regional Networks involve local SSC Specialist Group members in their region. For example when planning a series of biodiversity workshops using CBSG’s Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (C.A.M.P.) process, CBSG, India invited virtually all of the Indian SSC specialist group members.

If Dr. U. S. Seal, Chairman of CBSG, has one particularly outstanding ability among his numerous talents, it is his capacity for holding, communicating and conveying a positive vision. CBSG operates on the principle that species and populations can be saved, or recovered, no matter how far they have declined. Simultaneously CBSG stresses that captive breeding is merely a support and not a substitute for field conservation, and that conservation action should begin before populations become small. In the context of many a "hopeless" wildlife scenario today, these positive principles are perhaps "utopian".

However, the efficacy of a utopian vision in bringing about actual change has been studied and affirmed. Conservation of biodiversity in today’s world often seems an impossible dream. However, the dream itself or the "vision" is of crucial importance. Dr. Michael Robinson, Director, National Zoo, Washington, D. C., spoke sadly at a conference in Paignton on Zoo Design of his "failed dreams" – his Biopark and the compromises which had to be made due to staff downsizing, finance and technical difficulties. However, having seen the National Zoo’s Amazonia, a replica of an Amazon forest, and its unique Research Station below where visitors get to investigate the Zoo Research faculty’s international projects and even observe the scientists at work, it is clear that it has achieved a unique excellence of its own. However much it may have fallen short of Robinson’s dream, it is far superior to a plan with a lesser "dream" or vision.

David L. Cooperrider discusses the importance of "vision" for a society or an organisation in an article entitled Appreciative Management and Leadership: Positive Image, Positive Action. In describing the work of a Dutch sociologist, Fred Polak, he comments "almost without exception, everything society has considered a social advance has been prefigured first in some utopian writing" – Plato’s Politeia, Thomas More’s Utopia, Harrington’s Oceana, Abbe Sieyes Constitution de l’An VIII, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence. Polak, unlike many scientists who cynically denigrate utopian concepts claims that historical analysis shows utopia to be a "powerhouse."

Seal and his conservation associates in CBSG presume what daily seems more and more utopian, that it is still possible to salvage wildlife and habitat, even after it is – to all extent and purposes – committed to a downward spiral or an extinction vortex. Pie in the sky is not on the CBSG Agenda, however; everything is rooted in science and technology, even the management of human beings in conservation workshops ! However, the positive vision has to come first … to provide the faith and hope which provides a framework for the application of science. The truly amazing thing about Seal and CBSG is their unique ability to pass along this positive vision of a salvageable Nature and their own ability to contribute to its salvation by sharing tools and techniques with people in isolated areas with far less or no scientific training. These people in turn can infuse their own colleagues and associates with enthusiasm.

Finally the flat organisational structure and Seal’s determination to think big but for CBSG to remain small and flexible also live well in today’s world. CBSG also is not an "aggressor" – it tries to fill gaps in the conservation scenario rather than take over territory, although people sometimes misunderstand the vital enthusiasm characteristic of some CBSG members.

ZOO/CBSG, India is a strong proponent of both "small" and "gap resolution", in organisational structure and even species. Our focus on invertebrates, amphibians, bats, rodents and insectivores and plants came about in part to fill what was perceived as an gap in awareness and interest in applying principles of conservation biology to these groups of organisms in India. As it happens, some of those groups are the same targeted by SSC, IUCN for Task Forces and special committees. Our earlier focus on mammals had become redundant with the formation and activation of the Central Zoo Authority a government organization. Territorial tension and misunderstandings could be curtailed by shifting to smaller animals which need attention in any case. The importance of principles and values combined with flexibility is apparent in such example. A more structured organisation could not just switch so easily and a more "conservative" organisation would never agree to !

A whole range of programmes and processes which pull together specialists and officials across a variety of disciplines – in zoos, wildlife departments, and academia have been developed by CBSG and refined in workshops all over the world. Because the conservation community and its problems is so diverse, organisers and participants of CBSC processes from regions of high biodiversity have been uniquely innovative. CBSG processes often take the form of collaborative workshops which hone in on essential conservation problems and solutions. Different types of workshops address aspects of a single species, such as a Population and Habitat Viability Assessment (PHVA), or of a whole range of species in a given taxonomic group, as in a Conservation Assessment and Management Plan (CAMP) Workshop.

