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CONTENTS
1 From the Chairman 2 News 13 BirdLife at 90 The story of thde world’s oldest international conservation partnership
20 Milestones Some of the successes of the BirdLife Partnership over the last 90 years
22 Partner profiles A look at BirdLife Partners around the world
26 BirdLife in books What people said about BirdLife’s publications
Ninety years of international conservation Like me, millions of people around the world have a special relationship with birds. They are embedded in our culture and religion as omens, symbols and mythical creatures that can bring peace, good or bad fortune. They are important elements of our lives and livelihoods, and remain crucial links between man and nature in those parts of the world that are rapidly losing this contact today. And what joy they bring with their songs, colours and intriguing behaviour. In 1922, the first global conservation organisation, the International Committee for Bird Preservation (ICBP), was established to work for the conservation of birds, and in 1993 this was transformed into BirdLife International. Therefore 2012/2013 is an important 90/20 anniversary for our Partnership, and we will celebrate our achievements and look to the future at the BirdLife World Congress in Ottawa in June 2013. But we cannot rest on our laurels. Although today, our global Partnership includes more than 100 organisations, with more than 10 million supporters, working relentlessly in over 110 countries and territories, the threats to birds and biodiversity remain. More than 1,250 bird species are threatened, and we in the BirdLife Partnership are committed to preventing them from sliding into extinction by working with local people to promote sustainable living as a means to conserve them. I thank you all BirdLife Partners and BirdLife supporters wholeheartedly for all your efforts to save them and with it build a better future for all of us and our future generations.
28 From the frontline
FRONT COVER The BirdLife Partnership comprises 116 conservation NGOs working together for nature and people
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Contributors to this issue:
December 2012 Volume 34 No. 4 ISSN 0144-4476 Managing Editor Martin Fowlie News Editor Nick Langley
Nick Askew, Stuart Butchart, Elodie Cantaloube, Peter Hendley, Shaun Hurrell, Caroline Jacobbson, Ben Lascelles, Jim Lawrence, Ade Long, Werner Müller (SVS), Gina Pfaff, Anna Piowtrowska, Judith Rumgay, Alberto Yanosky (Gurya Paraguay). Image credits p.20: Oiled flamingo (BirdLife), Wandering Albatross (Felix Heintzenberg/ BIOFOKUS) Lorikeet release (Gerald McCormack). P21: Cousin Island (Martin Harvey), Datazone (BirdLife), Banded Pitta (Jacob Wijpkema)
The views expressed are those of the contributors and not necessarily those of BirdLife International Designed by Peter Creed, NatureBureau Printed by Portland Print Printed on processed chlorine-free paper made from at least 80% post-consumer waste recycled fibre. To advertise in World Birdwatch please contact Ian Lycett, Solo Publishing Ltd, B403A The Chocolate Factory, 5 Clarendon Road, London N22 6XJ, UK Tel. +44 (0)20 8881 0550 Fax +44 (0)20 8881 0990 Email advertising@birdwatch.co.uk To subscribe to World Birdwatch please email membership@birdlife.org
The production of World Birdwatch is generously supported by the A G Leventis Foundation
Peter Schei, Chairman, BirdLife International
Officers of BirdLife International President Emeritus: Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan Honorary President: Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado of Japan Honorary Vice-Presidents: Baroness Young of Old Scone (UK), Gerard A Bertrand (USA), A P Leventis (UK), Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu (Ghana) Chief Executive: Dr Marco Lambertini Chairman: Peter Johan Schei Treasurer: Ben Olewine IV Council of BirdLife International Africa: Paul Matiku (Kenya), Chip Chirara (Zimbabwe) Asia: Asad R Rahmani (India), Anabelle E Plantilla (Philippines) Caribbean and North America: Ben Olewine IV (USA), Peg Olsen (USA) Central and South America: Alberto Yanosky (Paraguay) Europe: Josep del Hoyo (Spain), Werner Müller (Switzerland), Fred Wouters (Netherlands), Mike Clarke (UK) Middle East: Yehya Khaled (Jordan), Mohammed Shobrak (Saudi Arabia) Pacific: Mike Britton (New Zealand), Philippe Raust (French Polynesia) World Birdwatch is published quarterly by BirdLife International, Wellbrook Court, Girton Road, Cambridge CB3 0NA, UK Tel. +44 (0)1223 277318 Fax +44 (0)1223 277200 Email birdlife@birdlife.org UK registered charity no 1042125
BirdLife International is a worldwide partnership of conservation organisations working to protect the world’s birds and their habitats.
World Birdwatch is available by subscription from BirdLife International at the above address and from some Partner organisations
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IBA directories prove the benefits of sharing conservation data In 1989, World Birdwatch reported that ICBP had published its biggest book to date, a directory of Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Europe. The book was the first attempt by any conservation organisation to document all the sites of importance for a class of organisms across an entire continent. At the same time, it set out to make the information accessible to non-specialist decision makers in government and elsewhere, without compromising its value to conservation professionals.
IBAs go global
inventories have either been completed or are in progress for most countries and territories. By mid-2011, 129 publications covering all or part of 83 countries had also been produced details of all these can be found on www.birdlife.org/datazone/ info/ibainventories). These are smaller, cheaper, and can expand upon and update information in the regional directories. They may be published in the relevant local language or languages, thus more easily engaging national decision makers
National conservation organisations in many European countries increasingly focused their site conservation activities on national IBA networks, and local volunteers were mobilised to help protect, monitor and manage ‘their’ IBAs. With the appointment of a European IBA coordinator in 1990, and increasing numbers of national IBA coordinators, the work coalesced into a formal IBA programme. Out to sea The book was replaced by an even larger, two-volume directory In 2000, BirdLife began work on identifying marine IBAs, and in 2000, which raised the number of European IBAs recognised published Coastal and marine Important Bird Areas in the Baltic Sea. from 2,444 in 32 countries to 3,619 across 51 countries. By this time, But it was with the work of BirdLife Partners the IBA programme, begun in Europe, had taken SEO (Spain) and SPEA (Portugal), in 2004, that off across much of the world. In 1992, IBA work the work was formalised, leading to the was extended to cover the Middle East. When the 12,000 terrestrial publication of BirdLife’s Marine IBA toolkit IBA programme for Africa was launched in 1993, and 3,000 marine IBAs (2010), which established standardised the methodology was refined to ensure global identified techniques for identifying marine IBAs. Sites applicability; the IBA recognition process was that qualify include seaward extensions around developed to maximise local and national seabird breeding colonies, non-breeding involvement. The African IBA inventory, published coastal concentrations and areas of the high seas where pelagic in 2001, documented 1,230 sites in 58 countries and territories. The species forage. Working with the world’s leading seabird scientists IBA directory for Asia was produced in 2004, identifying 2,293 sites from both inside and outside the BirdLife Partnership, 40 BirdLife across 28 countries, followed in 2009 by the Americas directory, Partners have identified 3,000 marine IBAs worldwide. Over 150 describing 2,345 sites in 57 countries. In Australasia and the Pacific, have already been recognised by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as Ecologically or Biologically Significant Marine Areas (EBSAs), a step on the way to marine protected areas
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Going virtual The result, the first global inventory of important sites for the conservation of any class of marine species, was published at the Eleventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, in October. Instead of one of the impressive and often huge paper-based directories that BirdLife has published to date, the e-Atlas of marine Important Bird Areas is available exclusively online, as a Google Maps-style electronic atlas, which can be dynamically updated as new sites are identified and new data about them become available. It is linked to other BirdLife data resources, including BirdLife’s species accounts, IBA fact sheets and State of the World’s Birds case studies, as well as to BirdLife’s Seabird Foraging Range and Tracking Ocean Wanderers databases ■
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In 1990, World Birdwatch to encourage UK university reported that BP had provided students to collect data on £125,000 of support for what threatened birds overseas was then known as the ICBP/ during their summer vacations; Fauna and Flora Preservation in 1988, Fauna and Flora Society Conservation International joined the Expedition Competition. scheme, which was widened to Winners that year included a encompass all life forms; and, in team from Cambridge 1990, BP began funding the University, which carried out scheme, which was extended to bird surveys in the Solomon applicants from all over the Islands, and another which world. By 1998, 50% of projects visited forests in Tanzania’s were led by developing country Usambara Mountains. nationals. This rose to more Soon after the first full-time than 75% in 2004 and is now staff were employed, ICBP close to 100%. began developing a portfolio of Some of the earliest projects using volunteer labour, expeditions turned into mostly comprised of students. flagship projects for ICBP/ The result was a long series of BirdLife, such as Kilum Ijim projects targeting threatened (formerly Mount Oku) in species in key locations. Cameroon, which has now run Information about the status for 25 years, protecting three and ecology of threatened the species and bird species, 3,000 young the threats they and achieving faced was regeneration conservationists needed for the supported, 200 species of the forest. Red Data Books Similarly, in rediscovered, 50 of threatened 1989, a team bird species, from the protected areas which ICBP University of designated compiled on East Anglia behalf of the conducted the IUCN. first surveys of the birds and This early work grew into a mammals of the dry forests of major international initiative to the Tumbes region of southdevelop conservation capacity west Ecuador and north-west worldwide, now known the Peru. It rediscovered the OchreConservation Leadership bellied Dove Leptotila Programme (CLP). At first, the ochraceiventris and located focus was on students from the nine other threatened birds UK, but the CLP now endemic to the region. The concentrates almost entirely on threats to the dry forest were promising young analysed, resulting in a conservationists from conservation strategy for the developing countries. Many Tumbesian region. At the time, have now emerged as major ICBP was the only international players in conservation. CLPconservation organisation to backed teams have discovered regard the Tumbesian region as or rediscovered over 200 a conservation priority. In 2004, species. the British Birdwatching Fair raised the record sum of From expeditions to £164,000 ($300,000) to support flagship projects BirdLife’s conservation work in Historically, the scheme has the Tumbres region. undergone several changes: in In 2002, Conservation 1985, ICBP founded the International and the Wildlife Conservation Expedition Award Conservation Society joined the
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For more than 25 years the Conservation Leadership Programme has produced the next generation of young conservationists (CLP)
programme. In the same year, a team from Colombia’s national university in Bogotá obtained the first confirmed evidence in ninety years of the continued existence of the Indigo-winged Parrot Hapalopsittaca fuertesi. The population of this Critically Endangered parrot has subsequently increased to 160 birds thanks to conservation efforts.
