News 2010 - 2011

28th December 2011: Habitat danger for Seychelles Paradise-flycatcher

The illegal felling of mature trees on La Digue island, the stronghold of the Critically Endangered Seychelles Paradise-flycatcher Terpsiphone corvina has been exposed by the local media. In a front page article, the newspaper Le Seychelles Hebdo revealed the shocking story. The damage includes the felling and cropping of several native tree species used by the bird.

The owner of the land had made an application for a tourism development but the Department of Environment had put this on hold so as to carry out a survey. The owner apparently went ahead with land clearing. “Clearing of land and felling of the tree species in question which are protected by law require authorisation by the land use & planning authority and the Department of Environment respectively”, said Nirmal Shah, Chief Executive of Nature Seychelles (BirdLife Partner).

The land owner and the contractor who undertook the works have been fined 50,000 Seychelles Rupees each (about US$ 4,000) by the environment authorities. According to sources on La Digue those fined are refusing to pay and have their own case against the government. Nature Seychelles, the flycatcher’s BirdLife Species Guardian is currently undertaking a small education and advocacy project on La Digue in collaboration with the Seychelles National Parks Authority (SNPA). The project is funded by Viking Optical, the BirdLife Species Champion.

“The habitat on this tiny island will always be under threat because of increasing development, and consumerism. This is why we established a second population on Denis Island”, says Nirmal Shah. There is a now a breeding population on Denis after the translocation of 23 birds in November 2008 by the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology and Nature Seychelles.

La Digue is a picturesque but rapidly changing island. The Seychelles Government is now investigating the possibility of making La Digue carbon neutral after Cousin Island Special Reserve, managed by Nature Seychelles, showed the way forward by becoming the world’s first carbon neutral nature reserve. “In fact, recent news that the government will phase out all fossil fuel vehicles on La Digue so that only electric ones are used in the future is an excellent move for general environmental protection and eco tourism on the island”, says Shah.

Source: BirdLife

28th December 2011: Global assessment identifies world's most important wildlife forests

As the world tightens its economic belt, resources to address the world’s growing environmental problems are becoming increasingly limited. These reducing resources means the ability to establish the utmost conservation priorities is more important than ever to achieve the greatest returns for the investment. A new paper published in the journal PLoS ONE by BirdLife scientists, identifies those forests that appear to be the most important for bird species, and are in most urgent need of conservation.

“The top three areas, according to our assessment are the forests of Hawaii; Palau in the Pacific; and the forests of the tropical African islands of São Tomé, Príncipe and Annobón”, said Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife’s Global Research and Indicators Coordinator. “Protecting these habitats is one of the 10 key actions identified by BirdLife to prevent further bird extinctions.”

The coastal and mountain forests of South America also scored particularly highly. Areas like the Amazon basin, which support large numbers of species, often scored lower because the species present there still have very large global ranges. The authors of the report used species distributions and forest cover from satellite imagery to estimate the contribution that 25 square-kilometre blocks of forest make toward conserving the world’s birds. By combining this information with rates of forest clearance (mainly logging), the most important forests for conservation were identified. Around 6,000 species of the world’s birds (60%) are dependent to a considerable extent on forests, and some of these are the most threatened species on earth.

Graeme Buchanan from the RSPB said “More birds are dependent on forests than any other habitat. Our analysis makes an objective assessment of the importance of every patch of forest on the globe for birds. This is a particularly timely analysis, because the world’s governments have recently agreed to increase the global coverage of protected areas, through the Convention on Biodiversity. Legal protection is one method by which areas could be safeguarded, and our analysis is a contribution towards deciding where new protected areas would have the greatest impact.”

Source: BirdLife

28th December 2011: Rescuing Africa's most endangered parrot from extinction

The Cape Parrot is one of the most endangered bird species in South Africa with less than 1,000 individuals remaining in the wild. Most of the remaining wild population are infected by and dying from a Pssitacine Beak and Feather Disease epidemic that erupts during early winter each year. Early cold snaps and mild droughts escalate this problem with devastating effects on population levels. Up until 2008, when rats native to Christmas Island went extinct after being exposed to new pathogens, disease had not been proven to cause any extinctions. Alarmingly, Cape parrots are now succumbing to an endemic virus that attacks when their body condition declines, their immune systems begin to falter, and they naturally start molting. They are simply too weak to combat this “doomsday virus” that has always been with them…? How do we save this intelligent parrot from extinction…? How do we help this parrot help itself? Read about them and what people are doing to rescue, conserve and defend one of the world’s most enigmatic birds.

“uPholi” is the nickname for the Cape parrot (Poicephalus robustus) or isiKhwenene (the local isiXhosa name). Just the same as “Polly want a cracker!”, “uPholi” wants a forest because local South Africans have busied themselves over the last 350 years selectively removing almost all the large hardwoods (most especially Podocarpus yellowwoods) from all remaining Afromontane forest patches. Starting in the early 1600s in the Cape of Good Hope, these vulnerable forest patches were decimated and have never been given adequate opportunity to recover. For hundreds of years, logging was intensive with millions upon millions of railway sleepers and mining timbers being manufactured. Harvesting of yellowwood trees and other depleted hardwoods continues today in these forests…

Most people know about the popular African Grey parrots of central and western Africa, but very few people know about Africa’s most endangered parrot, South Africa’s Cape parrot. Today, there could be as few as 800 Cape parrots remaining in the wild and they are considered Critically Endangered due to continued habitat loss, poor nesting success due to lack of nest cavities, a severe Psittacine Beak and Feather Disease epidemic, historical persecution as a crop pest, and illegal capture for the wild-caught bird trade. If Africa was to lose this “green and gold” ambassador of some of our last-remaining Afromontane forest patches, it would be a sign of very bad times to come… We would have lost one of the last Afromontane endemics clinging onto these forests through their own ingenuity and collective intelligence. Intensive logging in their forest habitat, persecution (e.g. being shot or caught in nets and clubbed to death), nest poaching and mist-netting adults for the wild-caught bird trade, and very little or no conservation intervention, has left the Cape Parrot in ruins with an ageing populations in declining physical condition. We need to intervene now and stimulate positive change for Cape parrots in the wild…

In 2009, we initiated the Cape Parrot Project in an effort to save this endemic species from extinction. Preliminary surveys established that the observed body condition of Cape parrots in the southernmost part of their distribution has been declining for at least 5 years. In March that year, we received over 30 photographs of Cape parrots with symptoms of advanced beak and feather Disease infection from concerned South Africans who had been photographing Cape parrots feeding in their pecan trees for many years and never seen anything like this before. This news was shocking and it has been our focus ever since to understand the nature of this apparently severe threat to their persistence in the wild. A grant from the National Geographic Society Conservation Trust enabled us to undertake much needed research into the threat posed by this little-known circovirus. Our findings were absolutely shocking with a 50% infection rate in 2010 and a staggering 100% infection rate in four times as many blood samples this year. By March, the general public started handing in dead and dying Cape parrots that needed to be rehabilitated for over 6 months before release back into the wild. We had a fight on our hands and began fundraising to support the effort…

Today, we are reacting as strongly as possible to this threat, investing in the DNA sequencing of all viral strains that we encounter and contributing towards the development of a suitable vaccine for application in the wild. In addition, we are looking at establishing a disease-free Cape parrot population in forest patches where they went locally extinct around 150 years ago. Our ongoing research has linked these disease outbreaks to a lack of suitable food resources between January and March each year when there is literally nothing for the parrots to feed on. The severe drought this year resulted in infection rates escalating due to starvation at population level. Up to 10% of the local population were estimated to have died. In 2012, we will be testing the application of supplementary feeding decks to ensure that the parrots have sufficient food to combat the virus and avoid eating exotic, potentially poisonous food resources like unripe pecan nuts from the US, cherries from Mexico, plums from Japan, and syringa fruits from India. We need to help this parrot help itself by providing supplementary food resources within the next 5-10 years.

We are not just studying the virus and its relationship to food resources, we are also planting over 25,000 indigenous trees in degraded Afromontane forest patches and “Cape Parrot orchards” across the Amathole mountain range, which has the largest-remaining Cape Parrot population. The Cape Parrot orchards are made up of 500-1,000 indigenous trees that provide fruit for parrots within 7-10 years. In order to support all this tree-planting we launched the “iziKhwenene Project” that contracts local communities to grow, plant and take care of the all indigenous trees planted as part of this project. We pay whole communities $2 per tree that survives every 6 months, planting teams weekly wages to plant these trees, and individuals R10 per saplings grown within our Community Nursery Program. The iziKhwenene Project aims to position local communities as “Forest Custodians” supported by the Wild Bird Trust and corporate sponsors. In addition to planting thousands of trees, the Cape Parrot Project is also erecting 600 Cape Parrot nest boxes to supplement the shortage of suitable nest cavities for Cape Parrot breeding pairs and other cavity-nesting species. We have a tough 10 years ahead of us before the food orchards are producing fruits for the parrots between January and March. Until then we must push to get every Cape Parrot that falls ill to beak and feather disease rehabilitated and back into the wild. We must provide safe, warm nest boxes and supplementary feeding decks until such time as the forests have been restored…

Our work rehabilitating four Cape Parrots from the ravages of beak and feather disease demonstrated an instant reaction to the yellowwood fruits we were feeding them. All four parrots began to recover more rapidly from the infection and started to put on weight for the first time, thus supporting research that put forward that yellowwood fruits have very strong anti-microbial activity when ingested. It seems as if due to the lack of this fruit in their diet Cape Parrots are just not strong enough to fight off the ravages of this disease, which, similar to influenza in the human population, has probably been in the wild Cape Parrot population for a very long time, but only at very much lower levels. A Senior Producer from National Geographic Missions Media, Neil Gelinas, visited the Cape Parrot Project for a few weeks and was fortunate enough to film the release of the four rehabilitated Cape Parrots back into the wild: “Dead birds flying!” Hopefully there will soon be a short video clip to share with the world?

Source: National Geographic

5th December 2011: Sierra Leone protects climate by saving its largest forest for the world

As the world’s richest countries once again play brinksmanship at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, in Durban, Sierra Leone has embraced the vital role tropical forests play in preventing climate change by conserving its most important forest, locking up an estimated 13.6 million tonnes of carbon and protecting one of West Africa’s most threatened and wildlife-rich habitats.

On Saturday 3 December, 2011, the President of Sierra Leone – the world’s seventh poorest country – will launch the Gola Rainforest National Park (GRNP), making great progress with protecting natural resources for the benefit of the country and the world.

The RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) has been involved with Gola Forest since 1990, which is home to hundreds of bird species, chimpanzees and the world’s most important population of pygmy hippo.

Tim Stowe is the RSPB’s International Director. Commenting ahead of the announcement, he said, “The contribution that Sierra Leone is making is bold and progressive. In a far-sighted act, this developing West African country – which is on the front line of climate change – has decided to help the world by locking up a vast carbon store as well as protecting its unique and globally-important wildlife. We hope that other nations value this contribution and build upon it.”

If Gola Forest were razed to the ground, the release of carbon would be equal to the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by nearly 14 million cars in a year.

First initiated in 1989, a partnership agreement between the Forestry Division of the Government of Sierra Leone, the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone and the RSPB was reached in 1990 to develop a new management plan, maintain the forest boundaries and to run an environmental education programme. These partners have worked under the banner of the Gola Forest Programme since then, and the work at Gola is an important component of the RSPB’s wide tropical forests programme, which includes work in six other African and Asian countries.

This exciting announcement falls during some unique celebrations, the country’s 50th Independence anniversary and after more than 20 years of collaboration for the programme, as well as the International Year of Forests and the UNFCCC Durban meeting.