Population and Habitat Viability Assessment Workshops (PHVA) – PHVA’s have become one of the more dynamic and effective conservation, management and education tools in the whole world conservation scenario. Seventy-five species in 25 countries have been the target of these highly sophisticated, scientific, process-driven workshops. A PHVA combines five elements:

(1) fear of loss and hope for recovery of a particular species in trouble; (2) a participatory group process involving active field biologists, zoo personnel and related discipline; (3) a computer simulation modelling programme called VORTEX which, by working with factual information about the population and habitat of the species, creates a set of management scenarios which are designed to insure the survival of the species with 90% genetic viability for the long term (about 100 years); (4) a neutral facilitation technique designed to dispense with unnecessary quibble and hierarchial habit patterns, and give all participants their say; and (5) an objective Report owned and authored by participants and edited by C.B.S.G.

PHVA Workshops all over the world have been successful in bringing together stakeholders who stand to be affected by the loss of the species and who may play a role in its recovery. CBSG, India has organised six PHVA workshops in India. PHVAs are sometimes criticised because there is no way to report that recommendations have been implemented. In India, conservation actions indeed have come about following PHVAs, however, the credit did not necessarily go the workshop nor are we informed officially! This may be the case for many PHVAs throughout the world. Also PHVA workshops do plant seeds, but the infertile ground of tropical bureaucracy may increase germination time ! Indian conservation workers from the forest service, universities and non-governmental organisations have occasionally informed us that some particular action was being taken as a result of the PHVA and that the briefing books and report were useful in answering Parliament questions.

Some results communicated to us were : as a result of the Manipur Brow-antlered deer PHVA recommendations the Forest Department of Manipur conducted a ground census recommended in the PHVA and the Ministry used the PHVA Report to answer Parliament questions. The Lion-tailed macaque PHVA recommendations resulted in a training course funded by Central Zoo Authority. The Asiatic lion PHVA and recommendations provided the needed impetus to put a long felt need for an alternative habitat into action. The Indian rhino PHVA recommendation suggesting that unrelated rhinos be introduced into two small sanctuaries to strengthen the gene pool of small populations there was implemented.

An additional outcome of CBSG process workshops is the complete documentation of aspects of the biology and population dynamics of these species, as much as exists. The workshops drew attention to the problems of these species. The workshops "train" and expose hundreds of zoo and field biologists to the latest trends in the conservation sciences.

Conservation Assessment and Management Plan Workshops -- The Conservation Assessment and Management Plan Workshop is a process by which a few to a few hundred species in a taxonomic group are selected for analysis. A species list is distributed to local taxon specialists by the convening organisation along with a questionnaire called a Taxon Data Sheet to be filled about any species the field biologist has surveyed along with an invitation to attend a workshop. In the workshop, the Taxon Data Sheet is again filled out but this time by a working group which discusses and debates each fact before entering it on the workshop data form. The conservation status of each species can be categorised using te criteria prepared by IUCN Species Survival Commission (IUCN Red List Categories, 1994) and available species information provided by participants of the CAMP.

The IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria is a sophisticated, scientific, internationally acceptable system which is recognised and used by CITES as well as other international and national organisations, including governments.

In a CAMP Taxon Data Sheet, sections on legislation, trade and captive propagation are included. Reports and recommendations provided by special issue working groups which convene following the species assessment are also part of the CAMP process. Special issues having to do with taxonomy, nomenclature, field research, genetics, trade, and education often come up during the workshop and can be dealt with by the special issue discussions.

CBSG personnel act as neutral facilitators, lead the workshop, coordinate discussions, and insure that participants reach consensus and closure. A Draft Report is prepared by CBSG as an objective editor and the participants as the authors and owners of the report. This Draft Report is circulated to participants who make editorial corrections. Major changes of information are not permitted as this would would undermine the consensual processs. Finally CBSG produces the final Report in the name of the organising host and the participants and circulates it to them and to relevant policy makers, government and non-governmental organisations. CBSG has conducted more than 56 of these workshops in 20 countries.

