The IUCN Technical Guidelines on the Management of Ex Situ Populations for Conservation: reflecting major changes in the application of ex situ conservation

The recently revised IUCN Technical Guidelines on the Management of Ex Situ Populations for Conservation represent an attempt to synthesize current thinking on the strategic application of ex situ conservation for the maximum benefit of both threatened species and habitats. We review this document as a means of assessing major changes in the application of ex situ conservation. We identify a number of major themes. These include the need for the integrated management of wild and captive populations, expansion of ex situ capacity in terms of institutional facilities and breadth of taxonomic experience, an important emphasis to be given to the need for in-country conservation initiatives, and the need to comply with national and international legal structures, most notably the Convention on Biological Diversity.