March - April 2016

March– April 2016
AFRICAN VULTURE UPDATES
BirdLife Africa Partnership
In this update:
Project Updates - Saving
Africa’s Vultures.
Strategic Planning
Vulture Campaign: Policy
and advocacy,
communications and
fundraising.
1. Project: Saving Africa’s Vultures
On the 29th of April Nature Kenya will be
hosting a small group of vulture and carnivore experts to
develop a simple poisoning response protocol for Kenya,
using experiences from Zimbabwe and South Africa. The
protocol will help local authorities and others define the
correct management of a poisoning crime scene i.e.
contaminated carcasses and surroundings, to obtain
suitable evidence upon which to convict offenders. The next
phase will be to secure government buy-in on the protocol.
2. Strategic Planning: Pan African Ornithological Conference
(PAOC): Registration for PAOC is now open here and an invitation letter has been
circulated to all partners to attend the 2nd Pan African Vulture Summit (PAVS) held
from the 18th to the 21st of October during PAOC. The first PAVS was held in Masai
Mara, 2012.
BirdLife Africa Partnership Vulture Strategy: The draft strategy has been
sent to all partners. Please provide feedback and submit comments before 1st of May
for them to be taken into consideration.
3. Vulture Campaign
Policy and Advocacy:
Africa ministerial conference on the environment (AMCEN): Birdlife in
collaboration with African Union, TRAFFIC, WWF and IUCN have secured a side
event titled: Illegal Trade in Wild Fauna and Flora in Africa: Status, Challenges,
Approaches and Opportunities on the 17th of April at the 6th Special Session of
AMCEN in Cairo, Egypt. The Vulture Conservation Manager will be making a
presentation on the impact of ivory poaching and vulture declines. Several high-level
panelists have been contacted for the event, including Hon Ibrahim Usman Jibril,
Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigeria.
United Nations Environment Assembly 2 (UNEA 2): BirdLife Africa will be
hosting an event titled Healthy Vultures, Healthy People at UNEA2 on the 25th
of May from 15:00 to 16:00, in partnership with IUCN, CMS, WWF and others.
BirdLife CEO Patricia Zurita will be facilitating the event. The application for a
50minute slot will highlight the importance of vulture conservation to the delivery of
the three pillars of Sustainable Development, by demonstrating the links between
vultures and ecosystems, economies and human health. Partners are strongly
encouraged to send invitations using our e-invite to their national delegations
attending UNEA2.
IUCN World Conservation Congress: A vulture event titled: Promoting
conservation of African-Eurasian vultures and their ecosystem services has now
been secured at the IUCN Congress in the species pavilion on the 2nd of September
from 13:00 to 14:30, a day before Vulture Awareness Day. We would be
delighted if all birdlife partners and staff attending IUCN WCC would attend the event
and support vultures.
Biggest (birding) year: The Vulture Conservation Manager will be meeting with Arjan
Dwarshuis to talk about African vultures on the 23rd of April while he is birding in
Kenya. Arjan is trying to raise funds for BirdLife as he tries to see more than 6000
species, globally. Read his blog.
Media Highlights:
African vultures have been featured in two important Birdlife communications in
March. An overview article of the Saving Africa’s Vultures Project can be found here.
And the second is an article features in the Europe newsletter (Africa special) which
has featured African vultures and some of the work BirdLife and partners are
engaged in, access the article here.
An article by Darcy Ogada (Nature Kenya and The Peregrine Fund) also featured on
vultures was published in National Geographic, access the article here.
N.B: If you have any interesting or newsworthy vulture updates please send them to
Masumi.Gudka@birdlife.org for the next update by the 30th of April.