ASG released the updated Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP) Status Review in July 2024.
This release is the first of two complementary documents that will make up the 2024 ACAP. This ‘status review’ document, conceived and edited by the IUCN SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, is authored by over 100 experts from more than 25 countries, most of them ASG members. It synthesises developments over the last 15 years in major themes relevant for amphibian conservation. For each of those themes the authors identify key knowledge gaps and conservation priorities. After two introductory chapters, the document is divided into three sections focused on different aspects of conservation: Threats, Informing decision-making, and Species management.
Coordination of the ACAP update was led by ASG Program Officers Sally Wren and Ruth Marcec-Greaves with support from the ASG Secretariat.
ASG Thematic Working Groups led drafting of their relevant ACAP chapters. The Working Groups and their leadership for the 2024 ACAP document were as follows:
Climate Change – Guin Wogan and David Bickford
Ecotoxicology – Jessica Hua and Michelle Boone
Habitat Protection and Management – Jeanne Tarrant and Nicolás Urbina-Cardona
Infectious Diseases – Molly Bletz and Brian Gratwicke
Trade & Sustainable Use – Jonathan Kolby
Communications and Education – Andrés Valenzuela-Sánchez and Candace Hansen
Species Conservation Planning – Anne Baker and Sally Wren
Surveys & Monitoring – Justin Nowakowski, Jessica Deichmann and Grant Connette
Conservation Breeding – Ben Tapley and Kevin Johnson
Assisted Reproductive Technologies and Gamete Biobanking (formerly Biobanking) – Gina Della Togna and Natalie Calatayud
Genomics – Lauren O’Connell and Ariel Rodríguez
Translocations – Jen Germano and Gemma Harding
We are extremely thankful to these leaders for spearheading the development of the new ACAP!