Move to leadership The award programmes became the Conservation Leadership Programme in 2006, better to reflect the programme’s aim of addressing both conservation and capacity development. CLP internships were introduced, giving individuals an opportunity to gain hands-on experience of working with an international conservation organisation. When the CLP celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2010, a total of 475 projects had been supported and 450 individuals had been trained through international and in-country training workshops. In the same year, the Mangrove Conservation Alliance was established as a direct result of
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a CLP internship hosted by BirdLife.
Major grant giver The CLP now disburses US$500,000 annually to emerging conservationists around the world, in 2012 supporting 28 projects in 22 countries, selected from 238 applicants. These included conservation of the Critically Endangered Grey-Breasted Parakeet Pyrrhura griseipectus in Brazil, and of the Endangered Green Peafowl Pavo muticus in the proposed A Yun Pa Nature Reserve in Vietnam. There is a well-established alumni network of around 3,000 individuals, many in senior positions. No fewer than 96% of trainees have entered careers which influence biodiversity conservation; nearly 70% are practitioners working with NGOs, private companies, government, or as independent consultants. Some 85% of projects have continued beyond the programme’s funding period. More than 50 protected areas have been designated as a result of CLP projects and 25 NGOs have been established ■
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Restoring islands for people and nature In 1984, World Birdwatch reported that ICBP was developing a Improving livelihoods database on the threatened birds of small islands, which would ICBP already recognised that human livelihoods and wellbeing bring together the knowledge and insights of all the world’s island were inextricably linked with the success or failure of conservation specialists. Following the publication of the second, conservation efforts. The database contained not only information much-expanded edition of the Red Data Book in 1978–79, ICBP on threatened birds and other biodiversity, but also socioknew that more than half of globally threatened bird species were economic data. from small islands, as were the overwhelming majority of species Nearly 30 years on, the proportion of threatened birds on that had gone extinct in the preceding 400 years. islands has fallen below half, in part because of ICBP announced that a major focus for the successful conservation work implemented or Invasive alien species next four years would be on oceanic island led by BirdLife Partners. BirdLife has also taken a conservation. But at that time knowledge about lead in developing expertise in eradicating have been the biggest islands tended to be very scattered. invasive alien species, which are implicated in cause of bird extinctions ICBP had already produced a checklist of bird the declines of three quarters of all threatened since 1500 species endemic to single islands or confined to birds on oceanic islands. certain archipelagos. The next phase involved For example, Vatu-i-Ra, a small island IBA in circulating a specially devised questionnaire to island specialists Fiji, supports more than 10,000 pairs of breeding seabirds of six across the globe. The information was stored and analysed on a species. The community that owns the island was keen to protect computerised system developed by ICBP and IUCN, which, in this resource and to develop low impact tourism, but the very high common with all BirdLife’s data resources, was made freely available population of rats threatened the seabird colonies. The BirdLife to all conservationists and conservation organisations. Pacific Partnership began eradicating the rats, while training community members to prevent them from becoming reestablished. In 2008, the island was declared rat free. Another The BirdLife Partnership is restoring islands BirdLife Pacific Partnership project eradicated rats from 13 and removing alien internationally and three nationally important seabird islands. invasive species Collectively, these operations have created 306 ha of predator free (SOP Manu) island habitat, protecting breeding colonies for 17 species of seabird and many other native life forms including threatened landbirds, reptiles, invertebrates and plants.
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Extending the reach The BirdLife Pacific Partnership is extending the restoration programme to an additional 19 important seabird islands in Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, the Cook Islands and Palau. The programme is being implemented by BirdLife Partners in French Polynesia (Société d’Ornithologie de Polynésie), New Caledonia (Société Calédonienne d’Ornithologie), the Cook Islands (Te Ipukarea), and the Palau Conservation Society. Of the six BirdLife Partners in the tropical Pacific, four now have the technical knowledge, experience and support networks to undertake restoration of important islands. BirdLife Partners in the Pacific have saved several small island species from otherwise inevitable extinction by controlling and eradicating invasive pests, especially black rats. The Endangered Ultramarine Lorikeet Vini ultramarina survives on the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia because of constant vigilance and trapping; similar work on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands has brought the Rarotonga Monarch Pomarea dimidiata back from Critically Endangered in 1996 to Vulnerable in 2012.
Not only rats But it’s not just about removing invasive mammals. In the Azores, SPEA (BirdLife in Portugal) has successfully restored around 230 ha of native laurel forest by removing invasive alien plants. This has played a large part in reversing the decline of Azores Bullfinch, resulting in the species being downlisted in 2010. The project has also other important benefits: providing the equivalent of full time employment for 25 local people annually, whilst adding an estimated €335,000 to the regional GDP each year ■
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In 1983, World Birdwatch reported that ICBP was conducting a study at ArabukoSokoke, the largest remnant of the forests that once dominated Kenya’s coastal fringe. At that time, the forest was known to hold five species listed as “rare” in the Red Data book. Of these, the Sokoke Scops-owl Otus ireneae and Clarke’s Weaver Ploceus golandi were both believed to be confined to this site, and the Sokoke Pipit Anthus sokokensis to be near-endemic to the forest. Arabuko-Sokoke is surrounded by 53 villages and at least 110,000 people. An interim report by ICBP found that while the forest area had been only slightly reduced, continual removal of timber and charcoal burning by local communities had led to considerable degradation in forest quality. Although Arabuko-Sokoke was a national Forest Reserve, there were insufficient funds and staff to protect it. Following the study, ICBP/ BirdLife ranked Arabuko-Sokoke as the second most important forest for conservation of threatened birds on mainland Africa. Of more than 230 bird species recorded, nine are globally threatened.
Working with local people It was clear to ICBP that the conservation problems could not be addressed without tackling the problems of the community, which primarily stemmed from extreme poverty. The unmanaged and illegal extraction of timber and firewood, and hunting of wildlife for bushmeat, continually undermined the very resources that local people depended on. Early proposals included a suggestion that local people should be excluded from part of the site, but neither ICBP nor Kenya’s then-President favoured this approach, believing instead that the forest should be
The BirdLife Partnership has been involved in forest projects in 50 countries across the globe (David Zeller; RSPB)
protected for the benefit of local people as well as birds and biodiversity.
Sokoke was developed in a participatory way, with over 150 people representing every ‘stakeholder’ group. ArabukoPartner takes control Sokoke was the first state owned The Arabuko-Sokoke Forest forest in Kenya where Management and Conservation community involvement in Project, which ran from 1996 to forest management was 2002, was coordinated by the allowed; equally, the highest BirdLife Secretariat, and funded levels of government have by the European endorsed the Union. BirdLife plan. The Four million hectares continuing Partner Nature Kenya became survival of the of tropical forests increasingly forest and its targeted for involved, and, fauna during an protection since April 2002 era of forest has played the loss in most of leading role, with support from the country is the clearest sign other Partners including NABU of the project’s success. (Germany) and RSPB (UK). Forests of Hope A combination of community Beginning with the work of ICBP, participation with strengthened the BirdLife Partnership has law enforcement systems has been involved in forest been at the heart of the project, conservation work in 50 along with development of countries in Africa, Asia, South forest based income generating America and the Pacific. Since activities such as beekeeping, 2004, BirdLife’s Forests of Hope butterfly farming, ecotourism programme has been bringing and education, backed by together and building on these monitoring to assess the many successes. Its aim is the effectiveness of all these prevention of deforestation and activities. the restoration of natural forest The 25-year Strategic Forest covering at least five million Management Plan for Arabuko-
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hectares of tropical forest worldwide by 2020. Forests of Hope began with Harapan Forest in Sumatra, Indonesia, where many forest IBAs are in areas zoned by the government as commercial logging concessions. BirdLife Partner Burung Indonesia, with the support of the BirdLife Secretariat and several Partners, worked with Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry to enable logging concessions to be managed in the interests of nature conservation. This became law in 2007. By 2009 the Ministry was receiving as many applications for forest restoration licences as for logging concessions; by the end of 2011, there were 40 applications for forest restorations, totalling a further 3.9 million hectares. Harapan Rainforest is the first restoration forest of its kind in Indonesia—and the world. This ambitious project provides a model for forest ecosystem restoration, carbon sequestration and sustainable management throughout Indonesia, with lessons that can be shared with other tropical countries ■
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Saving the world’s most threatened species In 1988, 20 years after ICBP’s purchase of Cousin Island in the Seychelles, World Birdwatch reported on the astonishing recovery of the species then known as the Seychelles Brushwarbler (now Seychelles Warbler) Acrocephalus sechellensis. By 1968, the global population had dropped to just 20–30, all on Cousin, which was mostly covered by a coconut plantation. Seychelles Warbler is now thriving after translocation The coconut trees were cut to different islands down; native vegetation was (Martijn Hammers) encouraged to regenerate; rats were eradicated. Cousin was, and continues to be managed as a strict nature reserve. The only activities permitted are conservation work, research and day visits by ecotourists; this provides all the funding the island needs.
1997, a population thought to number around 250 was found on Conception. In 2001, following cat and rat eradication, 31 birds were transferred to Frégate; translocations to North Island and Cousin followed. Nature Seychelles is one of BirdLife’s most dynamic Partners: as well as transforming the state of Seychelles ecosystems and biodiversity by its leading role in island restoration, it is involved in youth work, education and capacity building; its most recent project is a groundbreaking programme to tackle problems of social exclusion and addiction through its Greening Livelihoods Project, which encourages vulnerable people to improve their mental and physical wellbeing through contact with nature, and to learn practical skills that allow them to rejoin mainstream society.
