WCC 2016 Res 022 - Activity Report

Completion and facilitation of adoption of Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP) by CMS parties at CMS COP12 in October 2017. This was coordinated by BirdLife, working with the CMS Raptors MOU Coordinating Unit, IUCN SSC Vulture Specialist Group and Vulture Conservation Foundation.

All anti-poisoning activities described under 'Field Activities' below include strong components of awareness-raising and education on the importance of vultures and impacts of poisoning. As a further example involving the essential collaboration with other conservatoin groups, BirdLife Zimbabwe and Painted Dogs Conservation have strengthened community involvement in anti-poisoning activities being implemented in Hwange, where wildlife poisoning is a serious problem.

Actions to save Africa's vultures from poisoning have been implemented in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Zambia by BirdLife Partners. These include working with communities and national authorities to develop and implement protocols for rapid response to poisoning and management of human-wildlife conflict, including awareness-raising and training. This is already believed to have averted more than one poisoning incident. BirdWatch Zambia have created 40,000 ha Vulture Safe Zones in and around the Chisamba IBA and Luangwa Valley, and aim to add a further 40,000 ha in 2018. BirdLife is one of 14 global partners jointly implementing "Urgent Actions to Strengthen the Balkan Population of the Egyptian Vulture and Secure Its Flyway" project, to deliver urgent conservation measures towards eliminating major known threats to the Egyptian Vulture along its flyway, aligning with both the Neophron Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture and the Vulture MsAP. The African project countries include Nigeria, Ethiopia, Niger and Chad.

As a Partner in the SAVE (Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction) consortium, BirdLife's activities in support of S and SE Asian Vulture conservation are described in a separate report from Chris Bowden. In Europe, several BirdLife Partners are taking action for vultures with particular attention to Egyptian Vulture in Eastern Europe, and to advocating for the banning of vulture-toxic veterinary Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs, in particular diclofenac in Spain and Italy and across the EU; the campaign continues at the time of writing.

The Nigerian Conservation Foundation is working to combat Illegal Wildlife Trade involving vultures and their body parts for belief-based use in Nigeria, through a workshop involving Ogun, Ondo, and Osun States, involving law enforcement and prosecution agencies, national and sub-national transport unions, traditional healers associations, government ministries, departments and Ministries, the wildlife women traders associations, and religious associations. A communiqué outlining the agreement and resolutions made by workshop participants was produced.

BirdLife Partners are contributing, or facilitating contributions, to poisoning databases including African Wildlife Poison Database, and where necessary supporting national compilations such as the bird mortality database in Zimbabwe. BirdLife Partners have established baseline breeding and nesting data for cliff and tree nesting vulture species at various sites in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Rwanda and Ethiopia, and Vulture movements are being satellite-tracked through BirdLife projects in Kenya and Zambia (alongside many other tracking initiatives on African vultures). Among a range of activities in support of vulture conservation, BirdLife South Africa are investigating impacts of lead poisoning on Cape and White-backed vultures in South Africa.