The Gola Rainforest National Park, covers over 71,000 hectares (just under twice the size of the Isle of Wight) and has long been threatened by commercial logging and small-scale mining going as far back as the 1930s. The long-term governance of natural resources was long argued to be at the heart of the decade-long civil conflict that raged in the 1990s. The creation of the national park should subdue ongoing threats from logging and mining.

Gola forest is a global biodiversity hotspot and recent surveys have revealed 327 species of bird, including eight facing global extinction, such as the Gola Malimbe, a striking black-and-yellow, starling-sized relative of sparrows. The unique biodiversity value of Gola can be measured in other ways too, as it also holds 518 butterfly species – approximately half of the total of Sierra Leone – including three which are new to science.

An estimated 300 chimpanzees, significant populations of monkeys and 44 larger mammal species, such as duikers – small antelopes – live in the forest, as well as the secretive pygmy hippo, which is only found in this part of Africa and is in danger of extinction.

Those communities living on the edge of the forest have benefitted since 2005 from €427,000 conservation-led development projects, including bridges, a hospital and scholarships.

The full support of the President of Sierra Leone gives confidence for the future of the forest, especially as the country is now also looking at new mechanisms to attract long-term funding through the UN’s Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries (REDD) programme. REDD promotes cooperation between developed and developing countries to agree on forest management and should provide a financing mechanism to avert deforestation, forest and ecosystem degradation and destruction, while protecting the rights of indigenous people.

The president of Sierra Leone said in his inauguration speech: “Carbon financing is a ‘win-win’ for the environment and for economic development.” The President’s comments are particularly relevant ahead of next year’s sustainable development conference, which will look at progress made since the legendary Rio ‘summit’ in 1992.

The BirdLife’s Partnerships work in the Upper Guinea forests for the past 20 years has involved many organisations and institutions. The new work is with funding from the EU, the USAID STEWARD Program, and CEPF. Other project financing in recent years has come from the EU, the UK Government’s Darwin Initiative, Conservation International – Global Conservation Fund, US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and FFEM of the Agence Française de Développement.

Source: BirdLife

24th November 2011: Only international action will save migratory birds

Populations of long-distance migratory landbirds are declining so rapidly in the African-Eurasian flyway that a delegation of 20 staff from around the BirdLife International Partnership will be lobbying this week for their plight to be addressed at a meeting focused on conserving the world’s migratory species. The decline of these birds is so severe that conservationists believe the only way to save them is through concerted international action. So far, tropical African countries, including Ghana, have been leading this call. The BirdLife International Partnership hope this plea will be heeded by all countries sharing these birds.

A resolution tabled at the meeting calls for broad-scale action to improve the conservation status of African-Eurasian migratory landbirds which, if adopted, could help halt or reverse the catastrophic decline in numbers of many species of birds which migrate long-distance between Europe and Africa. African-Eurasian migratory landbirds are not covered by current flyway initiatives and conservation activities, as identified in the existing CMS flyway resolution.

“For many of the fastest declining species, the main drivers of decline appear to be away from European breeding grounds”, said Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife International’s Director of Science . “Without coordinated action, range states will fail to meet their biodiversity targets”, said Dr Bennun. “No amount of effort within one country or one region can stop these declines.

Dr Danaë Sheehan – an RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) scientist who has been studying these species in both Europe and Africa – and who will be speaking for these birds at the Bergen conference said: “Migrant birds connect Europe and Africa, crossing our borders, cultures and lives. Millions of birds make this incredible long-distance journey twice each year in spring and autumn. But each year the numbers spanning the two continents are reducing rapidly. “With dramatic land use change in both Europe and Africa, and hazards on migration, such as illegal killing in the Mediterranean, these birds have enormous struggles ahead. Without international co-operation, we’re concerned that these species will continue their downward path.”

The situation for some birds, including turtle doves, warblers and flycatchers, across Europe has become so severe that the BirdLife International Partnership are urging that these species should be the focus of co-ordinated international conservation action. The BirdLife International delegation will be calling on Parties present at Bergen to show support for a resolution for action, submitted by Ghana, and supported by other African nations. The resolution urges Parties to the Convention, and other stakeholders, to develop an action plan for the conservation of African-Eurasian migrant landbirds and their habitats throughout the flyway connecting Europe and Africa.

Migratory landbirds nesting in Europe and wintering in Africa (south of the Sahara desert) are showing the most alarming and significant population declines. Unlike waterbirds, they are not restricted to individual sites and they migrate on a very broad front. So, site-based conservation initiatives simply will not be effective in preventing further declines. Instead, conservationists need to work in a broad range of habitats, across wider landscapes, improving the environment for both people and wildlife. For instance in the UK between 1995 and 2008, the populations of four summer-visiting birds declined by more than more than half: turtle dove (-70 per cent); wood warbler (-61 per cent); nightingale (-53 per cent); and yellow wagtail (-52 per cent).

Source: BirdLife

4th November 2011: Exhausted, deforested landscapes show the truth about over-population

I imagine most people would be hard put to place Burkina Faso on a map; it neatly fits that cliché of a faraway country of which we know nothing. It is a landlocked state in West Africa, a bit bigger than Britain, once a French colony; it used to be called Upper Volta. Burkina is in the Sahel, that semi-arid belt of savannahs, grasslands and dry forest which runs across Africa below the Sahara, the transitional zone between the desert to the north and the rainforest to the south.

There is a peculiarity about its economy, which is noticeable if you visit, as I did a few years ago: more than 90 per cent of its energy needs are supplied by wood. The vast majority of the people rely on wood fires to cook the daily meal of millet, and carts stacked high with firewood throng the roads leading to the capital, Ougadougou. They really do. Cart after cart.

This wood is gathered from the countryside, from the dry forest which covers it – or used to. For it has been so overexploited that much of Burkina is now a deforested wasteland, a dusty wrecked moonscape as shocking as anything in the Amazon – it simply hasn't been publicised. In the villages I visited, the women who go out at dawn to gather wood were having to go further every year, four kilometres, then five, then six, as the area around each village became exhausted.

These people were visibly, and tragically, trashing their own natural resource base: not only was the forest gone, the soil itself was disappearing. Who could blame them? It was done out of need. They were only trying to survive. But they were consuming their own future. Many were aware of this, of course, and their attempts at reforestation – struggles might be a better word – were moving and inspiring, and I reported on them. But one specific factor means that these struggles will get much harder – population increase.

When I visited Burkina in 2003, its population was just under 13 million. Now it is closer to 17 million. By 2015, it will have doubled – in just 20 years – to about 20 million. (You can find all these figures in the UN's 2010 Revision of World Population Prospects). Then it really takes off. By 2050, according to the UN's central estimate, it will be 46.7 million. If you want to be optimistic, their low variant gives 41.8 million; if pessimistic, the high variant gives you 51.8 million. That's in less than 40 years.

Where on earth, where in God's name, are all these people going to find their firewood in a countryside that will have long since been devastated? You may say, electricity supply will have replaced firewood as the main energy source, and perhaps it will; but the demand on the exhausted landscape for crops or livestock or whatever you care to name, from a population three times the size of the one that had already largely wrecked it, will be unbearable. The Burkinabé, the people of Burkina, will not be able to support themselves; their future is misery.

Last week the population of the world passed 7 billion, on the way to a possible 9.3 billion by 2050; and I read liberal commentator after liberal commentator insist how this wouldn't be any sort of a problem, nay, it was to be welcomed. I read with a growing sense of disbelief, but in the end I simply resigned myself to human folly, and shook my head.

One of the things that make the future of a country such as Burkina Faso even more problematic is that the stresses that will come with a tripling of its population in 40 years may well be severely exacerbated by climate change. It is quite natural, and to be expected, that global warming should have tumbled down the list of public and political concerns with the onset of the recession and especially the current global financial crisis.

But although many of us may have forgotten about it, the gigantic volumes of carbon dioxide we are adding to the planet's atmosphere (currently 30 billion tons annually) continue to increase and will continue to raise world temperatures remorselessly.

Anyone who knows the Sahel knows that subsistence agriculture there is often poised on the edge of failure; a major rise in temperature may be enough to tip it over completely. In such a case, would the people of Burkina Faso try to migrate, to, say, neighbouring Ghana? And would the Ghanaians let them in? There are worse things on the horizon than the future of the euro.

Michael McCarthy

Source: The Independent

4th November 2011: Fears in Uganda for Mabira as sugar company renews its demands

Uganda’s Mabira Central Forest Reserve, an Important Bird Area holding around 300 bird species including the Endangered Nahan’s Francolin Francolinus nahani, is once again threatened by proposals to degazette almost a quarter of its area for conversion to a sugar cane plantation.

“Our campaign now targets Uganda’s Members of Parliament, as parliament will have the final decision over the forest”, said Achilles Byaruhanga, Executive Director of NatureUganda (BirdLife in Uganda). To that end, we organised a field trip for MPs, including the members of the Natural Resources Committee, as a fact finding mission to explain the community issues and environmental problems surrounding the proposed de-gazettement. The MP for Kaberamaido district Hon. Florence Ibi Ekwau commented during the field visit “anyone who is targeting destruction of this forest is an enemy of Uganda and parliament will never accept such a proposal”.

Apart from the high biodiversity value of the forest, and the fact that its ecological integrity has been restored after years of unsustainable exploitation and encroachment, the “Save Mabira Campaign” team pointed out that the forest is an important water catchment; that the large population living around the forest relies on sustainable harvesting of forest products to sustain their livelihoods; and that the combined annual value of ecosystem services, forest products, and other revenues such as tourism provided by the intact forest, is considerably larger than the projected annual revenue from sugar cane. Nature Uganda consistently monitors the forest through the Important Bird Areas monitoring programme and has facts and figures on the improvements in its condition over the years.

The campaign team claim that suitable land has been offered to SCOUL outside protected areas; that productivity from existing land could be increased if sugar companies were to invest in more efficient production and processing technologies; and that employment and household incomes would both be increased if the government were to promote sugarcane “outgrower” schemes in place of large plantations.

The giving away of any part of a gazetted forest reserve is not permitted under Uganda’s Constitution; and the High Court has recently declared one such “give-away” for sugar-cane growing, at the Butamira Forest Reserve, to be null and void. Uganda is signatory to a number of key international and regional Conventions that protect forests, and in 2001 signed an agreement with the World Bank which committed the Government of Uganda to protect the wider Mabira ecosystem, including the Mabira Central Forest Reserve.

President Museveni expressed willingness to consider alternatives for sugarcane production without changing the land use of Mabira Central Forest Reserve. He also expressed the Government’s wish to increase the acreage of Mabira Central Forest Reserve from the current 30,600 hectares through buying additional land around the reserve. The President pledged that any decision to change the land use or degazette the forest reserve will be made by Parliament, and that government will follow all the policy requirements and legal procedures if a decision is made.

Source: BirdLife

12th October 2011: No soda ash mining without addressing environmental concerns

In an emphatic declaration of Tanzania’s keen interest to ensure that development takes environmental issues into consideration, the Vice President’s Office has affirmed that it will not compromise its position on environmentally damaging projects.

Tanzania’s Director of Environment in the Vice President’s Office, Dr Julius Ningu, told The Guardian on Sunday and the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) in an interview that “the government position for this particular site [Lake Natron] is to maintain [the] ecological system so that flamingos continue to breed … When we talk of sustainable use of natural resources, we mean for the benefit of current and future generations, now extraction of soda ash for sure can’t be beneficial to the future generations.”

“This is very good news and in my opinion, Dr. Julius Ningu has stated the government position that no approval will be given for the mining of soda ash until the issues raised in the review of the first EIA are counteracted.” says Mr Lota Melamari, avid campaigner for the conservation on Lake Natron and former Chief Executive of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST, BirdLife in Tanzania) while commenting on the article. “This has shifted the burden of clarification to NDC who must prove beyond reasonable doubt that any planned exploration of Lake Natron’s soda ash will not impact the breeding of Lesser Flamingo”.