Saving species
The BirdLife Partnership has a strong history in species conservation on both a national and international scale. In September 2008, the Preventing Extinctions Programme was launched in in an attempt to counteract an increasingly diverse array of threats to birds by delivering conservation actions, and by Time for translocation highlighting the entirety of the action being During its first four By 1987, the warbler population had reached 450, undertaken by the BirdLife Partnership for which was thought to be as many as Cousin could threatened species. years, the BirdLife hold. But the island is just 27 ha in extent: a single The Programme has achieved a huge amount Preventing Extinctions catastrophe, such as a scrub fire, could have of tangible conservation action. The work has Programme has appointed already covered more than 75 Critically pushed the warbler back to the edge of BirdLife Species Guardians Endangered species, in addition to many other extinction. Historically, Seychelles Warbler had been known from other islands; a candidate Endangered and Vulnerable species. For example, for a total of 68 species existed in Aride, 12 km to the north, which was in Brazil a project on Restinga Antwren—funded also managed as a nature reserve. An ICBP team by the British Birdwatching Fair and Species compared conditions on the two islands, and concluded that Aride Champion Urs Peter Stäuble, and implemented by SAVE Brasil was suitable for the warbler. (BirdLife Partner), and Species Guardian Pingo d’Água—has led to At the end of the 1987 breeding season, 29 birds were the creation of the state park of Costa do Sol, protecting 10,000 transported by boat from Cousin to Aride. The results were startling: hectares which encompass almost all of the Restinga Antwren’s within a couple of days, the first nest had been built; the first eggs distribution. This added protection and a better understanding of the were laid a week later. Ten years later, the population on Aride had species have led to the antwren being downlisted to Endangered. reached 1,600. Birds were subsequently shipped to two more islands, It is this work, often involving several different Partners that where they thrived. make the Programme truly unique. However, it is not only birds that Frégate was the only known home of the Seychelles Magpiebenefit. The conservation carried out by Species Guardians also has a robin Copsychus sechellarum, which by 1965 was reduced to an even positive effect on many other plants and animals ■ more parlous state than the Seychelles Warbler, with only 12–15 surviving. Following intensive work and translocations, first by the RSPB, then Nature Seychelles, the Magpie-robin recovered to an estimated 200, on five islands (including Cousin). In 2005, it was downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered.
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Widening the net Two more Seychelles species have also been “downlisted” from Critically Endangered. Surveys by Nature Seychelles since 2005 suggest that the population of Seychelles Scops-owl Otus insularis, though small, is stable and its habitat reasonably well protected. In 1996, only 25–35 Seychelles White-eyes Zosterops modestus were known, from three tiny sites on Mahé. Then, in Restinga Antwren has been a beneficiary of the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme (Mauricio Vecchi)
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The United Nations Framework human-induced climate change Convention on Climate Change on wildlife. (UNFCCC) was opened for New challenges signature in 1992, when ICBP was completing its preparations Climate change presents new for its launch as the BirdLife challenges to BirdLife’s main Partnership. Climate change— approaches to conserving or global warming, as it was species, sites and habitats. then more commonly known— BirdLife has pulled together had already been recognised as scientific information, policy analysis and practical a threat to biodiversity. Among bird conservationists, it was experience that provide a comprehensive rationale for seen primarily as a danger to the birds of coasts and the Partnership to take action, especially small and developed islands, because a shared position and of the associated 45 million estimated rise in sea level. tonnes of CO2 emissions programme of work to avoided through Leading the combat BirdLife forest way with climate research change. protection at four sites Over the next 20 Partners work in Indonesia, Sierra years, BirdLife nationally to Leone, Cambodia and and its regional influence Paraguay over the next government Partnerships undertook policy and 20 years groundpositions on breaking climate research that helped change mitigation, adaptation expose the comprehensive and biofuels, drawing on the nature of the threat that climate practical experience they have change poses to life on earth. gained from on-the-ground Birds are among the most action and participation with sensitive indicators of local communities in places environmental change, that are already experiencing providing both early warnings the impacts of climate change. and the first evidence of likely The Partnership is involved longer-term impacts. The with and helping develop timings of important events in innovative ecosystem-based bird life cycles, such as the approaches for adaptation to arrival of migratory species on climate change across the their breeding grounds, were globe. changing, and becoming Global policy uncoupled from other seasonal BirdLife is active at the annual events, such as peaks in the conferences of the UNFCCC. availability of insect prey. Many During the 15th Conference of bird species were undergoing Parties at Copenhagen in 2009, shifts and contractions in their a team from the BirdLife ranges, with some being forced Secretariat was accompanied further up slopes or towards the by representatives from 19 edges of continental land BirdLife Partners. They brought masses, or seeing already small with them a list of the five climatic “envelopes” squeezing requirements for a fair, shut. A Climatic Atlas of ambitious and legally binding European Breeding Birds agreement which would represented a landmark recognise the vital importance advance in our understanding of safeguarding biodiversity, of the potential impacts of
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Species’ ranges will move as climate changes. Rock Ptarmigan Lagopus muta is one of the potential losers (Tom Marshall; rspg-images.com)
ecosystems and the essential services they provide in climate change adaptation and mitigation. The Copenhagen COP failed to do more than “take note” of these requirements, and no binding legal agreement was forthcoming. However, world leaders taking part in the following year’s COP16 in Cancún, Mexico, reached an agreement that put climate change negotiations back on track. The 2011 meeting in Durban, South Africa, concluded with
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the establishment of the Green Climate Fund to support developing countries’ climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. BirdLife has long campaigned for this, and helped to provide hard figures on the finance such an agreement needs if it is to make a real difference. As this issue of World Birdwatch goes to press, a team from BirdLife is attending the latest meeting (COP17) in Doha, Qatar, lobbying signatory governments on a range of critical issues ■
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Showing the way to save the world’s seabirds Seabird conservation has been of concern since ICBP’s earliest days (gingiber; flickr.com)
Task Force success
In 1991, World Birdwatch reported a rare good news story about seabirds. The New Zealand government had outlawed a kind of fishing equipment responsible for the deaths through collision of large numbers of White-capped Albatross Thalassarche steadi, an endemic breeder on New Zealand’s offshore islands. The Auckland Islands’ squid trawl fishery had killed 2,300 adults in 1990 alone. Sandy Bartle, Curator of Birds at the National Museum in Wellington and a member of the ICBP Seabird Specialist Group, initially brought the issue to the media’s attention; coverage by national television and all major newspapers prompted firm and immediate government action. Since 2006, all boats at work in South Africa’s trawl grounds, where the majority of White-capped Albatross spend the winter, have been required to fit bird-scaring streamer lines as a condition of their permit to fish, thanks to BirdLife’s lobbying work with Regional Fisheries Management Organisations (RFMOs).
In 2005, the Global Seabird Programme created the Albatross Task Force (ATF), the world’s first international team of seabird bycatch mitigation instructors. The ATF works with the fishing industry to raise awareness of seabird bycatch; it accompanies fishermen at sea to demonstrate the simple, inexpensive measures that can dramatically reduce the risk. For example, for every 100 albatrosses being killed in fisheries in South African waters in 2006, over 85 are now being saved thanks to the efforts of the Albatross Task Force working with the government and the fishing industry. In the south of Chile, the incidental capture of seabirds has been reduced from over 1,500 birds in one year to zero through the adoption of modified fishing gear, and in Argentina the use of mitigation in the trawl fishery has shown that it is possible to reduce seabird mortality to close to zero. BirdLife’s report Tracking Ocean Wanderers, published in 2004, highlighted crucial areas for the conservation of albatrosses across the world’s oceans. Now online, the Global Procellariiform Tracking Database, managed by BirdLife, is the largest collection of seabird Bringing experts together tracking data in existence. Since 2007, BirdLife has also been Seabird conservation had been among ICBP’s early concerns. But it compiling a database of seabird foraging ranges and ecological was not until 1982, at a workshop which brought preferences in the marine environment; as part of together experts in seabird biology and the recently established World Seabird Union, it is conservation from around the world, that ICBP helping build a World Seabird Colony Database. In South Africa, attempted to compile a comprehensive analysis All these data sources have been used by BirdLife measures put in place of the state of the world’s seabirds. The Partners to identify IBAs around seabird colonies have reduced albatross workshop was followed by a symposium on and in foraging areas in the high seas, resulting in deaths by 90% global priorities for seabird conservation and BirdLife’s e-Atlas of marine Important Bird Areas. research; it resulted in the publication of ICBP’s State of the world’s seabirds second “Technical Publication”, the 800-page A major review published in BirdLife’s journal Bird Conservation Status and Conservation of the World’s Seabirds. This covered all the International in March 2012 returned to the theme of the ICBP’s world’s oceans and coastal waters, examining what was known— “Technical Publication Number 2”, by examining the status of all the and unknown—about 282 seabird species. world’s seabirds. The number of species recognised had risen from BirdLife established the Global Seabird Programme in 1997. This 282 to 346. But, sadly, that was almost the only increase to be works at regional, national and international levels to influence reported in two decades of seabird conservation. Based on BirdLife’s agreements and measures to reduce seabird bycatch. Thanks partly data and assessments for the IUCN Red List, the paper confirmed that to lobbying by the BirdLife Partnership, an international treaty, the seabirds are more at risk than any other group of birds, with 97 Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), species (28%) globally threatened, and nearly 50% known, or came into force in 2004: it requires signatory states to take specific suspected to be experiencing population declines. Even the Whitemeasures to improve the conservation status of albatrosses and capped Albatross, the beneficiary of that early ICBP-inspired petrels. BirdLife is the main NGO Observer at ACAP meetings, plays government ban, may be declining moderately rapidly, and is listed an active role in all ACAP Working Groups, and is developing as Near Threatened ■ indicators to measure conservation progress through ACAP.
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The need to protect vulnerable migratory birds was an important motive for the creation of ICBP in 1922. Many projects followed, until in 1978, ICBP began coordinating the first global initiative for migratory birds, by founding the Migratory Birds Committee (MBC). By 1988, World Birdwatch was able to report that ICBP had carried out more than 140 projects in Europe and Africa, building networks and supporting existing conservation bodies, and establishing NGOs in countries where there were previously no organisations devoted to bird study and conservation. BirdLife Partners in Nigeria (Nigerian Conservation Foundation) and Greece (Hellenic Ornithological Society) were founded during these years. ICBP carried out major surveys in eight European and ten African countries, ranging from waterfowl censuses to the scale of bird killing at Mediterranean migration bottlenecks, and including the impact of changing hydrological regimes and pesticide use on the wetlands of the Sahel.
