Samenvatting

Cooperative population management is essential for the long-term viability of animal populations held in zoos and aquaria. In several regions, zoos are working together on population management by cooperative breeding programmes. Since most of these managed populations are not viable, it is suggested that some populations should be managed globally in order to overcome regional limitations. So far, six trial Global Species Management Plans (GSMPs) have been established, each involving two or more regional associations. The aim is to establish more GSMPs in the future. Even though participating associations may have the same high aspirations to collaborate, differences between their policies regarding population management may obstruct successful cooperation. In this research, the policy documents of EAZA, AZA and ZAA were analysed in order to identify and to give insight in the bottlenecks that could complicate the development of a global population management policy.