BirdLife welcomes the progressive views expressed recently by the Government of Tanzania in the management of natural resources, both in safeguarding the world-famous Serengeti National Park, and now the Lake Natron Ramsar site.

In 2006, the Tanzanian Government and the Indian company Tata Chemicals put forward proposals to build a large-scale industrial plant, supported by an extensive road and rail infrastructure, to extract soda ash from Lake Natron’s water. Following a global campaign orchestrated by the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST, BirdLife in Tanzania), Tata withdrew from the project in 2008. But the National Development Corporation (NDC), a government agency, is leading a renewed push to reinstate the project.

Source: BirdLife

27th September 2011: New study says birds learn how to build nests

A new study has found birds learn the art of nest-building, rather than it being just an instinctive skill. Researchers from Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews Universities studied film of Southern Masked Weavers recorded by scientists in Botswana. This colourful species was chosen because individual birds build many complex nests in a season.

Dr Patrick Walsh of Edinburgh University said the study revealed "a clear role for experience". The research has been published in the Behavioural Processes journal. Individual birds varied their technique from one nest to the next and there were instances of birds building nests from left to right as well as from right to left. As birds gained more experience, they dropped blades of grass less often.

"If birds built their nests according to a genetic template, you would expect all birds to build their nests the same way each time. However, this was not the case," added Dr Walsh. "Southern Masked Weaver birds displayed strong variations in their approach, revealing a clear role for experience. "Even for birds, practice makes perfect."

Source: BBC

23rd September 2011: Into Africa with the Reserve that knows no frontiers

Straddling five countries, Kaza is the world's biggest wildlife park. It is 15 times the size of the Serengeti yet few people working outside environmental circles will have heard of the Kavango - Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, or Kaza for short.

Kaza was made a legal fact last month as Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe signed up to the most ambitious scheme of its kind. The treaty signed in Luanda in August has created a reserve of 450,000 square kilometres, roughly the same area as Sweden.

The reserve has at least 3,000 plant species and over 600 bird species across savannas, wetlands and woodlands.

Source: The Independent 21/09/11

14th September 2011: Kenya's environment authority advises 'jatophra' is not viable in coastal Kenya

A Nairobi newspaper reports that, after consideration of the scientific evidence, Kenya’s National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has decided to advise the Kenyan Government to halt the planting of the biofuel crop jatropha within the Coast region of Kenya. Proposed jatropha plantations would do irreparable damage to coastal Important Bird Areas (IBAs), including the Tana Delta and Dakatcha Woodlands.

The reported decision has been applauded by BirdLife Partner NatureKenya, which has been fighting a vigorous campaign against the destruction of woodland and other coastal habitats to make room for biofuel crops. NatureKenya also provided much of the evidence on which NEMA’s decision was based, especially recent research which has cast doubt on the supposed benefits of jatropha as a “green” alternative to fossil fuels. Scientific studies now recommend growing jatropha only as a hedge or living fence.

Even before NEMA’s decision, a company planning to grow oil seed crops on 28,000 hectares of the Tana Delta pulled out after consultations with NatureKenya and other BirdLife Partners, citing concerns over environmental impacts and long-term climate change effects.

In July, two directors of NEMA were suspended after accusations that they had acted irregularly in granting a licence to the Canadian company Bedford Biofuels to grow jatropha on a 10,000 ha “pilot” site in the Tana Delta. According to the Nairobi press, NEMA’s Chairman, Mr Francis Ole Kaparo, said that the licence had been awarded in spite of mounting scientific evidence which has exposed the claims made for jatropha as false. “There is nothing to prove jatropha is viable. In fact, all evidence shows it has failed,” Mr Kaparo is quoted as saying.

NEMA has advised the Kenyan government to cancel Bedford’s licence, but the company is challenging the cancellation. Bedford’s local representatives have organised demonstrations in favour of the Jatropha plantations, which have been described as an attempt to “intimidate” the authorities.

“We congratulate the NEMA Chairman, Mr Francis Ole Kaparo, the NEMA Director General Dr Ayub Macharia, and NEMA technical staff for their wise decision”, said NatureKenya CEO Paul Matiku. “NEMA is on the right path to sustainable development, by using science to avoid irreversible environmental, social and economic costs. We hope the Ministry will follow this advice and cancel Bedford Biofuel’s licence for a ‘pilot’ of 10,000 ha of jatropha at Tana, and that this wise decision has been made clear to Kenya Jatropha Energy Limited at Dakatcha.”

He added: “Globally, biofuel crops, originally viewed as substitutes for climate-damaging fossil fuels, have replaced food crops and natural habitats, leading to rising food prices and loss of critical wildlife habitats and ecosystem services.”

The Tana Delta has long provided local communities with food and livelihoods. Its value to the nation includes ecosystem services such as water storage, shoreline protection and marine life spawning grounds. It also has huge tourism potential. But as demand for land to grow commodity crops has increased globally, the Tana Delta has become the focus of interest for international speculators and investors.

“Over the last decade, conflicts have been increasing in the Tana Delta as the demands for competing land uses, natural resources, nature conservation and community interests have intensified,” said Paul Matiku. “It is for this reason that NatureKenya and stakeholders, led by Office of the Prime Minister, are initiating a combination of strategic planning and integrated assessment to develop a long term General Management Plan.”

Source: BirdLife

3rd August 2011: Birds of Ghana book aims to inspire a new generation of conservationists

The first field guide to the birds of Ghana to be intended for the people of Ghana rather than overseas visitors has been launched in a ceremony in the Swiss Hall, Accra. The 352-page Birds of Ghana describes and illustrates all 758 birds species recorded in Ghana and, where possible, provides their names in three languages, Akan, Ewe and Gonja, to stimulate local interest in bird watching.

The book is the fruit of a joint project between the Ghana Wildlife Society (GWS, BirdLife in Ghana), the Swiss Society for the Study and Conservation of Birds (Ala), BirdLife International and the publishers A&C Blacks Ltd. GWS will make the guide available to schools, universities, conservation NGOs, protected area authorities and government environmental agencies.

The guide was launched in the presence of the ambassadors and representatives of India, Switzerland, France and The Netherlands by Mr Henry Ford Kamel Ghana's Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources. Mr Kamel said that the book would raise awareness of birds and their conservation, and that birds and their habitats were an important source of revenue through eco-tourism.

Professor Yaa Ntiamoah-Baidu, Chair of the GWS management board, and Acting Pro-vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, added in her welcome address that GWS would soon be launching a nationwide common bird survey, which would provide an opportunity for everyone to get involved in observing and counting birds in their homes and workplaces. The survey would provide an essential scientific basis on which decisions about the conservation of Ghana's changing environments could be made.

"Birds of Ghana is a present from Ala to the Ghana Wildlife Society and to everyone interested in the biodiversity of Ghana", said Ala's Gilberto Pasinelli. "May it help to promote knowledge about birds and their conservation in Ghana and West Africa."

Ade Long, from the BirdLife International Secretariat, added that the BirdLife Partnership was committed to providing local field guides for countries which lack them. Over the last ten years, BirdLife have published local language field guides for more than 20 countries. "Field guides have inspired generations of conservation specialists, and resulted in the formation of conservation NGOs, which in many countries have become self-sustaining, mass-membership organisations capable of saving species, restoring habitats, and working closely with their governments in favour of biodiversity", Ade Long said.

"Birds of Ghana will nourish and help grow the next generation of conservationists in Ghana. But there are still many gaps across the world, especially in many bird-rich African countries which lack field guides of any kind. The BirdLife International Partnership is seeking funding partners to help them change this."

Ala provided funding for Birds of Ghana to celebrate its 100th anniversary. Ghana was chosen because most long distance migrants breeding in Switzerland spend the European winter in West Africa, and Ghana has been the source of many ringing recoveries.

BirdLife International is grateful Ala and A&C Blacks Publishers Ltd. for working with BirdLife to make an edition of the field guide available in Ghana. Special thanks to the authors Nik Borrow and Ron Demey, as well as Nigel Redman from A&C Blacks for their support in making this book happen.

Source: BirdLife

1st August 2011: Universities invest in Seychelles Warbler research

Nature Seychelles (BirdLife Partner) has received a total of £40,000 to renovate the Cousin Island Field Station. The Seychelles Warbler Research Group comprising the Universities of East Anglia and Sheffield in the UK, and the University of Groningen (the Netherlands) have invested in the station for the implementation of ongoing Seychelles Warbler Acrocephalus sechellensis research as well as to enlarge research capacity for other species.

The funds will be used to repair the facility, upgrade equipment and materials for researchers, students and volunteers and generally make for a better working environment. The Field Station was set up by BirdLife International in 1971. It has served hundreds of students and researchers since.

“Cousin Island Special Reserve is a perfect model for doing scientific research. We have invested in it because it’s a natural laboratory where you can do controlled research in a contained, yet very natural, wild environment”, said Dr. David Richardson of the University of East Anglia who coordinates the Warbler Group. Seychelles Warblers have been the subjects of intensive ongoing research by the group since 1988 and Richardson has been coming out to the Seychelles since 1997. “We have monitored the birds for many generations,” Richardson says.

Continuous monitoring and research has covered many aspects of the species biology. Research has shown for example how important the extended family is to Seychelles warblers just as it is to humans. Seychelles Warblers often participate in what is called ‘cooperative breeding’ where young warblers, especially females, and grandparents help in raising offspring. Other research has looked at female infidelity in the warbler and its reasons, and there is ongoing work on genetic variability.

The Warbler Group has given scientific and public talks locally and throughout the world and has published papers in leading journals on many aspects of the warblers’ biology. Richardson delivered a talk on how science and conservation works hand in hand using the warbler as an example at Nature Seychelles on July 14.

The Seychelles Warbler story begins in the 1960s when the total world population of 26 individuals lived in a patch of mangroves on Cousin and the species was heading towards extinction. The cause of the decline was loss of habitat – Cousin was then a coconut plantation - and the introduction of rats. To save the bird, International Council for Bird Preservation (now Birdlife International) purchased Cousin for conservation. Management of the island was directed towards regenerating the indigenous vegetation and keeping Cousin rat free.

This led to a spectacular recovery of warbler numbers on the island and by 1982 Cousin had reached carrying capacity. After Cousin, new populations were established on Aride and Cousine to increase the bird’s population and range and improve its chances for survival. The 2001 action plan for the warbler aimed at getting populations on five islands with over 5,000 birds. Nature Seychelles undertook the fourth translocation to Denis in 2004 and the population is flourishing there. A fifth island will be added to the list by the end of the year.

Source: BirdLife

1st August 2011: Syrian ibises fledge; Morocco's ibis wardens need your support

Conservationists who feared that Syria’s political unrest might affect the fortunes of the Middle East’s only breeding population of Critically Endangered Northern Bald Ibis Geronticus eremita can relax a little. For the first time in the last three years, the remaining pair has reared two healthy young, which have left the nest and begun their migration to their non-breeding grounds.

Northern Bald Ibis (NBI) is currently the most threatened bird in the Middle East, with just one breeding pair left of the tiny colony that was found near Palmyra, Syria, in 2002. Until this momentous rediscovery, the species had not been seen in the region for 70 years.

“We’re delighted to report that the fledging of two chicks has reignited our hopes for the recovery of this bird”, said Chris Bowden, the RSPB’s international species recovery officer, who coordinates the Northern Bald Ibis programme for BirdLife International. “The Syrian Desert Commission has successfully protected the birds and their breeding grounds.”

He added: “As we trace their migration route across the Middle East, we have colleagues across the region poised to monitor them on their journey. However, local difficulties are confounding our efforts. One of our Yemeni colleagues was forced to wait nine hours for fuel before starting to search for the birds!”