The seeds of cooperation The MBC fostered cooperation between affluent countries where the birds breed and poorer countries with important passage and wintering sites. Examples include: an agreement between ICBP, RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), the government of Ghana and the Ghana Wildlife Society (now a BirdLife Partner) to reverse the decline in the population of Roseate Tern Sterna dougallii; an agreement with the Moroccan government included surveys to locate passage and wintering populations of the Slender-billed Curlew Numenius tenuirostris, conservation management plans for significant coastal wetland sites, training in protection area management, and advice on improving the protection status of important sites. Similar work was carried out in Sudan, Nigeria and
year, Birdfair money provided Senegal, and in Egypt and other support to conserve habitats in countries around the the Sahel region. Mediterranean. The project is implemented ICBP was instrumental in by three BirdLife Partners in promoting international wildlife Africa: Fondation des Amis de la laws, most significantly the Nature (Naturama) in Burkina Convention on the Conservation Faso, Ghana Wildlife Society and of Migratory Species of Wild the Nigerian Animals (CMS or Conservation the Bonn The BirdLife Foundation. Convention). Partnership is striving They are Beginning with supported by the White Stork to protect 1.5 million the BirdLife Ciconia ciconia soaring birds through Secretariats in (then in decline, the Rift Valley Nairobi, Accra but now and Cambridge, regarded as of and BirdLife Partners in Europe, Least Concern and still increasing particularly LPO (France), VBN thanks to conservation action), (Netherlands), DOF (Denmark) ICBP steered development of and RSPB. Conservation activities action plans for species listed in at wetland/savanna IBAs in the the Appendices of the CMS. three countries include: support First programme sponsor for Local Conservation Groups; The BirdLife Partnership has now floodplain restoration combined its activities for the demonstration; pilot projects to conservation of migratory birds restore dryland with native into a global programme shrubs and trees; and measures covering the three major flyways: to combat overgrazing and the African-Eurasian, East Asianwoodland degradation. Australasian, and Americas Global joined-up Flyways. In 2011, the British conservation Birdwatching Fair became the In 2012, the Birdfair raised funds first international sponsor for the to support BirdLife conservation Flyways Programme. In its first
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Bobolinks Dolichonyx oryzivorus link many countries in the Americas with their migratory route which extends from the prairies of North America to the pampas of the South (janetandPhil; flickr.com)
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action in the East Asian/ Australasian Flyway, which extends from Arctic Russia via East and South-East Asia to southernmost Australia and New Zealand. The Flyway has more waterbird species listed as Near Threatened or Globally Threatened than any of the world’s other major migratory flyways; rates of species decline of up to 8–9% per year are among the highest of any ecological system on the planet. In the Americas, Partners along the flyway are working together to create a network of sites form the prairies to the pampas to ensure a future for large numbers of migratory birds. Audubon, Nature Canada and Bird Studies Canada in the north work with and help Partners such as Panama Audubon, Guyra Paraguay and Aves Argentinas further south to make sure that migrants have safe havens throughout their range. The nature and beauty of the BirdLife Partnership means that it is perfectly set up to tackle the problems that migratory birds face all along their flyways ■
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Partners supporting Partners
(Martin Fowlie)
the Central Rift Valley around the Abijata Shalla Lakes National Park Over the past three years, SEO/BirdLife (BirdLife Partner in Spain), (ASLNP) with funds obtained from NABU (BirdLife in Germany). has helped to develop the capacity of a national NGO in Morocco, Similarly, the Norwegian Ornithological Society (NOF) provide GREPOM (Group for Research and Protection of Birds in Morocco), funding and support for the Zambian Ornithological Society (ZOS) hoping that it will soon be able to take the lead on BirdLife’s in a project to encourage local participation in the conservation of programmes in Morocco. The desired end, in line with BirdLife some of Zambia’s key biodiversity areas, setting up Site Support operations elsewhere in the world, is to have a strong, committed Groups (SSGs) in 15 IBAs. and credible NGO representing BirdLife nationally as a member of Since 1990, RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) has supported the Wildlife the BirdLife Partnership. Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST), helping it to secure funds In Morocco, as elsewhere in the world, BirdLife believes that a for medium-to-large projects, including the five year Uluguru dedicated and effective network of civil society movements for Slopes Planning Project, 1995–1999; between 1999 and 2007 Danish nature is the only way to ensure tangible, long term and sustainable partner DOF secured more funding for WCST’s work in the Uluguru conservation impact. This is why a major emphasis of BirdLife’s work Mountains), and provided/continues to provide concerns capacity building, from science to training to develop WCST’s institutional and policy and conservation action, management, professional capacity. In the 20 years from 1988 communications, fundraising and marketing. More than 115 Partners to 2008, WCST evolved from an organisation Each of BirdLife’s programmes (Preventing working together and entirely managed by volunteers into an Extinctions, IBAs, Seabirds, Flyways, Alien helping each other for a internationally recognised NGO staffed by Invasives, Forests of Hope, Climate Change, sustainable future for salaried professionals. As such it was able to take Capacity Development and Local Empowerment) the lead against recent proposals to mine soda has a capacity development component. people and nature ash in Lake Natron, the most important breeding Providing real solutions site for Lesser Flamingos in East Africa. The 116 civil society organisations that form the BirdLife Nature Canada (BirdLife co-partner in Canada) has worked with Partnership have a wealth of experience, knowledge and technical Partners in Central and South America and the Caribbean on skills which they share, providing each other with invaluable real integrated conservation and development projects, which have world solutions and best practices. This is crucial because over half helped to alleviate social and economic problems as well as to of the BirdLife Partners are located in developing countries. conserve species and habitats. With the financial support of the BirdLife’s capacity development work is implemented through Government of Canada, Nature Canada has worked with Grupo a through a highly cost effective programme of training courses, Jaragua (BirdLife in the Dominican Republic), Société Audubon Haïti visits, internships, an NGO “Health Check” and a “Partners and Centro Nacional de Areas Protegidas (CNAP, BirdLife in Cuba) to supporting Partners” system, through which the more developed promote sustainable livelihoods and to reduce impacts on critical organisations support developing ones. This system encourages biodiversity areas. The islands of Cuba and Hispaniola are of great the establishment of bilateral relationships between European, importance as stopover or wintering grounds for migratory birds North American and Australasian Partners and others in Africa, the that breed in Canada, including the globally Vulnerable Bicknell’s Americas, Asia and the Pacific. Thrush Catharus bicknelli. In the same way, other BirdLife Partners have forged links by participating in work to conserve the Partners helping Partners migratory birds they share. For example, the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society BirdLife is now represented in two thirds of all countries and (BirdLife in Ethiopia) has established a Local Conservation Group in territories of the world ■
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In 1987, World Birdwatch announced the Hadejia Wetlands Project, a large-scale initiative to restore seasonal wetlands in the floodplain of the Hadejia and Jama’are rivers in north-east Nigeria, by organising and empowering the surrounding communities. ICBP had identified the wetlands as a site of great important for migratory waterbirds, but they also provided livelihoods and subsistence to around 1.5 farmers, herders and fishermen. Hydrological changes, caused by upstream dams, were slowing the water flow through the wetlands, allowing Typha reeds to become established, which blocked the channels, reducing flooding needed to irrigate farms, and preventing pools from forming. The original project involved ICBP, the Nigerian Conservation Foundation and the RSPB (soon to become the BirdLife Partners in Nigeria and the UK). The project produced a management plan for the conservation and sustainable use of the wetlands, trained local staff in wetlands management, and engaged the wider community by forming “Nature Clubs”.
Wings over Wetlands Twenty years later, the Hadejia Nguru wetlands were chosen as a demonstration project by the Wings Over Wetlands (WOW) initiative. WOW brought together BirdLife, its Partners along the African Eurasian flyway and other conservation organisations, and communities whose livelihoods depend on wetlands which are also important for migratory waterbirds. WOW equipped the villagers of Dabar Magini to restore an area of the wetlands. A committee was set up and WOW provided hand-tools to clear the Typha manually. Within a year, people reported that pools were
alone. Since the late 1990s, forming further from the lakes, BirdLife and the Partnership enabling farmers and herders to have been building a network of return to land that had become grassroots groups, known as too dry for crops and grazing, Local Conservation Groups and that more and bigger fish (LCGs), at IBAs. There are were being caught. The project currently over became self2000 LCGs at sustaining as 2,000 Local IBAs across the more community world. The members Conservation groups structures, contributed their around the world governance, time to clearing working for a future for membership the channels. and objectives Two nearby people and nature of these groups communities together reflect the joined in, and diversity of the lessons culture, history, legislation and learned are being taken up by social norms in different places. other villages around the LCGs often form effective wetlands. community-based People and nature organisations, addressing other
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together ICBP was among the first global conservation NGOs to recognise that the consent and participation of local people are essential if conservation projects are to be successful in the long term. The BirdLife Partnership has built upon this insight: BirdLife’s vision is of “a world rich in biodiversity, with people and nature living in harmony, equitably and sustainably”. All BirdLife Partners are national civil-society organisations, working locally through their members and supporters. The relationship is mutually beneficial. National Partners help local people achieve their ambitions, and local stakeholders contribute their knowledge, experience and action to the conservation of globally important sites and species.
The BirdLife Partnership has been building a network of grassroots groups, known as Local Conservation Groups (LCGs), at IBAs around the world (Jonathan Barnard)
The importance of volunteers Many Partners are supported by volunteers who help protect, manage and monitor sites, enabling conservation work to be carried out and data collected to an extent that would be far beyond the capacity of the Partner’s staff
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issues of local concern, such as health, clean water provision and education. Others have established income-generating activities which require the maintenance of healthy ecosystems. The BirdLife’s Partnership’s Local Empowerment Programme (LEP), launched in 2011, aims to provide more effective support for LCGs, and to strengthen and expand LCG networks. The LEP’s vision is that “local organisations at critical sites for biodiversity are empowered to effectively conserve, manage and defend their sites, so that biodiversity values and benefits are provided locally, nationally and globally in the long term” ■
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In spring 1988, ICBP moved out of the overcrowded portakabins that had served as its headquarters, and into its first permanent home. To make the purchase, ICBP drew on reserves; money which ICBP’s Executive Committee stipulated had to be replaced. For this and other reasons, ICBP launched a capital fundraising campaign for £250,000, soliciting UK companies to provide some of the equipment it needed. Along with a fax machine and a photocopier, ICBP’s modest shopping list included £100 for a fridge.
Scaling up fundraising Today, the fundraising challenge is envisioned on a very different scale! The targets of BirdLife’s recent fundraising campaigns included highly ambitious projects: the US$100,000 per year Northern Bald Ibis conservation programme in Morocco and Syria; the £1.7million Henderson Island Restoration Project led by the RSPB (Partner in the UK); and the $2million per annum management and restoration of the Harapan Forest in Sumatra.
