Towards a Penguin Global Conservation Agenda promoted by the IUCN SSC Penguin Specialist Group

GARCÍA BORBOROGLU, PABLO; BOST, CHARLES; SEDDON, PHIL; WALLER, LAUREN; BOERSMA, DEE; CHIARADIA, ANDRE; SIMEONE, ALEJANDRO; WIENECKE, BARBARA; ELLIS, SUSAN; SCHNEIDER, THOMAS; TRATHAN, PHIL; GOWNARIS, NATASHA

Dunedin

Congreso; International Penguin Congress; 2019

University of Otago

Penguins are in trouble. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists 10 of the 18 species as threatened, making penguins the second most threatened family of seabirds. The IUCN Penguin Specialist Group (PSG) is developing a Penguin Global Conservation Agenda. In 2016, the PSG coordinated threatened status reviews for the IUCN Red List based on penguin status data and conservation needs from its membership. The PSG also held two conservation strategy workshops to: 1) identify gaps in penguin research and conservation towards increasing population resilience in wild penguins and minimising threats and impacts, and 2) develop consensus on the species considered to be conservation priorities. We will summarise the PSG work to-date to guide and support future penguin research and to inform much-needed policy and legislative interventions. Among the top 12 research priorities, four are relevant to all penguins: (i) assessing population trends, (ii) determining vital rates, (iii) documenting environmental changes, and (iv) improving understanding of foraging ecology. We also identified four other conservation priorities relevant to several species: (v) improving understanding of effects of fisheries, (vi) enhancing support for marine spatial planning, (vii) developing species-specific action plans, and (viii) improving stakeholder engagement. Conservation action is needed for all penguin taxa, but we recognised that African, Galapagos and Yellow-Eyed Penguins need immediate scientific collaboration and policy interventions. We discuss crucial avenues for improving science-informed conservation of these species. The conservation actions for penguins would have broad biodiversity benefits in the Southern Hemisphere's biodiversity hotspots.