CBSG, India received a request for a methodology for prioritising 300 medicinal plants from a non-governmental organisation whose mandate is medicinal plants of southern India, and suggested a CAMP workshop. The first Indian CAMP was conducted with help from CBSG Chairman Dr. U. S. Seal, and the second from a CBSG member plant specialist from Kew Gardens Dr. Mike Maunder. A final exercise was facilitated by CBSG, India staff on its own. The medicinal plant NGO learned the process simply by holding CAMPs and they are now conducting their own workshops. A Review of the results of the preceeding three exercises was conducted in March 1999 and the outcome is in Press as a Regional Red Data Book for Southern Indian Medicinal Plants.

The CBSG strategy, therefore, can be used to train and empower people to conduct their own workshops, as has occurred in India and Meso-American countries.

As a result of the medicinal plants CAMPs, in 1996 ZOO/CBSG, India was invited to apply for a project to assess much of Indian’s biodiversity through a project of the Biodiversity Support Programme. The Biodiversity Conservation Prioritisation Project (BCPP), a mega project to assess species, sites and strategies for conservation of all Indian biodiversity. A proposal was accepted and in 1997, seven CAMPs were conducted to assess the conservation status of more than 1400 species for the purpose of prioritisation of conservation action.

Project organisers insisted that the exercise was to be conducted entirely by in-country resource persons so we were on our own. That a small, understaffed establishment such as ZOO / CBSG, India could organise and conduct such a major undertaking successfully on its own is a tribute to the efficacy of CBSG methods of empowering people in range countries and of the CAMP process itself.

The first biodiversity CAMP to be held in India undertook the assessment of 90 species of northern medicinal plants. Before three months had passed after the workshop the results were used by the Ministry of Environment to strengthen their case for a Negative List of Exports for Medicinal Plants. Further, the Director, Wildlife issued a letter to all state governments calling attention to the CAMP results and directing them use great caution in issuing collection permits for species assessed as Threatened. The same letter recommended that the state governments encourage cultivation of these species, and announced that they would be considered for inclusion on the revised schedules of the Wildlife Protection Act.

One could hardly ask for more from a national government, which has its own restrictions and limitations. The features of the CAMP Workshop which made it acceptable to the Indian Environment Ministry were that it : (1) used an internationally known and accepted scientific methodology, e.g. the IUCN Red List Criteria, (2) was a national level project, e.g. the Biodiversity Conservation Prioritisation Project for India; (3) used a participatory methodology involving 40 botanists from reputable Indian botanical institutions (4) was an in-country exercise using Indian specialists and (5) provided a report for every species assessed with scientific reasons to back up every status assessment

Practical results which can be put to use immediately abound in CAMP Workshops. Species which are assessed as Threatened, e.g. Critically endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) and Vulnerable (VU) frequently are recommended for protection and propagation with actions which can be put into place at once. Data deficient (DD) species are recommended for further field surveys. The published Report stating this in the opinion of up to 50 botanists makes a strong case for funding such surveys.

The Biodiversity Convention suggests that signatory nations prioritise their species and sites. Now India has prioritised all Indian Reptiles, Amphibians, Mammals, Fish (half), Mangrove plants, and selected invertebrates and plants. The results of these assessments, all conducted with expertise from the major Indian scientific institutions, have been submitted to the Ministry of Environment for review in context of the revisions to be done to schedules of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act. These exercises have very immediate value.

International cooperation and coordination of endangered species breeding, both nationally and internationally, is one of the major subject areas of regional zoo cooperation today. For a variety of reasons, both administrative and historical, Indian zoos have not become involved in these international programmes. In fact, as mentioned earlier, the majority of members of CBSG, India and associated networks and special interest groups are not zoo personnel but field biologists. The field conservation community was quick to pick up on the principles of conservation biology being espoused by CBSG and CBSG, India, whereas the zoo community, with a very few exceptions, has been unable to bring these principles into their work.

For a variety of reasons, Indian zoos – either individually or as a community -- have not been able to construct a workable, systematic and scientific species management plan for endangered species. Instead, every year or two a list of species is drawn up in a zoo directors meeting and different zoos are asked to regularize sex ratios, make pairs, and separate related animals. However enthusiastic the zoo directors are about doing this, when they return to their zoos, they are unable to organise most of these exchanges. The bureaucracy attached to each institution is so complex and the understanding of the bureaucrats so poor that few animals have been exchanged which would forward the conservation of their species. The frequent transfer of zoo officials and wildlife authorities who are their superiors also prevents successful implementation of these plans.