Costing nature Most recently of all, a team of researchers from BirdLife and its
Protecting the environment needs to be seen as a financial investment not as a cost (backonthebus; flickr.com)
UK Partner the RSPB have McCarthy, Environmental appealed to the world’s Economist at BirdLife governments to dig deep and International and the RSPB, and come up with $80 billion dollars lead author of the paper a year for the next ten years. This Financial Costs of Meeting Two is calculated to be the price of Global Biodiversity Conservation conserving our natural world: Targets: Current Spending and reducing the extinction risk of all Unmet Needs, points out, the total threatened birds (US$0.875–1.23 is just 1–4% of the net value of billion annually, of which only ecosystem services being lost 12% is currently annually, for funded); plus all which estimates $80 billion a year other animal range from and plant US$2–6.6 to save and protect species known trillion. nature to be globally Moreover, threatened; plus because the costs of managing 11,731 protecting IBAs and other IBAs effectively (US$14.3 billion ecosystems would go far towards annually, less than 25% of which stemming the loss of these is currently funded) and sites for essential services, the other biodiversity; plus almost governments, foundations and $60 billion to bring the global charitable donors, corporations protected area network up to and the other public and private 17% of the world’s terrestrial sources that could provide such service, which would take it just funding would be guaranteed over the threshold agreed by the the best return on investment on Parties to the Convention of the planet. Biological Diversity (which Resolving financial costs means most of the world’s Following the failure of the governments). global commitment to reduce At first blush, this seems an the rate of loss of biodiversity by impossibly high price, 2010, Parties to the CBD adopted particularly during a time of a new strategic plan, including 20 global recession. But as Donal
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targets to be met by 2020. But negotiations on financing the plan are not yet resolved, partly for lack of information on financial costs. A particular challenge has been to address the great discrepancy between the higher resources available in richer countries and the higher conservation needs in biodiversity rich but financially poor countries. BirdLife’s analysis, funded by the Cambridge Conservation Initiative Collaborative Fund for Conservation and the Arcadia Foundation, provides a sound basis for resolving these discussions. “Saving nature makes economic sense because of the payback in terms of services and benefits that people receive in return, from mitigating climate change to pollinating crops”, said Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife International’s Global Research Coordinator.“Resolving the ongoing conservation funding crisis is urgent: the longer that investments in conservation are delayed, the more the costs will grow, and the greater will be the difficulty of successfully meeting the targets” ■
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FEATURE
Ninety years spreading our wings: many Partners, one BirdLife Ninety years ago a group of visionary conservationists understood that international cooperation was the only way to address the increasingly complex conservation issues facing birds in the industrialised world. BirdLife was the first truly international conservation organisation to be established and birds once again acted as catalyst of that logical yet revolutionary idea to work together internationally. Ninety years later and more than ever before it is only together that we can tackle the international conservation issues of today’s globalised world. This is the spirit, the approach, the ethos driving what the BirdLife Partnership does for nature. Together we can go beyond today, beyond
boundaries; we can speak globally with one voice; we can share and learn solutions; we can combine our science and our data; we can be much greater than the sum of the parts. Over hundred committed organisations are today the core of BirdLife, the world’s largest global grass root partnership for nature. From identifying the world’s important bird and biodiversity areas, rescuing threatened species, protecting critical site networks for migratory birds along their flyways, saving rainforests in the tropics, grasslands in the Americas and restoring islands in the Pacific, to developing innovative research and technology to save albatrosses from logline fishing or vultures from toxic veterinary drugs, fighting unsustainable hunting in every corner of the planet, lobbying for a greener
agriculture in Europe and a sustainable grazing in the Middle East, what’s most unique perhaps is how BirdLife get things done. Our theory of change is entirely committed to build local capacity, empowering grassroot conservationists and communities around the world and supporting the development of strong conservation civil society organisations. Without passionate, informed local committment nested in well organised and efficient local organisations there won’t be sustainable positive change. None of the BirdLife organisations could have achieved impact at scale. Together we can achieve long term and durable results for nature, for our own future. We passionately believe it. We are many Partners , one BirdLife.
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Marco Lambertini Chief Executive of BirdLife International [Started as volunteer of the Livorno branch of LIPU (BirdLife Partner in Italy) at the age of 12]
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BirdLife history
We are finally becoming aware of the crucial value of nature’s services to us and all life on earth, yet at the same time we are destroying the natural environment at an ever-faster pace. Critical ecosystems like forests and oceans, essential to the stability of our climate, and primary sources of food and materials that billions of people depend on, are being overexploited and irreparably degraded. One in eight birds are threatened with extinction, unequivocal indicators of the unsustainable way we manage the planet’s resources. Increasingly we recognise that to save nature, we need to operate at an international scale. This is why 117 national nature conservation organisations have come together to form the BirdLife Partnership. Together we share a common vision and strategy, work together through joint programmes, and implement conservation projects at local, national, regional and global levels. Together we help strengthen conservation capacity throughout the BirdLife Partnership by sharing our resources, skills and expertise. BirdLife is a young Partnership with old roots. It was founded as the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP) in 1922,
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at a meeting called by T. Gilbert Pearson, President of Audubon (now BirdLife Partner in the USA), and attended by delegates from France, Holland and the UK. By the end of the meeting, they had established the outline of what Professor Kai Curry-Lindahl later called “world’s first truly international conservation organisation”. Within three years, ICBP had member organisations from five continents.
Phyllis Barclay-Smith (UK) became the first General Secretary, and the driving force behind ICBP for 43 years. With her dynamism, and the leadership of Jean Delacour (France) and S. Dillon Ripley (UK), who followed Pearson as chairmen, ICBP developed into an impressive network of individuals and organisations driven by their passion for birds and concerns for the
ICBP was founded at a meeting called by T. Gilbert Pearson, President of Audubon (BirdLife)
From left to right: Jean Delacour, S. Dillon Ripley and Sir Peter Scott attend the ICBP World Conference in Cambridge, UK in 1982 (BirdLife)
“BirdLife International is a totally unique type of
international NGO. It has a scientific approach in collecting and analysing data, which it uses to work with governments, local authorities and companies to make conservation measures and projects more effective. The reputation of BirdLife as being not only reliable and effective, but also attentive to the needs of people, makes me proud to be its Honorary President.
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Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado, Honorary President, BirdLife International
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decline of species and habitats. A strong commitment to international collaboration was a major factor behind ICBP’s success. That founding principle remains at BirdLife’s core. Today the “Partners supporting Partners” system encourages bilateral relationships between developed and developing country Partners across continents.
Feathers, oil pollution, bird sanctuaries, and migratory birds Among its earliest campaigns, ICBP called for an end to the trade in wild bird feathers. At ICBP’s first formal conference, in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1928, resolutions were passed for the
creation of bird sanctuaries, and for a “closed season” on shooting and trapping of birds on spring migration and while breeding. Even in those early days oil pollution was a concern, and the conference called for an international convention, “which should take into consideration the great loss of birds from this cause”. In 1954, thanks partly to the work of ICBP, this convention became reality. ICBP used its international structure to begin coordinating the first global initiative for migratory birds, and was instrumental in promoting the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species, the first international convention of this kind.
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“I had the honour of
serving as BirdLife International’s first Honorary President when this incredible global Partnership was founded twenty years ago. I am delighted to see how BirdLife has grown in strength and remit, covering more and more countries and territories across the world and evolving into a complete and mature conservation organisation for nature and people, using birds as indicators of sustainability.
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Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, President Emeritus, BirdLife International
“During the 19th century, in the coal mines, miners
used to take with them in the underground galleries a cage containing a canary. If the bird showed any sign of weakness or even died, miners would stop working and address the situation in order to save their lives. Today, every year, several bird species disappear because they cannot survive the deterioration of the environment imposed by man. BirdLife is our canary.
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Luc Hoffman, Founder of the Tour du Valat Research Centre and the MAVA Foundation
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Across the years BirdLife International has reached levels of excellence in interlinking robust science with sound policy proposals and in promoting local action in support of global policies. It is an approach now recognized in the Rio+20 outcome document The Future We Want as essential for achieving sustainable development. After 90 years, BirdLife International has every reason to celebrate its achievements and I join the many friends and supporters in congratulating you and the generations of dedicated individuals for the unique contribution you have made.
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The killing of birds for the millinery trade provided the impetus for the creation of several BirdLife Partners (VBN)
Achim Steiner, Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme
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BirdLife history
“During my 25-years on the
Board of the National Audubon Society, 15-years as Chairman, I worked on Audubon’s efforts to support BirdLife International throughout the Western Hemisphere.
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Donal O’Brien, Former Chairman of ICBP
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From the Far East to Africa to the Caribbean, BirdLife International and its partners are on the front lines of bird conservation, doing wellconceived and highly effective work. I’m proud to be a supporter.
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Christoph Imboden became ICBP’s first salaried staff member and led the transition to BirdLife as Chief Executive (BirdLife)
Jonathan Franzen, Author
The first Red List of threatened birds In 1952 ICBP started to compile data on threatened birds, and in 1966, in cooperation with IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) produced the first Red List of Threatened Birds. Red Lists
have had a profound effect on the global conservation agenda by setting conservation priorities, raising awareness, and helping focus government, institutional and donor support for conservation. From the 1960s onwards, ICBP expanded its role from research and lobbying to direct
“BirdLife International’s vision
resonates deeply with IUCN’s own vision of “a just world that values and conserves nature”. Today, BirdLife International is a key partner of IUCN and a major contributor to our flagship Red List of Threatened Species. We couldn’t have done it without you! I warmly congratulate BirdLife International, its Chief Executive Dr Marco Lambertini, all staff, Partners, Council members and volunteers on this 90th anniversary— thanks to your efforts, bird conservation is clearly up and flying!
