IUCN: All Animals are Still Equal

The IUCN General Assembly in Buenos Aires defied the IUCN Council’s recommendation to pass the proposed guidelines for the sustainable use of wild species. If the proposal had been passed, it would have made “some animals more equal than others” by way of the paragraph: “Not all species should be regarded as available for human use.” (See article in High North News no. 6).

The General Assembly passed a resolution requesting that a revised edition of the guidelines be submitted at the next General Assembly in three years, and stressed that the revised guidelines “have to take into account inter-alia the different socio-economic, cultural and legal conditions that prevail in the different parts of the world.”

The resolution points out that the IUCN Specialist Group on the Sustainable Use of Wild Species recommended that the guidelines should not be adopted in Buenos Aires. The Group’s meeting prior to the General Assembly concluded with firm criticism of the guidelines, and it was pointed out that they were, amongst other things, often difficult to apply, that they would not increase sustainability in all cases, and that they could be misused to prevent uses with potential conservation benefits.