In addition the cultural tradition against euthanasia and culling, the courageous policy of the Central Zoo Authority to close down travelling menageries and substandard zoos, and the confiscation of numerous performing animals, mischievous animals, animals in trade and other animals have created a very large surplus which usually go to the best zoos as per the demands of the Indian animal welfare community. Finally a lack of awareness of the importance of maintaining species integrity and later a fear of performing vasectomies has resulted in a large number of hybrid animals taking up zoo space and resources. These problems are well known to the Central Zoo Authority, the national government coordinating agency for zoos, which has taken steps to rectify them but is stymied by opposition or obstruction from the animal welfare lobby, state level bureaucracy, the public and sometimes the zoos themselves. CAMP Workshop output can be used to suggest changes which would enhance conservation relevance of zoos and strengthen the case for influencing changes by government which would mitigate these problems.

CAMP workshops were developed at the behest of Sir Peter Scott when he was Chairman of the Species Survival Commission to prioritize species for conservation breeding, so that breeding groups of threatened species could be set up and managed to maintain 90% genetic variability over the long term. Thus a reserve stock could be available for reintroduction, strengthening small, genetically impoverish populations, starting alternative populations, or introduction into ecologically similar and safe areas according to IUCN Policy on Captive Breeding.

The Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, (1972;91) with Schedules of protected species has been used as a means of selecting species for captive breeding. However, the main focus of the Act is on trade or poaching which does not necessarily give a correct picture of the conservation status. The decision to keep a species in a particular Schedule may depend entirely on its current utility or nuisance value to man, not on its potential as a component of the country’s biodiversity. For example, many species of Chiroptera and Rodentia have been lumped into Schedule V, defined thereby as vermin, and can be exterminated legally. According to the Mammal CAMP Red List assessments, some of these fall in threatened categories. Conversely, the methodology followed for the IUCN Red List Criteria takes population and distribution data into consideration as well as habitat condition, threats, and previous quantative analysis.

Against this background, an Indian Mammal CAMP was conducted as part of the Biodiversity Project. CAMP Workshop data falls into 3 major categories – population and distribution information for deriving IUCN conservation status, trade, and recommendations (conservation management, research and captive breeding).

The CAMP Workshop considers each species individually for assessment and assigns a conservation status according to the Red List guidelines and criteria. The methodology for assigning status is based on principles of conservation biology but allows for extrapolation and informed estimation. The assessments were made by active field biologists from reputed research institutions as well as the forest service. A variety of information, thus is available, not only on the species but on the habitat and its prospects.

For the Indian Mammal CAMP, the Central Zoo Authority provided their 1997 database of all the animals in Indian zoos database for use at the CAMP Workshop. All data on captive animals in this discussion is from this document dated 1997, the year of the workshop.

Captive breeding recommendations in a CAMP workshop are based on several factors which are compiled at the workshop, e.g. conservation status, degree of difficulty in breeding, endemism, number in captivity, etc. Recommendations are for different levels of management, e.g. for conservation breeding, for research and education, for population control and management, even for not keeping in captivity at all. If a zoo director wants support for carrying out sterilisation, culling, sending animals to different zoos, not permitting animals to breed , etc. he can find that support in the CAMP document. Government bureaucracy has both good and bad points ; as obtuse and rigid as it can be, these characteristics sometimes can work favourably and a printed document can work miracles.

The CAMP Workshop status assessments of Indian mammals combined with the Central Zoo Authority records made it possible to show the percentage of threatened to non-threatened species kept in Indian Zoos for a national collection evaluation. The Indian National Zoo Policy (1998) states that the highest priority of Indian Zoos is strengthening the national efforts in biodiversity conservation. Zoos have limited space and resources to devote to the large number of animals which might require a captive breeding programme; therefore, it is desirable to have an appropriate balance of threatened to non-threatened taxa, both in terms of species as well as individual numbers of animals.

Comparing the BCPP CAMP output for 372 mammals with the Central Zoo Authority data base revealed that the actual situation in Indian zoo collections is far from ideal (Table I). The percentage of threatened species maintained in Indian zoos is 38% and non-threatened is 49% with 12% either Data Deficient or Not evaluated.