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Julia Marton-Lefèvre, IUCN Director General
involvement in conservation action. But its structure as a federation of federations (national sections) was not well suited to united conservation campaigns. So in 1977 some BirdLife Partners founded the Working Group of European Bird Protection Societies (WEBS). This was the beginning of a new vision of how ICBP could work together. But to fulfil this new vision ICBP needed to professionalise and grow its staff capacity. Like every other ICBP office holder, Phyllis BarclaySmith had worked on a voluntary basis throughout her long involvement. When she stepped down in 1978, it was clear that ICBP needed salaried professional staff if it was to continue to meet its objectives. Other international conservation organisations, such as IUCN and WWF, founded long after ICBP, had had professional secretariats from the beginning. ICBP had been specially mentioned as a beneficiary in the memorandum that led to
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the foundation of WWF, and in 1980, help came from WWF to pay for ICBP’s first full-time paid secretariat. From ICBP’s new headquarters in Cambridge, UK, the first ICBP Director, Christoph Imboden (Switzerland), built a professional Secretariat which soon developed conservation projects all over the world, as well as consolidating ICBP’s reputation as the world’s foremost scientific authority for birds.
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The beginnings of BirdLife But ICBP’s efforts were hampered by its structure as a federation of many groups with varying philosophies. Every country was represented by a “national section” including not only nature conservation societies, but also museums, universities and zoos, government agencies and even hunting associations. In 1985, in the opening editorial of ICBP’s new magazine World Birdwatch, Imboden lamented: “What is still rarely understood is that ICBP should not be seen by its members as ‘them’, but as us.” With Chairman Ian Prestt (RSPB, UK), he opened discussion on how ICBP could become “a network of strong allied national organisations representing ICBP in each area and portraying a cohesive global image”. Under the chairmanship of Donal O’Brien (from Audubon, BirdLife in the US) in 1992, the first set of 15 “lead organisations” signed
the Partnership agreement with ICBP, to replace the national sections with one representative organisation per country. Before the official launch on 3 March 1993, there was still much to be done, including finding a name for the new organisation. The logo, a stylised Arctic Tern, which migrates between the Earth’s two poles, was chosen to symbolise the need for international collaboration. So the BirdLife Partnership was born. Its bottom up governance and structure was revolutionary for many reasons, but particularly for the focus on developing local capacity for nature conservation in all countries and territories of the world, as the only effective long-term answer to continuing biodiversity loss. In 1996, after completing the change from ICBP to BirdLife, Christoph Imboden handed over the role of BirdLife International CEO to Mike Rands (UK), who was succeeded in 2009 by Marco Lambertini, previously Director of LIPU (BirdLife in Italy). Under the Chairmanship first of Gerard A. Bertrand (USA), and since 2004, Peter Schei (Norway), supported by Honorary Presidents like Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan and Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado of Japan, BirdLife has become a global force for conservation. The BirdLife Secretariat today has around 200 staff, and is highly decentralised, with regional offices to service, support, co-ordinate and facilitate the work of the Partnership. The BirdLife Partnership is represented in all continents and unites over 7,500 staff. With more than110 Partners in respective countries/territories, 2.7 million members and 10 million supporters, the Partnership has become the world’s largest partnership for nature.
Partners like BirdLife International to be effective in biodiversity conservation. Support from the BirdLife Partnership is helping to ensure that the GEF continues to grow as the leading source of biodiversity conservation finance in the world, and that program implementation is well targeted, effective and efficient. The strong scientific information of BirdLife is a huge asset to the GEF in targeting our finance and the civil society network helps ensure that the GEF is well informed and linked to national priorities. BirdLife is also a very effective program partner on the ground in important regions and countries, as well as in the marine realm too. I congratulate BirdLife International on 90 years of achievements for biodiversity.
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Dr Naoko Ishii, CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility
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I greatly value the scientific expertise, practical know how and commitment of BirdLife International to promoting nature and biodiversity which has made a really valuable contribution to implementing the EU Birds Directive.
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Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for the Environment
LEFT Dr Mike Rands became BirdLife’s second Chief Executive in 1996. RIGHT Jerry Bertrand was BirdLife’s first Chairman (BirdLife)
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“The GEF need civil society
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BirdLife history
Our common achievements
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The work of BirdLife allows whole areas to be protected and preserved—unique areas of the globe whose importance is key both for our survival and for our knowledge of the world. I am particularly pleased that my Foundation—whose commitment to biodiversity and protection of the planet—is a faithful partner of BirdLife International, and has signed a framework partnership allowing our efforts to be united and our approaches to be shared on several projects throughout the world.
Across all BirdLife Partners, hundreds of conservation projects for threatened and declining species are underway, supported by BirdLife’s Preventing Extinctions Programme. The global Flyways Programme unites the work of Partners to protect stop-over sites and wintering habitats in all three main flyways. Worldwide, the BirdLife Partnership has identified 12,000 Important Bird Areas, recognised by the international community as the most
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His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco, Species Champion for Northern Bald Ibis
“I would like to take the opportunity presented
by this special anniversary to commend the work and commitment of the countless thousands of people that are and have been a part of the global partnership of BirdLife International—its officers, council, secretariat, staff in all national partner organisations and community members with whom BirdLife works—and to thank all your supporters around the world. Your work and support are essential to translating the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity into reality and to achieving the Aichi Biodiversity Targets on which the future health of the planet and human society so fundamentally depend.
There are over 2,000 Local Conservation Groups at Important Bird Areas around the globe (Martin Fowlie)
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Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias, Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity
“The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has been privileged to benefit from a
continuing partnership with BirdLife International over the last 41 years, since our birth. In fact Birdlife International is one of the organizations that stimulated the foundation of the Ramsar Convention and continues to promote the conservation and wise use of wetlands, by empowering local conservation organisations and growing and mobilising a constituency of people who care for nature. We are pleased to celebrate BirdLife International’s 90th anniversary and convey our encouragements and support to the whole BirdLife International family.
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Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, Ramsar Convention Secretariat
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comprehensive network of essential sites for biodiversity conservation. Partners have successfully lobbied for the establishment of protected areas covering millions of hectares of key areas for biodiversity worldwide, most recently marine areas. Between them, BirdLife Partners own or manage over a million hectares of natural habitat. BirdLife Partners are influencing national, regional and international land- and seause policies (agriculture, forestry, fisheries, water and energy). This is complex yet crucial work if we are to achieve ecological sustainability for all human activities. Working with local people is essential for bird and nature conservation, and together the BirdLife Partners support more than 2000 Local Conservation Groups at IBAs. Annually over a million children are involved in BirdLife Partners’ activities.
Together we are BirdLife Large or small, each BirdLife Partner maintains its individual national identity within the global Partnership. Through its unique local-to-global structure, BirdLife ensures that the international programmes are informed by on-the-ground experience, and that local action is supported by international advocacy efforts
and best practice, and the high standards of scientific rigour and performance that we have helped develop as part of the Partnership. This results in high conservation impact, and crucially also in long-term commitment between Partners and the communities that use, depend on and appreciate important sites and their biodiversity. New challenges continue to emerge, such as climate change, deforestation, overfishing, landuse changes, and increased demand for energy and food. Birds are increasingly being used as indicators of ecological sustainability, and excellent vehicles to conserve a healthy environment for all life on Earth and for human wellbeing. The BirdLife Partnership is in a powerful position to make a crucial contribution to the forthcoming challenges and opportunities in building a future in harmony with nature. Together as one we are BirdLife. Each Partner is a crucial component of the Partnership and, based on 90 years of experience and 20 years of close cooperation, together we can achieve what alone we could not possibly aspire to.
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“Since the birth of the Global Convention on
Migratory Species (CMS), a Multilateral Environment Agreement to conserve wide range of animals including many species of birds. BirdLife International has strongly supported its implementation. By working together CMS and BirdLife International can—and do—achieve more than either can separately. We at CMS congratulate BirdLife International on its 90th Anniversary and look forward to continuing our close cooperation.
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Bert Lenten, United Nations Environment Programme/ Convention on Migratory Species
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In our six intriguing years with BirdLife and the Rare Bird Club, we have been both astonished and inspired by what can be accomplished by a dedicated group with the passion, outreach, and professionalism of the BirdLife Partnerships. It is an amazing organisation.
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Margaret Atwood & Graeme Gibson, Joint Honorary Presidents of BirdLife’s Rare Bird Club
WB by Werner Müller
“BirdLife has proven itself
(James C Lowen; www.pbase.com/james_lowen)
a dedicated and effective partner in sustainable conservation. Through its commitment to civil society capacity building; its extensive network of non-governmental organizations; and the strong scientific underpinning guiding its conservation priority setting, BirdLife has made invaluable contributions to biodiversity and critical ecosystems around the world.
”
Patricia Zurita, Executive Director, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund
December 2012 Dec2012History.p65
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MILESTONES International Committee for Bird Preservation is established – International Committee for Bird Preservation (ICBP) is founded becoming the “the world’s first truly international conservation organisation” – Prof. Curry-Lindhal.
1922
Success with oil – ICBP’s ceaseless lobbying on oil pollution finally bears fruit with the International Convention on Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by Oil.
1954
The European Union’s Birds Directive – ICBP European members are instrumental in getting the European Union Birds Directive approved, the first EU environmental directive. Today, around 25,000 sites are protected under the Natura 2000 network of the Birds and Habitat Directives.
Leading in Conservation – The Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) is launched. The CLP offers support to young conservationists living and working in Africa, Asia, East/South eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and the Pacific Islands.
BirdLife is born – ICBP becomes BirdLife International and the BirdLife Partnership is born. Initially with 20 Partners it now comprises 116 and continues to grow.
2007
2009
Goal Scoring – UN Millennium Development Goals report profiles one of BirdLife International’s key indicators for the first time – the degree of protection of Important Bird Areas. Today other BirdLife indicators (Red List Index, Wild Bird Index, etc.) are widely used to measure the success of several international conventions and agreements.
2010
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2000
2004
Rimatara’s Return – After an absence of more than two centuries Rimatara Lorikeets are reintroduced to the island of Aitu in the Cook Islands thanks to the work of Pacific Partners and many others.
Americas Directory – The Important Bird Area (IBA) inventory for the Americas is published with 2,345 sites described. Today 12,000 terrestrial and 3,000 marine IBAs have been documented globally by the BirdLife Partnership using globally standardised criteria and 40% of which enjoy some degree of protection.
1985
1993
Save the Albatross – The BirdLife Partnership launches the Save the Albatross Campaign. The work of the Albatross Task force is now being carried out in seven countries, working at the frontline of seabird conservation in bycatch ‘hotspots’ throughout southern Africa and South America.