Since the 2002 rediscovery, conservationists have sought to give the birds protection by working with local people, and using state-of-the-art technology to track their movements outside the breeding season. This research has identified the adult’s wintering grounds in the highlands of Ethiopia, but where the juveniles go still remains a mystery.

The NBI was once widespread across North Africa and the Middle East. The only other fully wild nesting population occurs on Morocco’s Atlantic coast, near Agadir. “The outlying birds in Syria will be an important addition, but only if the population can be sustained”, Chris Bowden said.

Meanwhile, Spanish Partner SEO/BirdLife has launched an appeal to secure the world’s largest remaining population. Morocco’s Souss-Massa National Park region is crucial for Northern Bald Ibis, as all the country’s breeding colonies occur here. Over the last 14 years SEO/BirdLife has supported a dedicated team of local wardens, who are deeply involved in the protection and scientific monitoring of the species. Now they are calling for additional support so this team can continue their vital work.

The nest sites are located on coastal cliffs within the National Park and Tamri area, with an estimated 110 breeding pairs in 2009. There are several roosting sites, and most of the coastal steppes and fallow fields are used as feeding areas. The main known threat is the growth of tourism, and related disturbance to breeding and feeding habitats. Additionally, some birds have been killed by poachers.

The Souss-Massa National Park works with SEO/BirdLife on NBI conservation and sustainable management activities. The main institutions which have supported this successful project are the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), Territori i Paisatge Foundation, Swarovski, and the Spanish National Parks Authority. Recently, the NBI conservation plan has gained the support of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and Dublin Zoo.

A National Species Action Plan has been drawn up, including priority actions to be implemented to secure and further improve the growth of the population. Tagging individuals with coloured rings and satellite transmitters is a priority action. Satellite tagging has proven to be extremely useful in determining the movements of the tiny NBI population in Syria.

Source: BirdLife

1st August 2011: What does the Serengeti Highway decision mean for Lake Natron?

Focus is now squarely on Lake Natron, following the Tanzanian Government’s recent statement that the proposed highway through the Serengeti will not be paved. Conservation organizations and local communities worry that the construction of roads to connect major cities in the region could have detrimental effects on the ecology of Lake Natron and could be used as an incentive to revive plans to build a soda ash plant at Lake Natron.

Victoria Ferdinand is the Acting CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST – BirdLife in Tanzania). She said: “While we applaud the Government for scaling down its intentions for the Highway we call for a holistic look at the Northern Transport Corridor” “Development is required, but we must not destroy Lake Natron and the Serengeti, two unique jewels that we have as a country.”

Lake Natron is the most important breeding site for Lesser Flamingos Phoenicopterus minor in Eastern Africa. This region has 1.5-2.5 million birds – which constitute 75% of their global population – and they are all hatched at Lake Natron. Since 2006, plans have been underway to construct a soda ash plant at the Lake but it faced strong opposition from within Tanzania and globally.

Mr Lota Melamari, the former CEO of the WCST said: “The road through Lake Natron must progress in a manner that does not interfere with this sensitive environment, especially the Lesser Flamingos, which are a major tourist attraction. If we destroy Lake Natron, we interfere with three-quarters of the global population of Lesser Flamingos”

There are also fears that opening up Lake Natron through to Loliondo could be used as a justification to revive plans to build a soda ash plant at Lake Natron.

Source: BirdLife

25th June 2011: Africa's tree belt takes root in Senegal

An ambitious plan to build a vast forest belt straight across Africa to contain desertification has taken root in Senegal, greening huge tracts of land with drought-tolerant tree species. From west to east, the 15-kilometer-wide Great Green Wall (GGW) will span the continent from Senegal to Djibouti, passing through Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea and Ethiopia.In all, the coast-to-coast forest will run 7,600 kilometers (4,750 miles).

"It is a crazy project, but a touch of madness helps when conceiving something which has never been conceived," Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade said when he launched GGW at a conference of Sahel countries in 2005. Work on Senegal's section has made rapid progress since planting began in 2008, with various species of acacia trees stretching over 535 kilometers, covering around 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres) surrounded by 5,000 kilometers of firewalls.

The idea of erecting a great wall of trees to stop the southward spread of the Sahara came amid UN forecasts that two thirds of Africa's farmland may be swallowed by Saharan sands by 2025. International agencies have pledged to invest more than three billion dollars in building the wall. In Senegal, the GGW is currently being funded almost entirely by the government to the tune of 1.4 million euros ($2.1 million) annually, but additional funding is expected from the European Union.

Some 140 million euros will be needed to complete the Senegalese section, which runs through the northern Tessekere-Widu rural region, according to Matar Cisse, head of the national GGW agency. "Initially, it was just a political idea. Here we added technical content adapted to the management of each eco-system in perfect harmony with rural populations," mostly ethnic Fulani herders, he said in an interview last month.

"It is a program to fight climate change, drought, poverty," said his deputy, Pape Sarr. In this semi-arid region where the rainy season lasts less than three months a year, locals remember the devastating droughts of 1970 and 1980. The GGW has transformed the area, with nurseries growing the various tree species to be planted, alongside fruit and vegetable gardens tended by local women. Water, a rare commodity, comes from wells, rain water basins and a branch of the river Senegal.

Gilles Boetsch, an anthropologist from the French National Centre of Scientific Research (NCSR) hailed the GGW's positive impact on the environment, human activities, health and diet. He runs an observatory set up in Tessekere jointly by the NCSR and the Dakar-based Cheikh Anta Diop University, to study the project's impact. Malian and Burkinabe scientists are also involved.

Lamine Gueye, a Senegalese professor studying the health impact of the green wall, however fears it may lead to a return of mosquitoes in a region where malaria was on the decrease. But he also noted that the influx of scientists and medical experts has given locals free access to medical care in an area where "99 percent of the people had never seen a doctor."

And every year hundreds of Senegalese students and foreigners now flock to Tessekere to plant trees and help develop this impoverished region.

Source: Independent

25th June 2011: Tanzania steps up for the Serengeti and says 'no' to asphalt road

The proposed asphalt road which would have bisected the Serengeti National Park, jeopardising the world’s last great mammal migration, will not now be built, the Tanzanian Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism has announced at the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting.

As the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting comes to a close in Paris, the conservation community congratulates President Kikwete and the Tanzanian Government for their decision to reconsider the proposed North Road through the Serengeti National Park.

Hon. Ezekiel Maige, Tanzania’s Minister of Natural Resources and Tourism, confirmed that the existing tourist route would remain as it is, while roads outside the Park to District capitals would be upgraded. “This decision has been reached in order to address the increasing socio-economic needs of the rural communities in northern Tanzania, while safeguarding the Outstanding Universal Value of Serengeti National Park,” stated the Minister.

The Serengeti National Park, a UNESCO World Natural Heritage site, is the world’s largest protected grassland and savannah ecosystem, and provides the stage for one of the last terrestrial animal mass migrations on earth. Shaped by the circular march of some two million herbivores, including wildebeest and zebra, in their endless search for forage and water, the park supports one of the world’s highest concentrations of large predators, and is home to over 450 bird species. It is also of huge importance for Tanzania’s tourism and the country’s economy.

Welcoming this announcement, Dr Markus Borner from the Frankfurt Zoological Society said ”We thank President Kikwete and the Tanzanian Government for recognising the importance of the Serengeti ecosystem and to balance development with conservation. We urge the international community and the donor agencies to consider providing support for the construction of a southern alignment, which will avoid Serengeti National Park.’

“This is a very welcome step in the right direction,” said Thomas Tennhardt, Vice President of NABU (the German BirdLife Partner). “We congratulate the Tanzanian Government and encourage them to consider the road to the South to ensure a sustainable long-term solution. As well as reducing impacts on wildlife, it would also be of considerably greater benefit to local communities. Coupled with an extension to the East of the Serengeti, it would also address the Tanzanian government’s objective to connect isolated communities to commercial centres and road networks”.

Dr Tim Stowe for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife in the UK) added: “We are delighted the Tanzanian Government has decided to not build the road. We now encourage the Government to undertake a Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment of the Northern transport corridor route to assess alternatives which are likely to benefit the livelihoods of more communities without destroying the integrity of other important sites like Lake Natron.”

“By taking this bold decision to protect the Serengeti, the government of Tanzania has once again demonstrated its commitment to sustainable management of the country’s abundant biodiversity resources for the good of current and future generations of Tanzanians. Last year, the country received a top award for best practice in management of Lake Natron,” said Victoria Ferdinand, the Acting CEO of the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania. “The practice on the ground must adhere to this decision with TANAPA effectively controlling the traffic allowed into the Park”.

”The announcement at the World Heritage Committee session is a great advance and we warmly welcome the Tanzanian Government’s far-sighted decision,” said Dr Julius Arinaitwe, Director of the BirdLife International African Partnership Secretariat . “However, there are still serious concerns about traffic through the park after upgrade of the roads either side, which will need to be fully examined as the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for the North route is finalised.”

The proposed road would have been used by 800 vehicles a day by 2015 (one every two minutes) and 3,000 a day by 2035 (one every 30 seconds). Collisions between people and wildlife would have been inevitable. The road would have acted as a barrier to migrating herds of wildebeest, and the follow-on effects on predators, including one of the world’s most important lion populations, would have been catastrophic.

The decision means that tracks through the Northern Serengeti will continue to be managed by the park authority TANAPA. Tarmac roads will not reach the border of the park but will end at Mugumu to the west (12 km from the border) and Loliondo to the east (57.6 km from the border), leaving fragile habitat on both sides of the park without tarmac roads.

Earlier this year, Federal Minister for Development Dirk Niebel announced that Germany would be willing to finance a study on alternative ways of connecting areas bordering the Serengeti in the north to the existing road network, without crossing the Serengeti. In addition, Niebel reaffirmed willingness jointly to finance an international feasibility study for an alternative southern bypass for the national park.

Source: BirdLife

13th June 2011: Mozambique’s Lake Niassa declared reserve and Ramsar site

Lake Niassa, has been officially declared a reserve by the Government of Mozambique today, protecting the species and natural habitats of one of the largest and the most bio-diverse, freshwater lakes in the world. The Government of Mozambique has also approved the proposal for the designation of Lake Niassa as a Ramsar site, including not only the reserve, but surrounding wetlands and watershed. This wetland will be the second Ramsar site for Mozambique after the declaration of Marromeu Complex in 2003.

Lake Niassa, spanning 1,363,700 hectares and 700 meters deep is Mozambique’s part of the third largest and the second deepest lake in Africa (referred to as “Lake Malawi” in Malawi, and as “Lake Nyasa” in Tanzania, which are the other two countries that share it). The lake’s tropical waters and shores are home to an estimated 1,000 species of cichlids, with only 5 percent found elsewhere. The region is also home to significant and diverse bird populations, mammals and reptiles.

Local communities were instrumental in achieving success by making several concessions in order to protect their main source of food and income by agreeing to the closure of all fishing rivers during the annual spawning runs for lake salmon and other species, and the total protection of the Chambo (Tilapia sp.) spawning beds during breeding season. Additionally they created a team of community rangers responsible to district administration and cooperating with the Navy to enforce existing laws surrounding illegal fishing, timber cutting, illegal migration, mining and piracy.

Source: Surfbirds / WWF

13th June 2011: New Madagascar species discovered weekly, many already endangered

Scientists in Madagascar discovered more than 615 species, including 41 mammals between 1999 and 2010 but many of the exciting and colourful creatures are already endangered. One of the greatest tropical wildernesses left on Earth and home to some of the most spectacular wildlife, the island is home to 5% of the world’s plant and animal species, of which more than 70% are found nowhere else on earth.