Species percentages are not where the real problems are however. It is species numbers -- individuals -- which indicate how zoo resources are being utilised. In terms of individual animals a staggering 91% kept in Indian zoos fall in non-threatened categories, yet dominate the space and resources therein. Of these non-threatened species, 8% have been assessed as Lower-risk near threatened which is about correct (population still in thousands) for a captive programme according to IUCN policy. However a shocking 83% of non-threatened animals in Indian zoos are Lower risk least concern which do not require any conservation breeding programme. These species may be useful for conservation education in zoos but that nonwithstanding, it is probably safe to state that 83% of Indian mammals in zoo collections have no conservation relevance.

Although it has been known in India that there are too many common animals in the zoos the CAMP results made it possible for the first time to quantify this information with genuine relevance to conservation.

We have been speaking only of mammals currently in Indian zoo collections. A look at CAMP species assessment from a different perspective may be equally instructive. Endemism carries a high conservation value. According to the CAMP results, 54 of the 372 mammals assessed are endemic to India; they are found within Indian political boundaries, often in a small area or niche in the country, and nowhere else.

Of the 54 endemic Indian mammals, 50% are threatened, about 40% are non-threatened and about 10% are Data Deficient. Endemism itself carries sufficient conservation value to merit conservation breeding and exhibition, if for no other reason than for people to see animals which no other country has. Looking at the data, only 10 of the 54 Indian endemic species are being kept by Indian zoos, of which 6 are threatened species and 2, non-threatened.

Indian zoo mammals by Species vis a vis Conservation status

Many of the mammals which are endemic to India are from the orders Rodentia, Insectivora and Chiroptera, small bodied animals. This is, perhaps, why such a small percentage of Indian endemic species are kept in zoos. Zoos all over the world are, and have always been, mesmerized by large-bodied animals, the charismatic megavertebrates, as they are called, and think their visitors are also.

However, according to recent research by Andrew Balmford on setting priorities for captive breeding, while visitors definitely like elephants, rhinos, lions, and tigers and visit the zoo first, to see these animals, once in the zoo, they will take a long walk to look at invertebrates, the smallest bodied animals of all. Other small bodied species, if attractively displayed and well interpreted, are also popular with visitors. Balmford’s findings further indicate that the smaller bodied animals, such as invertebrates, are easier and more economical to keep and rear both from the perspective of actual financial outlay for their exhibits, as well as space and labour. The authors discuss prospects for reintroduction and effectiveness of captive breeding both from a biological and an economic perspective, and conclude that small bodies species meet a variety of criteria indicative of effectiveness as well as economy. Small bodied species breed faster and are cheaper to keep both because they consume less as well as because they have to spend less time in the zoo before being reintroduced. Finally, the authors make a very important point which is that zoos, by exhibiting more small bodied taxa, can reverse the current practice of showing the precise reverse of actual representativeness of animal diversity. If zoo visitors had nothing else to refer, and perhaps many of them don’t, they would think that the earth is dominated by elephants, rhinos, tigers and bears, when precisely the opposite is true.

CAMP results of a national biodiversity inventory and species assessment can give an entirely new perspective to the Indian national collection planning exercise. While the reality of the existing situation is in fact quite dismal with 91% conservation-surplus mammals taking up the lion’s share of space and resources in Indian zoos, there are viable alternatives which could be put into place immediately if the will exists. While the Indian zoo community is finding ways to regularise their collection, they could take on some of the small-bodied, threatened and/or endemic taxa, at least those which are easy to keep and to breed. In India small-bodied species as defined above (Chiroptera, Rodentia, and Insectivora) make up 60% of the mamalian taxa of the country, a fact that can be used to enhance the interpretation of these species for visitors. Many Indian reptiles and amphibians are also threatened and endemic for which the same principle applies.

Indian zoos are classified into five categories of which 54 are "Large", "Medium" and "Small" and about 200 are "Mini-zoos" and "Deer Parks". With one or two exceptions on either side, in general, it is only the Large, Medium and Small zoos which have any potential for taking up viable conservation programmes in which species breeding programmes are planned and managed for genetic diversity and demographic stability. The Mini-zoos and Deer Parks are, for the most part, under-staffed, under-resourced and lack infrastructure to function as genuine conservation centres.

There is a way, however, to solve the problems suggested by the anomalies in number of threatened and non-threatened species as well as make every zoo in India conservation relevant. That would be to distribute the existing animals in such a way that surplus, hybrid, aged and infirm animals which are a burden to the better zoos could be placed in the Mini-zoos and Deer Parks which do not have active conservation potential or plans. The Mini-zoos and Deer Parks would be performing a great service for the other zoos and their conservation programmes by keeping these animals and could therefore claim a larger role in the conservation effort of the country. This solution also satisfies the religious and cultural tradition of respect for all life as it avoids the euthanasia as a management tool. In the process, the state and municipal governments may be forced to improve their deer parks and mini-zoos.