The tradition of Hima – Lebanon begins to implement the traditional Islamic Protection of Hima at Important Bird Areas. In 2008, this expanded thanks to a generous donation.
1970
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1928
ICBP’s first formal conference is held in Geneva, Switzerland – The next BirdLife World Congress is being held in Ottawa, Canada in 2013 and will be attended by more than 400 delegates.
1966
Seeing Red – First Red Data Book of birds is published. Today, although there has not been a return to the detailed Red Data Books of the 1980s, the IUCN Red List is a properly justified and documented evaluation of species at risk of extinction. That it has this depth of information and transparency is at least a partial consequence of the persistence of the Red Data Book programme.
1968
1988
Cousin Island in Seychelles is purchased – ICBP purchases the first private reserve in Cousin Island, Seychelles to save Seychelles Warbler from extinction. Today, Cousin is run by the BirdLife Partner and warblers have been translocated to neighbouring islands. The species is no longer at risk from extinction.
First comprehensive IUCN Red List for birds produced by ICBP – In 1994, threat criteria for each species are added. Annual revisions are now produced and these are the global baseline for all species conservation work.
1989
2001
2006
British Birdwatching Fair – The first British Birdwatching Fair is held at Rutland Water in central England. This annual event has gone on to raise over £2 million for BirdLife projects around the world from the Spanish Steppes, to the Atlantic Forest of Brazil.
BirdLife Datazone – BirdLife launches the datazone, today, the largest repository of information on globally important species and sites. It also contains a searchable database of more than 280 case studies, The State of the World’s Birds.
Think Pink – The BirdLife Partnership is first alerted to the threat of soda ash extraction at Lake Natron, Tanzania, the main breeding site for Lesser Flamingo. The “Think Pink” campaign succeeded in preventing a damaging development along the shores of the lake.
2008
Forest of Hope – The world’s first restoration concession is granted to a BirdLife Partner coalition by the Indonesian Government. Today, the 100,000 hectares of Harapan Rainforest is a leading innovative forest conservation project in South-East Asia.
2012
90th birthday – BirdLife international celebrates its 90th anniversary and now is the world’s largest Partnership of civil society organisations for conservation and nature.
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FEATURE
SVS/BirdLife Switzerland has over 450 local groups across the country (SVS)
SVS/BirdLife Switzerland Founded in 1922, the same year as ICBP/BirdLife International, SVS/BirdLife Switzerland has a structure based on Switzerland’s cantonal system, which resembles BirdLife’s structure on a national scale. There are over 450 local groups and 20 cantonal associations, with a decentralized secretariat in all Switzerland’s language regions. Thanks to SVS, many once-declining bird species are recovering, and SVS species recovery programmes have become official policy. Some conservation policy which is today self-evident, like protection of hedges, orchards, and urban biodiversity, was first promoted by SVS. SVS local groups have restored thousands of these important habitats. By lobbying Parliament, SVS together with other organisations has helped
change agricultural policy to support biodiversity-friendly farming, and safeguarded forestry legislation. Using its right to go to court, SVS has saved many sites from destruction. This right has been attacked, but in a national vote was upheld with 66% support. Many sites where SVS/BirdLife Switzerland is active are IBAs. There is still much work to do until they all are included in Switzerland’s Emerald network. SVS works at several demonstration reserves, developing new practices for managing them. With SVS support, a large delta area was recreated as an important stopover site for migratory birds. SVS co-created the first label for biodiversity-friendly products, now widely used. More than 30 years ago SVS/BirdLife Switzerland
began supporting projects in other countries, first for migratory birds, then for conservation in Eastern Europe. SVS was among the first Partners to support BirdLife’s Forest of Hope Programme, and to support developing Partners via BirdLife’s Partnerto-Partner System. SVS and its cantonal associations are leading in training people to become specialists in biodiversity, using tools produced by SVS. That Switzerland finally has its first National Biodiversity Strategy is mainly due to SVS.
Guyra Paraguay On Guyra Paraguay’s tenth birthday in 2007, the national Diario Ultima Hora declared it a winner of the “Protagonistas de la Esperanza” (Leaders of Hope) award for outstanding conservation and development
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work. Guyra has signed agreements with over 200 communities to develop successful local conservation groups. To date, Guyra has acquired over 30,000 ha of land
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for conservation in perpetuity, and owns properties jointly with the Mbyá Guarani and Ishir indigenous communities, through which they have demonstrated how communities and conservationists can work together to protect biodiversity while ensuring ancestral rights to the land are recognised. Guyra was the first Paraguayan organisation to develop local capacity to combat climate change through rural development and forest conservation. At Guyra’s San Rafael Reserve, an awardwinning project prevents carbon emissions through avoided deforestation, and Guyra has planted 40,000 native trees using local resources to restore key areas of Atlantic forest. Guyra works with over 100 organic smallholders, and has helped restore over 100 fincas with native trees. Thanks to Guyra’s help with Geographical Information Systems, Alto Vera Municipality was able to access payments for ecosystem services. Guyra has undertaken studies of Paraguay’s 714 bird species, (500 of them protected within Guyra’s Reserves), and works to conserve 94 species which migrate through Paraguay. Fifty-seven Important Bird Areas have been identified and recognised
globally. Guyra has trained over 400 young conservation professionals, collated data for over 750 sites, with 140,000 new records for the 1540 vertebrate species documented in Paraguay, and published over 20 books on biodiversity and conservation. Guyra monitors land use change throughout Paraguay, and raises awareness about deforestation, desertification, flooding and fires, especially in the Paraguayan Chaco and Gran Chaco.
BNHS The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), the oldest organisation in the BirdLife Partnership, has been promoting the cause of a natural India since 1883. It was started by eight Mumbai citizens, of whom two were Indians. One of the largest membership-based NGOs in India, BNHS currently has over 5,000 members. In 1998, BNHS established the Indian Bird Conservation Network (IBCN, www.ibcn.in), a nationwide network of NGOS, Local Conservation Groups, bird clubs and individual ornithologists and conservationists, which works with communities and other stakeholders to monitor and safeguard India’s Important Bird Areas.
Guyra’s San Rafael Reserve is an award-winning project that prevents carbon emissions through avoided deforestation (Emily Y. Horton)
BNHS has had a close association with State and Central Governments since India’s independence. Its Hornbill House headquarters in Mumbai was established with support from the Government of India. BNHS Director Dr Asad Rahmani is a prominent member of the Ministry of Environment and Forests’ influential National Board for Wildlife, and BNHS runs the Centre on Avian Ecology, part of the Ministry’s Environmental Information System (ENVIS), which acts as India’s Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) Clearing House Mechanism. The Vulture Conservation Breeding Centres which BNHS set up in Haryana, West Bengal and Assam in response to the catastrophic crash in India’s vulture populations are supported by the State governments, and BNHS’s work to conserve the Critically Endangered Jerdon’s Courser is backed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. BNHS heads the task force advising the Indian government on recovery plans for India’s threatened bustard species, including creating protected areas and effectively enforcing legislation for the protection of the Critically Endangered Great Indian Bustard and Endangered Lesser Florican. Like many
Vulture populations are starting to stabilise after years of decline thanks to the work of BNHS and others (Ganesh H. Shankar; worldsrarest.com)
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other BirdLife Partners, BNHS works for the conservation of non-avian biodiversity too, from elephants in Andhra Pradesh to giant clams in the Lakshadweep Islands. In 2004, BNHS published Important Bird Areas in India: Priority sites for conservation, which identified 466 sites throughout the country, covering almost all India’s threatened, restricted-range, biome-restricted and congregatory bird species. Further sites are likely be included once the bird monitoring programme established by BNHS is fullyfunctioning and more surveys are completed, especially in previously under-researched areas. Several State IBA publications are in planning and production, and will add new sites and greater detail to the list. BNHS also works to promote more sustainable development, livelihoods and lifestyles in India, and runs Conservation Education Centres (CECs) in Mumbai and Delhi. BirdLife’s Indian Partner offers training sessions, workshops, nature camps and customised programmes for adults, children, families and corporations to create awareness about conservation of the country’s rich but threatened biodiversity.
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Partner profiles
Nature Kenya has been involved in several successful advocacy campaigns against unsustainable developments, like the Tana Delta (Michel Laplace-Toulouse; africanlatitude.com)
Nature Kenya East Africa Natural History Society; mention Nature Uganda too?) has promoted the study and conservation of nature in eastern Africa. The society has a long tradition of member participation. To achieve the greatest impact with limited resources, Nature Kenya’s conservation programme has focused on Important Bird Areas. Nature Kenya coordinates the IBA programme, which involves national and local conservation advocacy and monitoring at Kenya’s 61 IBAs, and a range of conservation actions at 18 IBAs. Actions at these 18 sites include empowering local communities through Site Support Groups (SSGs). Nature Kenya has implemented site-based initiatives to provide skills and tools including institutional and technical capacity, linked SSGs to government institutions, initiated conservation incentives and promoting lesson-sharing. Nature Kenya has so far reached out to 40,000 pupils
from 150 schools, and 61,000 adults, through environmental education, Over 4,000 SSG and community members have been trained in a range of conservation and livelihoods fields: feasibility assessment for nature-based enterprises; business management and marketing; soft loan schemes; agroforestry; bee-keeping; conservation agriculture; participatory forest management and monitoring; computer applications; tour guiding and hospitality; alternative energy sources; and institutional strengthening. There are SSGs at all 18 IBAs with a total membership of 1,482, working with communities that are educated about the conservation challenges facing the unique plants and animals under their custodianship. Nature Kenya promotes sustainable benefits and incentives through nature-based enterprises. Butterfly farming in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest has earned eight million Kenya shillings annually, improving participating household income by 40–50%. The 7,754 beehives
so far supplied have the potential to produce Ksh 46 million worth of honey annually. Communities at the 18 IBAs have planted over 10.1 million trees which when mature are expected to earn them 2.02 billion. Raising tree seedlings for sale has earned people at the 18 sites Ksh 1.0 million annually and ecotourism (guiding and hospitality) has brought them 1.5 million. Nature Kenya and the SSGs advise and lobby the government about IBA protection. Objectives include appropriate policies and their implementation; national recognition of IBAs and their joint management; expanding the protected areas network; development that recognises the value of natural resources and biodiversity; sound climate change mitigation measures; NGO-government-community partnerships; and adherence to international obligations. Through concerted advocacy effort, unsustainable developments facing the Tana Delta, Dakatcha Woodland, Lake Naivasha and Yala swamp have been reduced or delayed.