The wildlife includes the aye-aye, radiated and spider tortoises, marine turtles, flying fox, fossa, tenrec, chameleons, crocodiles and many others. But this biodiversity paradise is in danger with many species on the brink of extinction. As deforestation and habitat fragmentation continue, so do erosion and sedimentation of coral reefs, leaving communities more vulnerable than ever. Droughts force people to abandon their fields and move towards the ocean where they practice unsustainable fishing methods causing fish stocks to dwindle away even faster.

In the aftermath of a coup in March 2009 and subsequent political turmoil, Madagascar's rainforests were pillaged for precious hardwoods, especially rosewood. Tens of thousands of hectares were affected, including some of the island's most biologically diverse national parks Marojejy, Masoala, Makira and Mananara. These logging activities also resulted in the rise of commercial bush meat trade. Specialised restaurants in Madagascar’s north sold lemur meat for as little as 3 Euro a plate. The political instability and increased crime rates, resulting in part increased poverty hurt the once flourishing tourism industry, one of very few livelihood options for people around national parks.

Among other discoveries was an exceptionally-coloured new snake species discovered in 2010 within Makira National Park, where illegal logging has possibly reduced these snake populations already. Scientists also discovered a new colour-changing gecko, resembling the bark of a tree. It can quickly change its colour from a subtle brown to a colourful bright blue during courtship.

"These spectacular new species show what’s at stake in Madagascar and what can be lost if we don’t save it. WWF Madagascar will put all its effort and money towards protecting priority land- and seascapes and priority species” says Nanie Ratsifandrihamanana WWF Madagascar’s Conservation Director.

“By protecting the environment and the island’s biodiversity, we are helping both the local communities and national government to attain more sustainable long-term development goals, and helping the world to protect irreplaceable natural resources.”

Source: Surfbirds/WWF

13th June 2011: Celebrating the Uluguru watersheds for World Environment Day

Villagers in Tanzania’s Uluguru Mountains marked World Environment Day with a celebration of a project which is raising local incomes and protecting the forest that provides vital ecosystem services, including water for some of Tanzania’s major cities. The project, run by BirdLife Partner the Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania and the RSPB, works with government, civil society, schools, universities and the private sector.

The Ulugurus are one of the 13 mountain blocks of the Eastern Arc chain. They support a biologically rich forest with several unique species, including the Critically Endangered Uluguru Bush-shrike Malaconotus alius. The forests provide much of the water which supplies Dar es Salaam, and almost all of the supply to Morogoro.

The Ulugurus, however, are under threat. The average income of the Uluguru communities is a quarter of the national average. This, along with a growing population is placing increasing demand on the forests, particularly for timber and fuelwood. It is causing unsustainable farming practices to spread up steep slopes, and encroach on the riparian zone, which is resulting in a deterioration of water quality and quantity. It is also causing a decline in agriculture production through increased run-off and soil erosion. Unless action is taken, the situation is likely to worsen, as water demand is expected to rise sharply through the next 30 years, climate change may reduce supplies, and alternative water sources are limited.

Source: BirdLife

13th June 2011: Longline fisheries continue to drive albatross declines

A new global estimate of the impact of longline fisheries on seabirds reveals that, despite efforts to reduce seabird deaths, upwards of 300,000 birds are still being killed every year. The study by scientists from BirdLife International and the RSPB is published in the journal Endangered Species Research. It is a powerful reminder of how far we still need to go to ensure ecologically responsible fishing.

Since the 1980s, scientists have linked global declines of albatrosses and other seabirds with ‘incidental catch’ in longline fisheries. Adult and juvenile birds become snared on hooks attached to the lines, which can be over a hundred kilometres long, and are dragged underwater to a premature death.

Dr Orea Anderson, policy officer for the Global Seabird Programme and lead author of this study said, “It is little wonder that so many of the affected seabird species are threatened with extinction – their slow rate of reproduction is simply incapable of compensating for losses on the scale this study has demonstrated.”

Some fisheries have enforced strict regulations, resulting in substantial bycatch reductions in recent years. Seabird deaths around South Georgia in the Southern Ocean have declined by 99% since regulations were enforced. South Africa achieved a drop of 85% bycatch in its foreign-licensed fleet in 2008, when a cap was placed on the number of seabird deaths permitted.

Source: BirdLife

13th June 2011: BirdLife International staff celebrate the World Migratory Bird Day

Bird migration constitutes one of the most impressive natural phenomena and is one of the wonders of nature involving millions of birds worldwide. However, migratory birds worldwide are facing a significant decline due to human-induced threats emanating from human activities at their breeding, stop-over and wintering sites. Various forms of interventions taking place at various levels include site-based conservation action, research and monitoring, education and awareness are targeted at minimizing these threats. One of the key events meant to raise awareness about the plight of migratory birds include the World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD), which is a global awareness-raising campaign highlighting the need for the protection of migratory birds and their habitats. The theme of the 2011 event was “Land Use Changes from a Bird’s-Eye View” based on the emerging global concerns about the currents trends in conversion and modification of natural habitats and its implications on the conservation of migratory birds.

This year, staff of BirdLife International office in Nairobi together with members of Nature Kenya, Olorgesaile Environment and Wildlife Conservation Group (OEWCG) and staff of the Olorgesaile Prehistoric Site celebrated the WMBD on 21-22 May 2011. The event was celebrated at Olorgesaile Prehistoric Site and L. Magadi. Olorgesaile is around 70km south of Nairobi City. The site is a bird watcher’s paradise with over 400 species recorded including a high number of both Palaearctic and afrotropical migratory bird species especially those using the Great Rift Valley flyway.

Recently, attention has been drawn and concerns raised by the bird watching fraternity concerning habitat degradation and deleterious land cover change that has occurred more rapidly in the past few years at Olorgesaile and its environs. This is driven by the charcoal production to meet the increasing and insatiable demand for charcoal and fuel wood by the urban population in Nairobi and other adjacent small towns. According to George Eshiamwata who spent three years in the area conducting research on a Banded Parisoma almost a decade ago when he was involved in a 3-year ornithological research at this site and its surroundings, he confirms that the vegetation cover has significantly declined and feels that for the sake of biodiversity and livelihoods, urgent interventions are needed to reverse these worrying trends.

This year’s theme was very appropriate for this site where even though migratory soaring birds, water birds and passerines bird species especially make stop-over or wintering during their long epic journey, the current rates of land cover is a major issue that needs to be mitigated.

Source: BirdLife

13th June 2011: Counting, monitoring and conserving birds and biodiversity in Botswana

BirdLife Botswana, through the financial support from the Global Environment Facility Small Grant Programme in Botswana and the technical and financial support from the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), has set up a Bird Population Monitoring Programme in Botswana. The programme is sustained by dedicated, enthusiastic participants who voluntarily collect bird data every February and November.

The programme is part of the global effort to monitor terrestrial birds around the world and has been adopted from the RSPB. The objectives of the programme are:

1. To develop a Wild Bird Index for Botswana showing bird population trends over time.
2. To use the trends to set conservation priorities, report on biodiversity changes/state of the environment in Botswana (and to contribute to African/global efforts – Convention on Biological Diversity). The data collected also feeds into our local database systems like the Department of Environmental Affairs Environment Information System.
3. To show that changes in the overall condition of ecosystems can be used by decision-makers to influence politicians to find suitable biodiversity management solutions.
4. To increase levels of community participation through building the appropriate capacity in bird identification and awareness.

Source: BirdLife

26th May 2011: Hunting threat to critically endangered Dwarf Olive Ibis

Reports from BirdLife Species Guardians on São Tomé – a small island nation in the Gulf of Guinea - indicate that hunting is increasing and includes the Critically Endangered Dwarf Olive Ibis Bostrychia bocagei. A group of hunters were found with more than 90 São Tomé Green Pigeons Treron sanctithomae and at least one Dwarf Olive Ibis on 26 April 2011.

BirdLife Species Guardians from Associação de Biólogos Santomenses (ABS, the BirdLife contact NGO in São Tomé and Príncipe) found the hunters whilst carrying out surveys in Monte Carmo in Obô Natural Park, one of the main strongholds for the ibis.

The hunters had gained access through estate land under Agripalma concession to foreign (Socfinco) and São Tomé investors and intended for oil palm plantations covering an area of 5,000 ha. The area lies in the impoverished regions of São Tomé (Ribeira Peixe and Porto Alegre) and to the north of Príncipe (Sundy). The Agripalma concession lies adjacent to the Monte Carmo forests of the Obô Natural Park and overlaps with the Natural Park’s buffer zone.

BirdLife has previously expressed concerns that the development of the oil palm plantation at Ribeira Peixe would have significant adverse impacts on the forest biodiversity. Among the many impacts cited was an increased threat of hunting of threatened species owing to clearance of secondary forest that would lower bushmeat availability to local people.

“Hunting of Dwarf Olive Ibis in Monte Carmo immediately following some forest clearance shows that BirdLife was justified in raising concerns about developing oil palm plantations at Ribeira Peixe,” said Dr Paulinus Ngeh, BirdLife’s West Africa Subregional Coordinator.

“BirdLife and ABS have been in dialogue with the government and investors about these issues before, and we are looking forward to positive engagement in safeguarding the natural heritage of São Tomé. This is good for the company, for biodiversity, for the Santomean people and government, and the global community interested in conserving biodiversity”, continued Dr Paulinus Ngeh.

“There is an urgent need for proper implementation of environmental laws in São Tomé and Príncipe. For example, in addition to regulating hunting activities, the laws that created the Obô Natural Park and made Environmental Impact Assessments compulsory need to be adhered to. This way, the current constraints to protecting the island’s rich biodiversity may be overcome” says Dr Ngeh.

“We are extremely worried that the increasing hunting pressure and habitat destruction may already be driving the Dwarf Olive Ibis closer to extinction than ever before,” said Dr Julius Arinaitwe, the BirdLife Regional Director. “One likely approach to reducing the hunting pressure could be promoting access to cheaper alternative sources of animal protein hand-in-hand with making the local people realise other values of the species, including ecotourism benefits.”

Since 2007, BirdLife’s Preventing Extinctions (PEP) Programme has been supporting ABS to undertake work on three Critically Endangered species including Dwarf Olive Ibis. The work comprises research and monitoring, training site-based guides, implementing conservation measures and promoting improved protection for the species and the forest habitat. The PEP Programme work in São Tomé has been with the support of the Species Champion, Peter Smith and the British Birdwatchinig Fair.

Source: BirdLife

13th May 2011: Gaining weight but still not waterproof: penguins still need care

As at 9 May, there are around 400 penguins remaining in the rehabilitation centre on Tristan – there have been no further releases since 3 April. All remaining birds have gained weight well, but their feathers appear in poor condition after having been oiled and then washed. Release of these birds cannot occur until they are in excellent condition, as sending them into a cold south Atlantic without their waterproofing intact would be disastrous. Around 25 Tristanians are still working full time with the penguins, and the entire community remains dedicated to seeing the remaining birds head out to sea as soon as possible.

Sadly, the overall rate of rehabilitation of the rescued penguins has been extremely low, with around an 88% mortality rate amongst those birds that were moved to Tristan. This is a much higher mortality than in other oiling incidents, and we hope that lessons can be learned that will improve this figure in any future incidents. The extreme remoteness of the Tristan islands and the necessary delay (at least 6 days sail from Cape Town) in getting vital supplies and staff to the islands probably contributed to the low survival, as birds would have been consuming toxic oil from their feathers for more than a week before rescue was undertaken.

All remaining wild penguins have now departed from the islands, and headed off to their winter feeding grounds. We will not know the true impact of this calamity on the population until the birds return to breed on the islands in August and September this year. The wreck of the MS Oliva remains in the water near Nightingale, and some oil is still leaking from the vessel – it is likely that winter storms will break the wreck up, and will disperse this oil, but we will need to continue to monitor the situation for possible impact on returning birds.