These are utopian dreams providing solutions for seemingly intractable problems, although these suggestions are not without formidable problems themselves. However we are airing these dreams in the hope that they may evolve a better solution as a result.

PHVA and CAMP Workshops in themselves provide participants with an immense amount of information and skills, as well as exposure to new developments in conservation science. Participants of PHVA workshops in low – currency countries often leave having understood the principles of small population dynamics for the first time. Participants get interested in simulation modelling and learn how to use the software.

A 2- week long follow-up workshop to a PHVA for Lion-tailed macaque organised by CBSG, India and sponsored by Central Zoo Authority offered a intensive crash course in small population biology and the tools of recovery to field personnel for one week, a tour to Lion-tailed macaque areas for zoo and field managers over the weekend and a course in zoo conservation management for a week. All of the training used Lion-tailed macaque as a case study and workshop participants who were not ordinarily exposed to these subjects could learn the why and how of certain management strategies and were in a better position to contribute to management plans and action plans for the species. The resource persons for this course, Dr. Jon Ballou for genetics and demography and Dr. Bob Lacy for population dynamics and modelling are at the top of their field in the world. As part of the CBSG training network, they volunteered their time to visit India for two weeks and assist CBSG, India with this course. This is example of one the benefit of being attached as a network to an organisation such as CBSG.

CAMP Workshops also have proved themselves a fertile training territory. CBSG, India sent CAMP Manuals and Biological Information Sheets to every invitee of their seven biodiversity CAMPs in 1997. Even if specialists could not attend the workshop, they were exposed to the process, the IUCN Red List Criteria and all that implies. The contributed species information to be used in the workshop. Participants first complained bitterly about the revised IUCN Red List Criteria (1994) because they could not answer all the questions in the Taxon Data Sheet relating to population numbers and decline and other specifics. After the workshop a number the field biologists admitted that the problem was actually in their research methodology which had not been updated to include information on population distribution and decline necessary to derive a category in the IUCN criteria. Many participants reported that they had learned a great which could be applied to their field research methodology and in one workshop, a special issue working group produced a field research protocol based on Taxon Data Sheets.

CBSG, India initiated Special Interest Groups (SIGs) to focus on species,taxon groups and disciplinary groups and bring talented and involved individuals to the attention of CBSG and the appropriate Specialist Group in the SSC.

SIGs can be initiated and run by individuals or by the ZOO/CBSG, India office and run by staff members. Some of these have evolved into large, dynamic and specialised networks themselves. For example, the Invertebrate SIG has networked the highly neglected invertebrate field biologists and taxonomists in India and brought out a Directory of nearly 300 specialists as well as involving partners" from elsewhere in the world in funding, training, research and other activities of this very active and effective network.

The Amphibian SIG serves in India as the office of the Declining Amphibians Population Task Force, South Asia, another successful network SIG which is a regional Task Force of the SSC. The Amphibian SIG networks amphibians researchers from all over the country and has led to greatly enhanced communication and cooperative action on behalf of this taxon group The SIGs and their networking activities have blended in so effectively with other CBSG, India activities that other taxon group networks have been added or are about to be initiated.

The academics and field workers associated with these groups of organisms could well say "who are they" to start a network for our species. However, academics long in the lab or classroom and field workers in the forest know that networking is 99% administration and are content to get the work done by an organisation that is objective and does not stand to gain professionally at their expense.

More than 200 taxon specialists participated in BCPP CAMP workshops on Indian medicinal and mangrove plants, freshwater fish, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and selected invertebrates. More than 1200 taxon specialists were contacted for information, consideration for the workshop, etc. and received a copy of the CAMP Manual, which contains a full copy of the IUCN Red List Criteria Guidelines. These activities, along with wide distribution of CAMP Reports, created a tremendous interest in the CAMP process for increasingly more subtle taxon groups. CBSG, India has requests to conduct CAMP workshops for Marine algae, Coastal Strand vegetation, Non-timber Forest Products of Central India, Dragonflies, Large-bodied spiders, Butterflies of North East India, Orchids of the Western Ghats, and Endemic Trees of NE India. A training workshop in the CAMP Process is planned in 2000.

