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22nd Sharjah International Conservation Forum for Arabia's Biodiversity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2024

Philip Seddon Open the ORCID record for Philip Seddon [Opens in a new window] ,
Johaness Els Open the ORCID record for Johaness Els [Opens in a new window] ,
Gerhard Steenkamp Open the ORCID record for Gerhard Steenkamp [Opens in a new window] ,
David Mallon Open the ORCID record for David Mallon [Opens in a new window] ,
Helen Senn  and
Sarah May
Philip Seddon*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Johaness Els
Affiliation:
Research & Studies Department, Environment & Protected Areas Authority, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Gerhard Steenkamp
Affiliation:
Department of Companion Animal Clinical Studies, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Onderstepoort, South Africa
David Mallon
Affiliation:
Division of Biology and Conservation Ecology, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK IUCN Species Survival Commission, Gland, Switzerland
Helen Senn
Affiliation:
Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Edinburgh Zoo, Edinburgh, UK
Sarah May
Affiliation:
Conservation Consultant, Canberra, Australia
*
philip.seddon@otago.ac.nz
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Abstract

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Type
Conservation News
Information
Oryx , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , March 2024 , pp. 151
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence CC BY 4.0.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Fauna & Flora International

The 22nd Annual Sharjah International Conservation Forum for Arabia's Biodiversity was held at Sharjah Safari, United Arab Emirates, during 6–9 February 2023. The Forum brought together over 200 participants regionally from Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen, and internationally from Australia, France, Germany, Greece, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa, the UK and the USA. The Sharjah workshops are hosted by the Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Government of Sharjah, under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Mohammed al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. Following on from the inclusion of the genetic diversity of wild species in Target 4 of the Kunming–Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at the Conference of the Parties 15 meeting in Montreal in December 2022, the 22nd meeting had a single theme: conservation genetics.

The forum was aimed at conservation practitioners who may need to commission or interpret conservation genetics research in their projects and was led by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland's WildGenes laboratory. The sessions covered: (1) an introduction to major concepts in conservation genetics, highlighting regional case studies, (2) use of genetic data to support reintroduction, including a practical session on founder selection, (3) genetics and taxonomy, including a gap analysis of outstanding taxonomic questions in the region, and (4) use of genetic data to support monitoring and management of threatened species in the wild, including the use of dietary metabarcoding, conducting a population census, and the management of hybridization. A technical session provided an overview of animal biobanking and the work of the Sharjah National Barcode of Life Programme, with advice for veterinarians taking samples, and a practical session on sample prioritization.

The final day brought together lessons learnt during the first 3 days in a practical session on the evaluation of genetic risk to threatened populations using the Genetic Score Card method, which has been proposed as an indicator for the evaluation of progress against Global Biodiversity Framework Target 4. Workshop participants tested the scorecard process on 18 Arabian species of conservation concern, as a means of exploring the different elements of genetic risk.