Source: BirdLife

13th May 2011: Study confirms IBAs are priority sites for expansion of protected area network in Africa

A recent paper has found a significant mismatch between the protected area network in Africa, and the key habitats occupied by the continent’s most threatened birds. Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are shown to be much more effective than current protected areas (PAs) at covering the key habitats. Expanding the protected area network to include unprotected and partially-protected IBAs would improve coverage of the most threatened bird species.

African IBAs cover 2.1 million km2, an area comparable to the extent of African PAs (2.2 million km2). However, PAs in Africa are often sited opportunistically or targeted at charismatic and financially important megafauna, resulting in an inefficient representation of species and habitats within the PA network. Two-thirds of African IBAs support significant populations of globally threatened species.

Source: BirdLife

25th April 2011: Trucks and timber seized after Asity Madagascar intervenes

In a joint operation with police, local communities and Government officers, and forestry officials, Asity Madagascar (BirdLife in Madagascar) has struck a blow against illegal loggers in the Tsitongambarika forest IBA in the far south-east of the island. Several trucks loaded with rosewood logs have been seized.

Evidence of the extent of illegal logging was provided by the local communities around Tsitongambarika, who supplied photographs and video material. Asity Madagascar has been working with these communities to develop sustainable ways of using the forest, which was suffering encroachment from slash-and-burn agriculture. As part of the project, Asity Madagascar has trained local people to monitor the state of the forest, and provides incentives such as investment in developments chosen by the villagers (such as schools or improved water supplies) and goods such as fertilizers, when monitoring (independently verified) demonstrates successful forest conservation .

More than 800 rosewood planks and 100 logs were recovered by the operation. Asity Madagascar praised the prompt and effective action by the local authorities, which followed a series of workshops organised by Asity Madagascar to increase awareness of the social, economic and environmental damage caused by illegal logging.

Tsitongambarika is the largest remaining area of lowland rainforest in southern Madagascar, and home to many bird species endemic to Madagascar, several of which are globally threatened, as well as other biodiversity unique to this part of the island. After years of work by Asity Madagascar, Tsitongambarika has been granted temporary protected status, which is expected to be made permanent within the next two years.

Source: BirdLife

20th April 2011: Fresh concerns as President orders Lake Natron soda ash mining fast tracked

Fresh concerns have been raised following a directive by the President of Tanzania to fast track the construction of the proposed soda ash factory at Lake Natron in Tanzania. Tanzanian press quoted the President who was speaking at the Ministry of Industry and Trade officials in Dar es Salaam last week. He said that the country would not continue reeling in poverty “while our minerals are lying untapped” adding “with harvesting at Lake Natron, we will not be the first to do so, because our neighbours, Kenya, are doing the same on the other side of the lake,” He said there was no need for further delay since “experience has it that excavation can continue without any disruptions to the ecosystem.”

Lake Natron is the only regular breeding site for Lesser Flamingos in Eastern Africa. The 1.5-2.5 million Lesser Flamingos – which represents three quarters of the world population – breed only at Lake Natron. Food is plentiful, nesting sites abound – and above all, the lake is isolated and undisturbed. The Lake is an Important Bird Area and also a Ramsar Site.

In 2006 an Indian company, Tata Chemical Industries Ltd, in collaboration with the Tanzanian Government put forward a proposal to construct a $450 million factory that would produce 500,000 tonnes of soda ash per year and employ 150 permanent staff. However, there was a huge outcry from conservation groups – BirdLife International, the Lake Natron Consultative Group, RSPB, among others – that opposed the move, saying, it would disrupt the breeding of Lesser Flamingos that are listed as “Near Threatened.” Intensive campaigning led to a shelving of the initial project and withdrawal by Tata Chemical Industries in May 2008.

Reacting to the new development, Sarah Sanders, from RSPB’s International Division, said “The new directive is very worrying. The concerns raised over the project in 2008 still stand. Moreover, constructing the soda ash plant away from the shores of Lake Natron will not address the threat to Lesser Flamingo breeding.” She explained that the raw material will still be mined from the Lake, which provides the substrate for making Flamingo nests. Noise from the heavy equipment, the presence of people and a network of pipes will chase away the birds which are highly sensitive to disturbance while breeding”. She also added that the waste water would prevent the development of a thick crust that can support the weight of the birds while breeding.

Tanzania should learn lessons from the Kenyan experience. “Soda ash mining has been going on at Lake Magadi for over 100 years and Flamingos have not attempted to breed there over the last 50 years” said Mr Paul Matiku, the Executive Director of Nature Kenya. “Soda ash mining at Lake Magadi has left local communities disillusioned with little to show for the 100 years of mining. The environment has been damaged and fresh water nearly depleted”. He said that in 2003, scores of local Maasai were injured by Police as they protested against a controversial land lease renewal in favour of Magadi Soda Company.

It is not yet clear whether a new project proposal nor a new Environmental and Social Impact Assessment has been submitted according to Tanzanian law. Neither is it clear who the new investor or funder is. What is clear is that the new directive is likely to spur a new uproar from conservation organizations and the local community at Lake Natron, which is vehemently opposed to soda ash mining.

Source: BirdLife

10th April 2011: First Tristan Penguins released from 'rehab'

Rockhopper Penguin, Tristan da Cunha, Photo: Brenda Hotham

The first 24 penguins of more than 3,600 admitted to the “rehab centre” on Tristan da Cunha after the oil spill around Nightingale Island have been released back to sea.

“The penguins were selected from the strongest ones, with no visible oil on their outer plumage,” reports Trevor Glass Tristan da Cunha Conservation Officer. “Of the many tested to see if they were ready for release, only 24 had perfectly waterproof plumage.”

Source: BirdLife

Sharpe's Longclaw Macronyx sharpei, Photo: Charlie Moores 10,000 Birds

10th April 2011: Help protect the Kinangop grasslands in Kenya

NatureKenya is looking for funds to help save the Kinangop grassland. This habitat is vital for the Endangered Sharpe’s Longclaw Macronyx sharpei. It is endemic to Kenya and can only survive in this rapidly diminishing habitat, which is being destroyed to make way for agriculture and urban development.

The Kinangop grasslands are also a crucial habitat for hundreds of thousands of European birds that migrate to Africa every winter – from Barn Swallows, Common Swifts and House Martins, to Northern Wheatears, Common Quails and Pallid Harriers. The disappearance of this habitat could have a devastating impact on the birds that Europeans consider to be ‘our’ summer birds.

Largely unprotected, the remaining 77,000 hectares (190,200 acres) of tussock grassland is vanishing fast. NatureKenya is doing all it can to protect what is left and has already turned 28 ha (146 acres) into a wildlife reserve that is protected forever – but this is just a tiny haven for Sharpe’s Longclaw.

It is now vital that we extend the reserve, safeguarding more of this threatened habitat.

Source: BirdLife

28th March 2011: Tristan islanders rally to save oiled penguins

Hundreds of oil-soaked Rockhopper Penguins have now been put into ‘rehab’ by Tristan Islanders facing a race against the clock to help save the endangered species. But those assessing the impact of the disaster believe more than 10,000 birds could have been affected.

Local conservationists, volunteers and now experts from the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds have been working tirelessly to help the threatened birds. Almost 500 penguins are already in a rehab shed where a team has begun efforts to stabilise them with fluid, vitamins and charcoal to absorb ingested oil. Another 500 penguins arrived on a rescue boat late last night and a further 500 are awaiting transport to Tristan for the same treatment.

Source: BirdLife

21st March 2011: Environmental disaster at Nightingale Island

At 0700 on the 16th March, Tristan received news from the Ovenstones fishing vessel MV Edinburgh that the 75,300 tonne bulk carrier MS Oliva en route from Brazil to Singapore had run aground on Nightingale Island. All on board are OK but the ship is well and truly stuck at Spinners Point, a rocky promontory on Nightingale's rugged northern coast.

It was thought at first that the environmental threat was small but the ship has subsequently broken up causing penguins and other seabirds to be oiled. Oil from the stricken MS Oliva stretches eight miles offshore and is more or less around the whole island. The slick ranges from thin films of oil, small balls and larger clumps of tar with the smell of diesel everywhere.

The Tristan Conservation Team are busy doing what they can to clean up Northern Rockhopper Penguins presently coming ashore smothered in oil on Nightingale Island. Penguins have finished their breeding cycle and most adults have also left the island after their annual moulting ashore. So birds would not be expected to be coming ashore at this time of year when it would be usual only to see adults leaving with their new feathers.

Another concern is the impact that the ship's cargo of 60,000 tonnes of whole raw soya beans will have on the fragile local marine environment, especially any long-term effect on the economically valuable fishing industry for crawfish, crayfish or Tristan Rock Lobster Jasus tristani which is the mainstay of Tristan da Cunha's economy.

Source: Tristan website

7th March 2011: A lifeline to prevent Africa's first recorded bird extinction

Liben Lark with a population of possibly fewer than 100 birds, is widely tipped to become mainland Africa’s first recorded bird extinction, unless urgent action is taken to prevent its demise from the only area it now inhabits: a single grassy plain in southern Ethiopia. Classified as Critically Endangered, the highest level of threat, this globally threatened bird has now been thrown a lifeline thanks to funds raised by the British Birdwatching Fair held at Rutland Water last August.

These funds (£242,000) will be used by the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society, the BirdLife Partner in the country, to work with local communities to reduce the impact of over-grazing livestock and prevent conversion of the land to arable farming. Helping the grasslands recover will benefit both the lark and the pastoralists living there.

Man-made and natural phenomena all conspired historically to ravage Ethiopia’s wildlife riches and this landlocked African country now has 22 species of bird facing extinction. Conservationists hope that the proceeds from the 2010 British Birdwatching Fair will help turn the tide and save the Liben Lark and a range of other highly threatened species.

Martin Davies, of the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) – one of the fair’s co-founders and key organisers – said: “Ethiopia has a remarkable natural heritage and is hugely rich in species found nowhere else in the world. Over 840 species of bird have been recorded in Ethiopia, 17 of which are unique to this country and 29 others nearly so. Unfortunately, this wonderful wildlife is under increasing threat and we hope that the proceeds from this year’s event will help the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society and BirdLife International to take the urgent steps needed to secure the future of this country’s unique birds. We also hope that the event will help raise the international profile of this wonderful country, so rich in wildlife.”

Ethiopia’s UK Ambassador, His Excellency Berhanu Kebede, said: “Ethiopia’s biodiversity resources are under critical threat. Growing human and livestock populations pose the single most serious problem, resulting in deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion, and desertification. To reverse the situation, the government of Ethiopia has promulgated laws and put in place the appropriate institutions. Significant achievements have been made in restoring the fauna and flora of the country; hence the percentage of land covered by forests has grown from three to nine per cent within five years.

“On behalf of my country, I’m delighted that Ethiopia’s unique birds have been chosen as a beneficiary of the British Birdwatching Fair. It is fantastic that British birdwatchers have a passion for conserving Ethiopia’s birds. With four out of ten of Africa’s birds having been seen in Ethiopia, my country has a great deal to offer visiting birdwatchers and we believe that eco-tourism will be vital in helping to protect our unique wildlife and landscapes.”

Another Ethiopian endemic species in trouble is the grandly-named Prince Ruspoli’s Turaco. This macaw-sized bird with scarlet and navy-blue wings, long tail and green-and-white head was first found among the personal effects of the Prince after he was crushed to death by an elephant in 1893. As the unfortunate nobleman had not had time to label the specimen, its origins remained a mystery for half a century before the species was seen in the wild by a Cambridge naturalist in southern Ethiopia. Other species set to benefit from the proceeds of the Birdfair include Ethiopian Bush-crow and White-tailed Swallow.