This has led to the formation of other SIGs as well by very active and enthusiastic specialists encountered during the CAMP Workshops. A participant from the mangrove CAMP has initiated an Orchid SIG and is in the process of organising a Coastal Strand Vegetation SIG. There will be CAMP Workshops for all species in these groups, and if such actioners as are currently organising these SIGs continue them, follow up of recommendations from the workshops – which sometimes is not so forthcoming -- will be easier to coordinate.

CBSG Regional Networks and activities conducted in association with them provide excellent opportunities for international cooperation both in terms of sharing expertise as well as financial resources. Perhaps the most significant indicator of success of any project , having proven its value, "graduates" or attracts funding from within the country. In India the early PHVA workshops were funded almost entirely by zoos and other organisations from USA and UK. The first workshops on Manipur brow-antlered deer (Cervus eldi eldi); Lion-tailed macaque (Macaca silenus); Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica; Indian rhinoceros, (Rhinoceros unicornis) were funded primarily from sources abroad. Later workshops on Indian gharial and barasingha were funded by the Ministry of Environment and the Central Zoo Authority.

The SIGs or taxon networks, run by an objective NGO, seem to be one of the least controversial and most appreciated projects which can make a significant impact on a regional conservation community. These networks also provide opportunities for international cooperation as all of them have been funded by outside sources. The Invertebrate Conservation Centre of London Zoo funded the initiation of the invertebrate network, Flora and Fauna International funded the Amphibian and Reptile networks and Chester Zoo sponsors the Chiroptera Network. All of these networks are now extending their reach to the whole of southern Asia and hopefully they also can graduate to in-country funding one day.

Probably no workshop could have been conducted in the early stages in India without the help of British Airways Assisting Conservation, a project of the BA Environment Department, which flew dozens of people to and from India and Sri Lanka for PHVA and CAMP workshops and facilitator training courses. British Airways also provided massive amounts of educational materials featuring Indian PHVA target species – Sangai, Lion-tailed macaque, and Red panda in particular. British Airways has assisted people in other CBSG activities in other countries as well and continues to assist India with flights for training and taxon group network activities.

Effective tools for assessment and recovery of small and threatened populations of wild animals and plants as well as for facilitating communication and cooperation between relevant individuals and institutions have been developed by the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, SSC, IUCN. The Convention on Biodiversity calls upon signatory nations to list species and sites of high biodiversity and identify strategies for conservation, tasks which can be addressed efficiently and effectively by these tools.

The formation and sustaining of Regional Networks has evolved into an important component of the activities of the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, particularly in tropical regions and hotspots of biological diversity. Regional networks enable local biologists to convert information from field studies into dynamic and viable conservation strategies. CBSG National and Regional Networks will be a determining factor in the growth and development of CBSG’s ability to meet the growing needs of conservation synthesis in all regions of high biodiversity in the world.

Networking a broad spectrum of conservation biologists and persons from related disciplines such as social science and education is a formidable task in itself but it is crucial to implementing conservation action. Having a dynamic framework for conservation action on which to build in a culture-sensitive and relatively inexpensive manner in every region and even country can facilitate communication, cooperation and collaboration and forward conservation of biodiversity.

Indian zoo mammals by Species vis a vis Conservation status

IUCN Status derived using IUCN Red List Criteria, 1994 in a Conservation Assessment and Management Plan, 1997, and Central Zoo Authority Zoo Animal Data Base, 1997

Since writing this Essay, CBSG Regional activities have typically moved on to quite a different level, both in the main office of CBSG itself as well as in the regions. Now, CBSG, India office has made a commitment to expand CBSG activities from India and Sri Lanka to encompass the entire region of South Asia, including Pakistan, which has 5 zoos, Nepal (one zoo), Bangladesh (one zoo), Bhutan (one breeding centre) and Maldives. Individual conservation scientists in Nepal and Pakistan have expressed an interest in having a national CBSG and this would be encouraged, as well as for CBSG, India and Sri Lanka to retain their national identity. The South Asian CBSG Regional Network with the blessing of CBSG would catalyse and coordinate activities for South Asia in order to expand the scope of the Mission of CBSG by promoting its policies, philosophy, processes and products in South Asia; highlight the link between zoo and field based activities in conservation; bring together conservation specialists of the South Asian region and, finally, to "engineer" a Regional Zoo Directors Association for South Asia to represent the zoos of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal in both CBSG and the World Zoo Organisation. PHVA’s are always country based but CAMP workshops have a use both nationally and regionally. CBSG, India’s plans to hold regional CAMP Reviews for selected animal groups (reptilia, amphibia, chiroptera, and rodentia/ insectivora), expanding range covered in the BCPP CAMP of 1997 are part of the inspiration and impetus for this initiative.

