| Convene stakeholders/Networking | Continued to promote the CMS Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP, adopted by CMS parties in 2017) by CMS parties and other stakeholders, as member of Vulture MsAP steering group and adhoc coordination team, and an implementing partner, working most closely with CMS Raptors MOU Coordinating Unit, IUCN SSC Vulture Specialist Group and Vulture Conservation Foundation. Following this, new national action plans are under development in at least South Africa, Greece, Nigeria, the Balearic Islands, Burkina Faso, Benin and India, while the first national plan in Africa was adopted in Zimbabwe. | On-going |
| Convene stakeholders/Networking | With BirdLife Partners and other organisations, helped Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) Secretariat to convene a high-level meeting following the disastrous sentinel poisoning incident in NE Botswana in mid 2019, issued strong condemnation and called on governments to take action to prevent further similar incidents; also contributed to a letter to African Union (coordinated by IUCN VSG) on the subject. | On-going |
| Education/Communication/Raising awareness | 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.
A wide range of activities was carried out to support International Vulture Awareness Day, through Wildlife Clubs
Vulture conservation news was reported via BirdLife's website, with several new stories published this year | On-going |
| Field activities | AFRICA:
Actions to save Africa's vultures from poisoning continued 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.
Work with Kipeto Energy in Kenya is contributing to mitigation of threats from poisoning through further development of response mechanisms and mitigation of threats from renewable energy infrastructure, including sensitivity mapping in Kenya.
Development of African Vulture Safe Zones is being led by a group of southern African organisations, including BirdLife Partners, following completion of the review from Asia commission by BirdLife in 2018. Criteria and management guidelines for VSZs have been drafted and are being tested in several countries: a promising model for landscape scale vulture conservation
Nigerian Conservation Foundation are working to combat Illegal Wildlife Trade involving vultures and their body parts for belief-based use in Nigeria. This is contributing to development of a Strategy for Illegal Wildlife Trade (including vultures) and national vulture action plan, while project activities are supporting adoption of plant-based alternatives to vulture body parts, guidance for healers and educational institutions including College of Traditional Medicine to tackle the threat, and a handbook/guide to implementation of the Nigerian Endangered Species Act. | On-going |
| Field activities | ASIA:
BirdLife is a Partner in the SAVE (Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction) consortium. Work in S Asia is reported on separately by other members of SAVE. In SE Asia, the BirdLife Secretariat has been more directly involved in supporting vulture conservation action in relation to NSAIDs, poison baits and vulture feeding stations in Cambodia and Myanmar. | On-going |
| Field activities | EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA (FLYWAYS):
In Europe and Africa, several BirdLife Partners and other collaborating organisations are taking action for vultures with particular attention to Egyptian Vulture in Eastern Europe, coordinated by the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds, with a project extending to the Sahel in Nigeria, Ethiopia, Niger and Chad. Fieldwork in Ethiopia has found large numbers of Egyptian Vultures but found these to be highly vulnerable to electrocution on poorly designed electricity transmission infrastructure and measures are now being developed to mainstream better practices or retrofit existing dangerous pylons in priority areas.
Phase II of a GEF Project on migratory soaring birds down the Red Sea Flyway has begun and will continue earlier vulture conservation activities in this part of the Middle East and NE Africa, particularly in relation to electrocution and collision mitigation (insulating and retrofitting) | On-going |
| Policy influencing/advocacy | Attempts to have vulture-toxic veterinary non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs withdrawn in Europe have not been successful (e.g. the Spanish Government has extended the license), but BirdLife and other partners helped to secure a ban on veterinary diclofenac in Cambodia, rapidly following discovery of availability of this vulture-toxic drug in the country. In Myanmar, a project to assess the risk from veterinary diclofenac is underway. | On-going |
| Policy influencing/advocacy | Supported the adoption of CITES decisions 18.186-192 on West African vultures, with particular attention to the trade in body parts for belief-based use, also with reference to the problem of sentinel poisoning; side-event at CITES COP and intervention in committee discussion helped ensure decisions were adopted. | Completed |
| Scientific/technical activities | Led on publication of a multi-authored opinion piece for the journal Bird Conservation International on ‘Vulture conservation: the case for urgent action’ to further encourage implementation of the MsAP and propose practical ways to advance. | Completed |