Source: BirdLife

11th February 2011: Grauer’s Swamp Warbler mist netted at Kibira National Park - Burundi

An Endangered Grauer’s Swamp Warbler Bradypterus graueri – so far found in the restricted range of swamps of Burundi, Rwanda and eastern part of DRC – was recently mistnetted at one of valley swamps of Kibira National Park called Mwokora. The bird was caught during field work as part of the BirdLife International / MacArthur Foundation project on ‘Implementing and monitoring an Adaptive Management Framework for Climate change in the Albertine Rift’’ implemented in Burundi by ABO (BirdLife Partner in Burundi). The field work took place from 24-30 January 2011 and the bird was caught in the net on 25th after we set the nets for approximately 4 hours form 6am.

ABO staff estimated the local population to be 30 singing individuals. The previous Burundi population was estimated as ten pairs in 1984. The bird currently faces many environmental threats as its habitat is under high pressure by the surrounding community looking mainly for raw materials for making mats or for thatching. At other valley swamps of the park, agriculture is growing and seriously jeopardising the suitable habitat for the species. Urgent conservation measures - targeting the valley swamps – are needed.

Source: BirdLife

7th January 2011: The Egyptian Vulture - What's going on in Africa?

Since 2003 BSPB (BirdLife Partner in Bulgaria) has been working to conserve the Egyptian Vulture in Bulgaria. The gained knowledge during these years firmly shows that the main reason for the species decline is the increased adult mortality due to various anthropogenic threats. A significant part of the loss of birds is happening outside Bulgaria during the migration and non-breeding period. In the last seven years probably more than 20 adult birds did not return from their wintering areas.

In 2009 BSPB started an initiative for creating of partnerships with the countries from the Middle East and East Africa aiming to survey the threats and and propose conservation measures for the Egyptian Vulture along its migration route and in the wintering areas. Three expeditions were held - two in Ethiopia (2009 and 2010) and one in Sudan (2010) together with the Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society (EWNHS/BirdLife in Ethiopia) and the Sudanese Wildlife Society.

Ethiopia

The Ethiopian expeditions were implemented in December 2009 and November-December 2010 by a BSPB team together with colleagues from EWNHS. The main study areas was the Afar triangle, where the biggest known congregation of Egyptian Vultures from the Palearctic wintering in East Africa is located. The work also included parts of South Ethiopia and the Highlands. The team members were Ivaylo Angelov, Tsvetomira Yotsova, Vladimir Dobrev Nikolay Terziev (BSPB), Bruktawit Abdu, Yilma Dellelegn Abebe and Tesfaye Bikilla-driver)(EWNHS),  Alazar Daka (WildCODE) and Samson Zelleke.

Results:
In both years of the study, for one and the same transect in the Afar triangle respectively 1358 and 1400 Egyptian Vultures were counted. The vultures were recorded in a semi-desert area at an altitude between 140 and 1230 m. a. s. l. The vultures were recorded through counting of the individuals roosting on electricity poles along the main road in the region from the southwestern corner of the Afar triangle to the Djibouti border and in the region of Dire Dawa town (only in 2009). The count was implemented before sunset between 16:30 and 18:00.

The data gathered by interviewing local people shows that nowadays the Afar triangle is a relatively safe wintering place for the Egyptian Vultures. The use of poisons against carnivores seems to be not practiced, the electrocution is probably a very minor threat (no electrocuted birds were found) and the local people traditionally do not harm the vultures. Given the huge importance of Afar for the wintering birds from big parts of Asia, long-term work on the species needs to be initiated and the limiting factors closely monitored.

However, the developing and expanding medium voltage electricity network in Ethiopia, which is built mainly by dangerous pylons (for the birds) gives a strong alert for the future of the large birds of prey. We recorded electrocuted White-backed Vulture and the local people on a number of sites mentioned the deadly impact of the power lines on vultures. Another issue is the practice for control of the stray dogs, which was recorded to exist at least in the municipalities of Negele, Awassa and Addis Ababa. We collected information that poison is regularly used for control on the populations of stray dogs and in two sites we found poisoned Hooded Vultures.

A very interesting observation was the first record in Africa of an individual from the Indian subspecies of the Egyptian Vulture (N. percnopterus ginginianus). This observation enlarges the supposed area of origin of the vultures wintering in Afar to Pakistan and India to the east.

Sudan

In Sudan a joint expedition of BSPB and Sudanese Wildlife Society (September-October 2010) has found 17 electrocuted Egyptian Vultures. The main study area of the was the Red Sea coast in North-Eastern Sudan.

The finding of the dead birds under a particular power line in the surroundings of Port Sudan confirms a threat there which is known to cause the death of many birds and continues to take victims. Still in 1982-83 the German ornithologist Gerhard Nikolaus found almost 55 electrocuted Egyptian Vultures under the same power line and during next visit to the area 21 years later, he found another 5 dead birds. With the new data almost 80 electrocuted Egyptian Vultures have been found but this is only the tip of the iceberg since the power line was built in the 50s and has probably caused the death of many hundreds of Egyptian Vultures.

Not only were Egyptian Vultures found to be electrocuted by this particularly dangerous power line, but also Lappet-faced Vulture, Steppe Eagles and Bonelli’s Eagle which was not found to breed in Sudan previously.

The probable high mortality during the non-breeding period is considered to be one of the main reasons in the complex of threats leading to the fast decline of the Egyptian Vultures in the Balkans. We assume that the decades of impact on the species by this dangerous power line may have caused the extinction the population of Egyptian Vultures which traditionally migrates along the western Red Sea coasts and breeds in Eastern Europe and Asia. Following the results from the expedition, a huge priority in the species conservation will be the insulation of the dangerous power line near by Port Sudan and convincing the Sudanese Electricity Company to use a safe model of poles.

The results from the three African expeditions (Ethiopia 2009 and 2010 and Sudan 2010) will be published in a report which will mark the priorities for future conservation work for the Egyptian Vulture and the other scavenging birds of prey in Ethiopia and Sudan. The report will be available on BSPB’s website by the end of February 2011.

The work on the Egyptian Vulture in Africa was funded by Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Program, African Bird Club, Stitching Vulture Conservation Foundation and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, to which we express our gratitude.

Source: BirdLife

7th January 2011: Study shows alarming drop in Kenyan vultures

Vultures in one of Africa’s most significant wildlife reserves are declining at an alarming rate according to a new study in Biological Conservation. Researchers found that vulture populations – including African White-backed Gyps africanus, Ruppell’s Gyps reuppellii, and Hooded Necrosyrtes monachus – around the Masai Mara National Reserve in southwestern Kenya have dropped up to 60 percent over three decades.

The primary causes are changes in land use and other human activity, particularly the poisoning of livestock carcasses intended to kill lions and other large predators. Vultures quickly die after scavenging on the tainted carcasses. "Staggering declines in abundance were found for seven of eight scavenging raptors surveyed,” said co-author Munir Virani. “Better land management and a ban on certain pesticides are needed to preserve these keystone members of the scavenging community.” “The situation in Kenya perhaps mirrors the situation throughout eastern Africa,” Virani said. “This is the first time that large-scale population declines in vultures and other scavenging raptors in and around the Masai Mara have been documented.”

Another study published in early 2010 by the Journal of Raptor Research showed similar trends, revealing declines of 70 percent for scavenging birds, primarily vultures, over a three-year period in central Kenya. The authors determined that food and weather were not limiting factors and suggested that poisoned bait was responsible for the die-offs. The latest study compared trends between the migration season of large ungulates like wildebeest and the non-migration season on reserve, buffer, and grazed lands. Large declines in all areas, including the reserve, during the ungulate migration – when food supplies are abundant for vultures – suggest that they are affected well beyond the study area.

In many areas, livestock owners misuse a pesticide called Furadan to poison lions and other large predators that kill their livestock. They set out a carcass laced with the poison, which is subsequently scavenged by vultures. Because they are social animals that feed together, many vultures can be killed by a single poisoning event. Scavengers occupy an essential niche in the ecosystem as a clean-up and recycling crew. Vultures quickly consume the carcasses of dead animals before they decay and develop diseases harmful to humans, livestock and wildlife.

Paul Matiku, Executive Director of Nature Kenya (Birdlife Partner) said: “if the use of Furadan and other chemicals like Dichlophenac are not removed from the Kenyan market, Kenya is likely to not only lose all the wildlife but also wipe out the entire vulture populations and other target species”.

Source: BirdLife

17th December 2010: Electrocution of Vultures in Sudan

Ivaylo Angelov from the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds and colleagues from the Sudanese Wildlife Society found 17 electrocuted Egyptian Vultures Neophron percnopterus under a notorious power line near Port Sudan. This was first reported as a cause of vulture mortality by the German ornithologist Gerhard Nikolaus. He found 55 electrocuted Egyptian Vultures there in 1982-1983 and a further five on a second visit in 2003. 

The total found and reported by ornithologists is thus nearly 80, but this is surely just the tip of the iceberg. In the past, the area around Port Sudan was the most significant known stop-over site of Egyptian Vultures in Sudan during its autumn migration. However despite that the fact that the expedition took place in September / October during the peak migration period, very few were seen. The power line was built in the 1950s and Angelov believes that it has probably caused the deaths of hundreds and possibly thousands of Egyptian Vultures - recently listed as an Endangered species by IUCN.

Other electrocuted victims of this particularly dangerous power line included several Lappet-faced Vultures Torgos tracheliotos (Vulnerable), Steppe Eagles Aquila nipalensis, and a Bonelli’s Eagle Aquila fasciatus. The expedition discovered a territorial pair of the latter, confirming it for the first time as a breeding species in Sudan.

High mortality during migration and at wintering sites is considered to be one of the main factors behind the fast decline of the Egyptian Vultures in the Balkans. Data from monitoring in Bulgaria and Macedonia over the last eight years has shown that in spring a significant proportion of the birds do not return to their breeding territories. During migration and wintering Egyptian Vultures often roost on electric pylons. The power line causing the deaths of so many raptors is situated close to large farms which attract many birds and until last year it was the only power line going out of Port Sudan and offering an attractive roosting site for the birds.

This project was part funded by the African Bird Club

6th December 2010: More than 150 African Penguin chicks rescued from Dyer Island

An emergency operation to rescue 156 African Penguin chicks from Dyer Island, South Africa, has been co-coordinated successfully. The chicks faced starvation as they had been born late in the breeding season. Now their parents have begun to moult and are therefore to go to sea to fish preventing them from feeding their young which are often abandoned to die.

Removed by the CapeNature team the chicks were rapidly taken ashore by the Dyer Island Conservation Trust's research boat, Lwazi (Knowledge), before being transported to SANCCOB'S rescue centre in Cape Town where they will be fed and cared for about three months.  The chicks will then be released back into the breeding colony at Dyer Island.

The African Penguin was recently declared an endangered species. Dyer Island is one of the most important breeding colonies of the African Penguin but it now has fewer than 1200 breeding pairs following a 55% decline in the population.

Source: Dyer Island Conservation Trust

25th November 2010: Ethiopian surveys find high densities of Prince Ruspoli's Turaco but highlight threats

Recent surveys of Prince Ruspoli’s Turaco Tauraco ruspolii suggest that rates of habitat change have been very fast in the northern part of the species’s range, where large areas have been converted to agriculture and plantations of exotic trees.

Prince Ruspoli’s Turaco (Vulnerable), is a macaw-sized bird with scarlet and navy-blue wings, long tail and green-and-white head. It was first discovered among the personal effects of Prince Ruspoli after he was crushed to death by an elephant in 1893. As the unfortunate nobleman had not had time to label the specimen, its origins remained a mystery for half a century before the species was seen in the wild by an English naturalist in southern Ethiopia.

In 1995, its population was estimated at 10,000 individuals, but alarming rates of habitat destruction in the region were feared to have had negative effects on this bird, that lives along forest edges and in woodlands with scattered Podocarpus and fig trees.