CBSG, SSC, IUCN is actively encouraging this and other intiatives to spread the activities of CBSG so they can be carried on more economically and efficiently. Such grass roots initiatives make possible the expansion of technology transfer so that local people can be empowered to conduct their own conservation exercises with the most up-to-date scientific tools. Thus, the CBSG, Meso-American Regional Network which already covers the entire region of Meso-America is now being encouraged to use its own staff to facilitate workshops and produce Reports instead of the CBSG staff which can go into areas that have not been covered. At the last South East Asian Zoo Association meeting it was decided to investigate the possibility of making a CBSG Regional Network for South East Asia to help coordinate the conservation workshops which are required in the coming years. The CBSG, Indonesia office may expand to fill this role. Over the years, CBSG Regional Network Working Groups have met both at CBSG Annual meetings and at a CBSG Strategic Future Search with representation from many countries around the world and drawn up loose guidelines for CBSG Networks. These guidelines and other materials will be collected into an informal handbook which will provide a flexible framework for individuals in other countries and regions who wish to promote the conservation sciences so well expressed by the CBSG tools and processes.

An ideal "profile" of a CBSG network resulted from these discussions which is included in the box below.

The Utopian vision is that all regions of the world could use these tools to integrate the activities of their in situ and ex situ conservation personnel and project and use them to recover small populations in danger of extinction and give wild animals with no chance a last chance of survival.

CBSG Regional Networks live best as activities or projects of an established organisation. The organisation needs the following characteristics to mimic the effectiveness of CBSG :

Flexibility – to respond to the diverse needs of the regions, to accommodate a variety of participation, to change direction when required, to respond to needs of local conservation groups and individuals, to understand the CBSG processes, which are themselves flexible.

Autonomy – CBSG networks based on belief in individuals and their ability to bring about change more than institutional structure.

Catalysis – aspects of CBSG that catalyse action : U.S. Seal himself, PHVA, CAMP, Training Workshops; Products and publications of workshops; Regional networks themselves; Expertise; Trust and openness in expression of ideas

Innovation – CBSG networks should be capable of producing and sustaining a high level of innovation :

in the processes themselves; in educational opportunities; in outreach; by sensitivity analysis and vision to the future; need response; amalgamating people of different disciplines and inclinations; positive vision

Multiple Approaches – CBSG networks should be able to use multiple approaches : newletters, media events, briefing books, scientific and grey publications, integration of in situ, ex situ and educational components

Commitment – CBSG network activers must be committed : total involvement, belief that he/she can make a difference, believe that other individuals can make a difference, volunteer participation

Unity and fellowship – CBSG networks should be able to combine a variety of groups: to integrative local organisations, to organise meeting at the grassroot level (multiple stakeholders including local community), to combine NGO’s and governments, multidisciplinary groups, in situ and ex situ, and to effect intra-organisational collaboration or communication

Non-dictatorial – CBSG networks engineer rather than dictate action and consensus : can highlight need for action and engineer invitations; assumes all ideas are valid, differences as problems are not accepted, active listening, seek common ground and action, "groundrules" are a contract not a code; consensus strategy, implementation left to local agencies and organisations

Flat organisation structure – CBSG networks should be non hierarchial; minimal bureaucracy; horizontal management structure; respectful of local hierarchies but able to transcend their effect. Networks themselves are part of an example of a flat organisational structure

Objectivity – CBSG network activers are objective : Non bias for captivity/field; non-competitive for scientific status, non judgemental for information sources.

Neutrality – CBSG networks have no politics

Vision — CBSG networks have long range goals: long term survival and prtection of species, regional objectives, maintenance of networks in long run,

Need-based -- CBSG network should fill a niche that is not being filled by other conservation organisations.

Responsibility – CBSG network activers qualities : leadership, guidance, able to plant seeds, recognition and quick response to crisis situations.