Overview
A long journey starts with little steps. In 1997, IUCN created a Sustainable Use Specialist Group of experts, of which a European Sustainable Use Specialist Group was based in Brussels. ESUG wanted to help many activities become sustainable, so it engaged with those who manage land and wildlife: the farmers and foresters, gardeners and gatherers, fishers and hunters, as well as all other people who observe and monitor wild species.
Group members then ran three projects for European Commission, concluding with launch in the European Parliament (pictured above) of a multilingual network that proposed community mapping of habitats for local conservation work across Europe.
In 2022, ESUG joined 19 other partners in a European Commission project exploring how people can work together to transform their relationship with nature, initially focusing on coastal regions. The project, PRO-COAST — A PROactive approach for COmmunities to enAble Societal Transformation — explores how communities, organisations and individuals can work together to achieve positive outcomes for both people and nature. We have created a web-based system to support communities in managing land and nature: the Community Sustainability Platform (CUSP), which ESUG will develop and maintain through to 2033.
- The Community Sustainability Platform
The Community Sustainability Platform (CUSP) is a network designed to support local communities and stakeholders in becoming more sustainable by providing practical tools, good practice and information that is relevant to local contexts.
At its centre is a multilingual Hub, connecting to local Satellite sites dedicated to specific countries and regions. To ensure that the advice and information is locally relevant, each Satellite contains content developed with and for local actors and stakeholders within the ESUG and PRO-COAST networks.
Explore the different stakeholder pages to discover how CUSP can support you — whether you are a farmer, forester, fisher, hunter, land manager, or otherwise active in your local community — and find out how you could help to make your local area more sustainable.
Working closely with local communities through the PRO-COAST project has led to the development of three new tools designed to support their needs:
The Deep Change Framework: is a new method that PRO-COAST social scientists have developed for encouraging transitional change through 8 steps. The Deep Change Framework works together with local people and their organisations to tackle local issues in ways that encourage wider understanding and activities which are good for nature while helping people.
Click here to learn more about the Deep Change Framework.
The Conservation & Human Use Index (CHUI): is an innovative tool designed to assess the balance between biodiversity conservation and other human engagements with nature in coastal areas. The index is designed for use by community and conservation leadership involved in the management of areas on coasts and inland. By combining ecological, governance, and community perspectives, the Index highlights strengths, pressures, and opportunities for action in a clear and practical way.
Click here to discover and assess where you live by using the CHUI.
The Garden Advice application: enables users to explore how their garden can contribute to carbon sequestration and support wildlife. The system is described as a is a Reciprocal Environmental Decision Support System (REDS) because the information supplied by users about their garden directly helps to improve the advice provided by the app. It is built now for House Sparrows but can be modified for work on other wildlife that you wish to investigate.
Click here to test Garden Advice for sparrows.
Please Contact Us for guidance and help with using these tools.