BirdLife’s New Zealand Partner was created in 1923, and immediately became involved in a campaign to rid Kapiti Island, stronghold of the Little Spotted Kiwi, of introduced cattle, goats and sheep. Over the following decades, Forest and Bird’s advocacy helped establish Farewell Spit as a sanctuary, and the Abel Tasman and Fiordland National Parks. In 1970 Forest & Bird delivered the third “Save Manapouri” petition to parliament, with a record 264,907 signatures. The government subsequently pledged not to raise the levels of lakes Manapouri and Te Anu. Between 1982 and 1986, Forest & Bird helped save South Okarito and Waikukupa State Forests from logging. The forests were later added to Westland National Park. The Pureora and Whirinaki podocarp forests were also saved, and an Accord was signed to protect a large proportion of the West Coast’s publicly-owned rainforests. Forest & Bird formed its Kiwi Conservation Club for children in 1988, and in 1991
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Forest & Bird
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joined forces with the Department of Conservation and Bank of New Zealand to launch the Save the Kiwi programme. In 2000–2001, Forest and Bird secured government funding to establish five ‘mainland island’ sanctuaries for kiwi and kokako. After a 100-year absence, in 2004 Whiteheads were reintroduced into the Waitakere Ranges as part of the Forest & Bird/Auckland Regional Council “Ark in the Park” project. Hihi, robin and Kokako followed. In 2006, new conservation parks were created in the South Island high country, and the Horoirangi Marine Reserve established a decade after Forest & Bird proposed it. Since 2009 Forest & Bird has been a member of the government-backed Land and Water Forum. In 2010 Forest & Bird led the successful campaign to stop the government opening national parks to mining, and in 2012 blocked plans to build a hydroelectric dam on Mokihinui River, which would have flooded 330 hectares of pristine forest. Forest & Bird currently leads the legal battles to protect Denniston Plateau from an open-cast coal mine.
in the creation of “conservation concessions” under Indonesia’s Forest Law. Founded in 2003, ACBK has been instrumental in driving conservation action for Sociable Lapwing in Kazakhstan. Successful lobbying by ACBK resulted in the inclusion of the term “Important Bird Area” in the law on Specially Protected Nature Areas in Kazakhstan. Since 2007, ACBK has recruited and trained hundreds of members of student bird clubs in bird identification and monitoring, principles of conservation, and advocacy and communication. SAVE Brasil (2004) has published two volumes on Brazil’s IBAs, and successfully lobbied the government to create the Murici Ecological Station and the Serra das Lontras and Boa Nova National Parks, among other protected areas. As well as developing and implementing conservation action plans for many threatened species in partnership with the Brazilian Environmental Agency and civil society organisations, SAVE Brasil provides support to communities and landowners adopting biodiversity-friendly practices such as shade-grown organic chocolate and coffee.
Nature Conservation Egypt, the first NGO dedicated to the conservation of Egypt’s natural heritage, was founded in 2005. NCE has created a number of site support groups and implemented monitoring of the country’s IBAs, opposed damaging tourist developments, and is playing an active part in BirdLife’s project, Mainstreaming Conservation of Migratory Soaring Birds into Key Productive Sectors along the Rift Valley/Red Sea Flyway. Since 2005, Nature Iraq staff have been surveying their country’s rich biodiversity, which has sometimes taken them into dangerous situations. They have provided some of the most comprehensive information on wetland sites in the Middle East, especially on the Mesopotamian Marshes, which were drained under Saddam Hussein. Taking a leading role in rebuilding Iraq’s research and conservation infrastructures, Nature Iraq provides training and consultative services to Iraqi government ministries and universities. At around the time BirdLife began its work in Madagascar in the 1990s, a group of Malagasy people founded an independent NGO, Asity, which
worked closely with BirdLife to identify, monitor and protect the island nation’s wetland and forest IBAs. Working together, BirdLife’s Madagascar Programme and Asity evolved a distinctively Malagasy approach to conservation that had the full consent and participation of local communities, and helped establish community-based organisations, recognised by government, which took responsibility for management of natural resources. Asity successfully lobbied the government to provide temporary protection to many IBAs, a step towards full protection. In 2008, the BirdLife programme and Asity merged to form Asity Madagascar. The Partnership’s soon to be newest member, NatureFijiMareqetiViti, previously worked alongside BirdLife’s Fiji Programme on IBA monitoring, community conservation and sustainable livelihoods, and surveys and conservation of some of the Pacific’s most enigmatic seabirds, like Fiji Petrel. NFMV has been leading efforts to establish a National Park on Taveuni, Fiji’s third largest island.
WB
by Nick Langley
New Partners BirdLife’s youngest members— those which joined during the last decade—have been responsible for some of the Partnership’s most impressive conservation achievements of recent years, and many are already passing on their experience and expertise to other Partners in their regions. Burung Indonesia, founded in 2002, has more than 1,500 supporters in the 29 provinces of Indonesia. As well as working to conserve threatened species, including many singleisland endemic parrots, it is involved in participatory forest management with communities on a number of islands. Burung led the advocacy which resulted
Nature Iraqs helping restore the Mesopotamian marshes (Nature Iraq/CIMI/BirdLife)
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Arguably the most important ornithological work of the new Millennium so far... anyone with more than a passing interest in the World’s birds has a responsibility to buy this book British Birds
A tremendous source of valuable data Ibis
Of the highest value for conservation in general British Birds
This book is an inspiration. It will make people get out and fight to save the world’s endangered birds and their habitats New Scientist
Raises the bar very high for the rest of us The Condor
A working document, to be used by conservationists on a local, national and international level to save these special places from destruction BBC Wildlife
It is a masterpiece and should be on the shelf of every ornithologist and in the libraries of any environmental organisation (governmental or not) Melopsittacus
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The ultimate guide to range-restricted birds. Conservation managers, ecologists and birders alike will want to own this unprecedented work Conservation Biology
One would very much hope this book will become a manual for everyone involved in conservation policies in the neotropics IBIS
An important contribution to the conservation of biodiversity in Europe Peter L Nielsen, European Commission An invaluable and incredibly detailed source of reference for birds throughout the continent, both for ornithologists and conservationists Biodiversity and Conservation
An extremely valuable reference for bird conservationists in any continent The Wilson Bulletin
Its usefulness to conservationists cannot be overstated Birding World
Will be mined extensively for years by those studying global patterns of biodiversity The Quarterly Review of Biology
Essential references for anyone with a serious concern for seabirds and island conservation Ibis
December 2008 2012 Dec2012Books.p65
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FROM THE FRONTLINE
Rebuilding the lost paradise with the BirdLife Partnership
Eduardo de Juana President of BirdLife’s Spanish Partner, SEO/BirdLife “My lifelong quest for a return to nature, the lost paradise, began when I was eight, when my family moved from the rural Pyrenees to Madrid. I studied biology at Universidad Complutense, Madrid, where I came under the influence of Professor Francisco Bernis, the renowned ornithologist and founder of the Spanish Ornithological Society, now SEO/BirdLife. This experience marked me forever, and I am now a professor at the same university, and current President of SEO/BirdLife. Between 1990 and 1994, I was honoured to serve on the Executive Committee of ICBP, precisely at the time when it became BirdLife International. It was an exciting time, as we restructured the organisation from a federation of national sections into a true Partnership of national conservation NGOs. I look back on the experience, and my colleagues on the
committee and at BirdLife’s headquarters in Cambridge, with great affection, and I think the growth in the effectiveness and cohesiveness of the BirdLife Partnership over the last 20 years proves that we did a good job. Joining the BirdLife network was a very positive move for SEO/BirdLife. It allowed us to grow, with the help of other European Partners, who gave financial aid as well as much advice. Being part of the BirdLife Partnership enables SEO/BirdLife to keep learning and sharing efforts with other Partners, and to contribute to biodiversity conservation at continental and global scale, not just in Spain. As a Partnership, we were able to lobby together for the European Wild Bird and Habitat Directives, to fight threats to Important Bird Areas, campaign to end illegal hunting in many European countries, and influence European
agriculture, fisheries and energy policies to make them greener and more sustainable. The most valuable outcome of BirdLife’s structure, in my view, is its ability to support and empower local capacity for conservation. In particular, it enables us to promote and implement conservation in developing countries with the greatest biodiversity, where conservation structures, economic resources and scientific and technical expertise are insufficient to meet the enormous challenges. A significant and permanent shift of resources and knowledge between countries with different levels of economic and social development is essential in to meet global priorities in conservation, and BirdLife, with representation in 116 countries and territories around the world, is uniquely well placed to ensure this comes
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about. That SEO/BirdLife benefitted in the past from the support of other countries, and now in turn contributes to the growth of BirdLife organisations in Morocco and Latin America, is testimony to this. BirdLife’s greatest contribution is probably identifying global conservation priorities, at the species level (the Red Lists), and at the site level, thanks to the IBA programme. It is also very encouraging that BirdLife globally and Partners nationally are increasingly involved in direct conservation action, with programmes such as Preventing Extinctions, the Albatross Task Force and Forests of Hope. We face many challenges, but as the BirdLife Partnership we are at our most powerful when we join forces in campaigns and on-the-ground action, and when we speak to the world with one voice.”
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June 2010 Dec2012Backcover.p65
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BirdLife comprises more than 100 conservation organisations working together to promote sustainable living as a means to conserve biodiversity
Andorra
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Belarus
Belgium
Belgium
Belize
Bolivia
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burkina Faso
Burundi
Cameroon
Canada
Canada
Chile
Cook Islands
Cote d’Ivoire
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti Republic
Dominican
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Estonia
Ethiopia
Falkland Islands (Malvinas)
Faroe Islands
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Ghana
Gibraltar
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Japan
Jordan
Kazakstan
Kenya
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Latvia
Lebanon
Liberia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
FYR Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Malta
Mauritius
Mexico
Myanmar
Nepal
Netherlands
New Caledonia
New Zealand
French Polynesia
Nigeria
Norway
Palau
Palestine
Panama
Paraguay
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Qatar
Romania
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Uruguay
USA
www.birdlife.org BirdLife International is a UK registered charity no. 1042125
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Uzbekistan
Zambia
Zimbabwe