Fortunately, in the central part of Ruspoli’s Turaco’s range, the woodlands bordering Sede and Lela Lemu forests are still largely intact, and support high densities of the species. The forests themselves are inhabited by a rich avifauna that also includes the White-cheeked Turaco Tauraco leucotis. This area is clearly a key site for the conservation of the species, as it hosts the most important surviving population. However, the survey also found that rates of illegal logging and agricultural expansions are increasing in the area, and rates of habitat destruction are bound to increase as the road system will soon be upgraded to support the expansion of the mining industry, that is already flourishing in the area. Urgent actions are now needed to improve the conservation of Sede and Lela Lemu forests and of the woodland belt that surrounds them.

Source: BirdLife

22nd November 2010: Liberia and Sierra Leone move to designate Gola Rainforest as National Park

The governments of Liberia and Sierra Leone have started the formal processes of designating the Gola Rainforest as a shared National Park and Protected Area.

“There is every reason for us to protect the Gola Forest on both sides of our border, since doing so will ensure that it will continuously provide ecological services to the surrounding communities”, said presidents of Liberia H.E. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Sierra Leone H.E. Dr Ernest Bai Koroma in a joint statement presented at a recent conference in Sweden.

Gola Rainforest is part of the Upper Guinea Forest Ecosystem, which is one of the world’s most biodiversity-rich ecosystems. Of the 240-250 forest dependent birds in the region – such White-breasted Guineafowl Agelastes meleagrides and White-necked Picathartes Picathartes gymnocephalus (both Vulnerable) – more than 25 are threatened or restricted-range species. It is also home to more than 50 mammal species, such as Forest Elephant Loxodonta cyclotis, Pygmy Hippo Choeropsis liberiensis and ten species of primate, including Chimpanzee Pan troglodytes.

Last year the Presidents of Sierra Leone and Liberia established the ‘The Across the River transboundary Peace Park’ project to protect the Gola Rainforest – an area covering the Gola, Lofa and Foya Forest Reserves (see map). This commitment is now being translated into actions by both countries.

Source: BirdLife

16th November 2010: Biofuels policy threatens wildlife habitats

Imports of biofuels from crops are due to treble over the next decade to reach the legally binding target for 10 per cent of all transport fuel to come from renewable sources by 2020. At present, just over 3 per cent of petrol and diesel sold in Britain comes from crops such as soya, palm oil and sugar cane.

Tim Stowe, the RSPB’s director of international operations, said: “We are seeing the impact of European renewable fuel targets first hand with our work in Kenya. The Tana River Delta and the Dakatcha Woodlands are both hugely important areas for wildlife and they are currently at risk from irresponsible and unsustainable biofuel plantations.

“Trees will be cleared, wetlands will be under threat and a range of species will be pushed to the brink if these proposals go ahead. The threatened Clarke’s Weaver will be driven to extinction first, but who knows how many more species will follow. Our message is clear: biofuels targets must be scrapped or wildlife will suffer.”

Speaking from Kenya, Paul Matiku – Executive Director of Nature Kenya said: “our biofuel message needs to sink among the decision makers in Europe. It is critical to ensure no net loss of biodiversity globally as a result of these biofuel targets”.

Source: BirdLife

15th November 2010: Kenyan IBA keeps National Park status

The High Court of Kenya has reversed an order by President Mwai Kibaki to downgrade the Amboseli National Park to a game reserve. The High Court found the move to ‘de-gazette’ Amboseli was illegal.

Amboseli National Park lies immediately north-west of Mount Kilimanjaro, on the border with Tanzania. It has been identified as an Important Bird Area, and has a rich avian fauna with over 400 bird species recorded, including over 40 birds of prey including Vulnerable Lesser Kestrel Falco naumanni which uses the site during its migration period.

Amboseli National Park is surrounded by six communally-owned group ranches that are wet-season dispersal areas for wildlife, and whose management has direct influence on the ecological stability of the park.

Source: BirdLife

3rd November 2010: South African birds in trouble

Of the 10,000 bird species on Earth, 1,226 are listed as Critically Endangered, Endangered or Vulnerable. Forty of these occur in South Africa and of these 20 are endemic. In South Africa, a number of birds are listed on the IUCN Red List, with several heading for extinction should some of the threats continue and should the NGOs who are implementing conservation action halt their important work.

The Wattled Crane Bugeranus carunculatus is the most severely threatened crane on the African continent. Recent surveys in Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, countries long thought to be strongholds for the Wattled Crane, show that the global population is only half of what has been reported in recent years. Some of the greatest losses have occurred in South Africa, where a 38% decline between 1980 and 2000 left the national population Critically Endangered. Only about 250 individuals remain in South Africa, mostly concentrated in isolated pockets of the KwaZulu-Natal midlands.

The African Penguin Spheniscus demersus was uplisted to Endangered on the IUCN Red List earlier this year. The population has declined by 60.5% in the past 28 years, primarily due to food shortages linked to commercial fishing and recent, large-scale changes in fish distributions. The impacts of predation and competition (especially with Cape Fur Seals) is an increasing problem as penguin colonies shrink. Catastrophic oil pollution events remain a big potential threat, while chronic oiling and toxic pollutants in the oceans are increasingly problematic for African Penguins.

Another charismatic bird in urgent need of conservation attention is the Taita Falcon Falco taita. This species is threatened primarily by habitat loss and fragmentation. “The use of the Taita Falcon’s range and nesting sites by species such as the Lanner Falcon can be directly related to habitat change and the fact that the population is very fragmented,” says André Botha, Manager of the Endangered Wildlife Trust’s Birds of Prey Programme. South African raptor conservationists will be recommending an Endangered listing for the species when the Red Data Book is revised next year, as the national population numbers no more than 25 adult individuals.

The Blue Swallow Hirundo atrocaerulea inhabits short, undulating, mist-belt grasslands along the eastern South African escarpment and north-western Swaziland. The South African Blue Swallow population of approximately 50 known pairs is locally classified as Critically Endangered. The global population, estimated at less than 1 500 pairs, is considered Vulnerable. In South Africa (KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo Province), their numbers have declined by more than 80% over the last 100 years, mostly as a result of habitat destruction caused by afforestation.

Eighteen of the 22 albatross species occurring worldwide are threatened with some level of extinction. For long-lived, slow-breeding birds like the albatrosses, even apparently slow population declines can have alarming consequences over time. Dr Ross Wanless, BirdLife South Africa’s Albatross Task Force Manager, says, “Each year about 1 billion longline hooks are set, which catch and drown 300 000 seabirds, of which 100 000 are albatrosses. But we have achieved some impressive conservation gains for albatrosses. South Africa’s fisheries lead the world in implementing seabird bycatch mitigation measures. The trawl industry has mandatory measures to reduce bycatch, which is now down by 60%; longliners have mandatory measures to reduce bycatch and seabird bycatch is down by 80%.” Fifteen albatross species are recorded from South African waters.

Recent South African species uplistings include the Grey Crowned Crane Balearica regulorum and Black Crowned Crane Balearica pavonina, uplisted to Vulnerable, the African Penguin from Vulnerable to Endangered and the Southern Ground Hornbill Bucorvus leadbeateri upgraded from Vulnerable to Endangered. Only one species was downlisted, the Corncrake Crex crex, from Near Threatened to Least Concern.

Source: BirdLife

8th October 2010: Tana River Delta blues lift slightly

The Tana River Delta on Kenya's coast is at a cross-roads. The massive pressure to exploit the area for growing sugar and biofuel crops amongst other development pressure is forcing an intense campaign to ensure that the delta's peerless natural environment.

For biofuels in particular, the pressure on land is mounting in Africa and European governments, including our own are not able to identify good sources from bad – a fundemental flaw in policy that risks a wave of damaging landuse change.

There is little doubt that the natural richness of the area is outstanding, local communities alongside Nature Kenya (BirdLife Partner / with support from the RSPB) want to see necessary development in the area planned to ensure that the cost of smash and grab development isn't measured in the inevitable loss of one of the world's most important places for nature.

It's not about no development – it's about the right development shaped and led by the best information and with local communities at the heart of the process.

So it's encouraging to hear that there are now steps to develop a plan for sustainable development for the delta. The devil, as always, will be in the detail and there is a tough struggle ahead for Nature Kenya's campaign to ensure that the master plan does the job effectively and ends the era of bad planning and short-termism that has dogged the delta for years.

Source: Andrew Farrar RSPB vie e-mail on African Birding

5th October 2010: Project launched to identify conservation targets of Eastern Africa

BirdLife International and the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) have recently launched a new initiative to prepare a conservation and investment strategy for mountain ranges across eastern Africa, from Saudi Arabia and Yemen in the north to Zimbabwe in the south.

Collectively termed the Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot, the region covers a total area of more than one million km2 across sixteen countries and is made up of three ancient massifs: the Eastern Arc Mountains and Southern Rift, the Albertine Rift, and the Ethiopian Highlands.

“The Eastern Afromontane Biodiversity Hotspot is incredibly important for wildlife and people”, said Julius Arinaitwe – BirdLife’s Director for Africa. “It’s very species-rich, with around 7,600 plants, 1,300 birds, 500 mammals, 350 reptiles, 230 amphibians 890 fish recorded so far. Many of these can be found nowhere else on earth. The hotspot also provides vital ecosystem services for millions of people’’.

Despite the huge biological and socio-economic value of the hotspot, about 15 percent is currently under any level of protection, and only 10 percent of the original vegetation remains in pristine condition.

Source: BirdLife

29th September 2010: Major population crash of the critically endangered Taita Apalis

Taita Apalis Apalis fuscigularis is endemic to the Taita Hills in south-eastern Kenya. It is one of the rarest birds in the world, surviving in only five small forest fragments at altitudes of between 1,500 and 2,200 m. Its known global range is less than 600 ha. In 2001, the population of this species was estimated to only be 300-650 individuals, thereby qualifying it for the highest threat category, Critically Endangered.

Field work carried out in 2009 and 2010 with support from BirdLife International, RSPB, CEPA and Chester Zoo strongly suggests that a major population crash is underway. Compared with 2001, sighting rates in April-May 2009 had dropped by about 38%; repeated counts done in September-December 2009 and May-July 2010 showed even larger decreases, approaching 80%. This means that the global population of the apalis might now be reduced to only 60-130 individuals, almost all of which are located in a single forest, Ngangao, which is only about 120 ha.

The causes of this extremely worrying drop are unclear. Little or no illegal logging is now occurring in the Taita, and human disturbance has been significantly reduced thanks to the effort of the Kenya Forest Service and local conservation groups. The impacts of other possible factors, such as nest predation and climate change remain unknown. Nonetheless, it is clear that all the possible candidates driving this apparent crash need to be urgently studied in order to stop this species from sliding further towards the brink of extinction. Similarly, research is also urgently needed on the second critically endangered bird of the Taita Hills forests, Taita Thrush Turdus helleri, whose population has not been assessed in recent times, but might be threatened by the same factors that are already affecting the apalis.

Taita Apalis and Taita Thrush are both receiving funding from the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme. The programme is spearheading greater conservation action, awareness and funding support for all of the world’s most threatened birds, starting with the 190 species classified as Critically Endangered, the highest level of threat.

Source: BirdLife

1st September 2010: The Serengeti highway must be stopped now

The Government of Tanzania is planning a major commercial highway across the Serengeti National Park, linking the Lake Victoria area with eastern Tanzania. The Government, via its agency TANROADS, proposes to construct a 171.5km road that will directly traverse the Wildebeest Migration route. It is part of a bigger plan to connect the proposed new port at Tanga to Musoma on Lake Victoria via Arusha and Lake Natron’s shores.

The road will be funded by the Tanzanian Government and the section from Serengeti to Musoma is estimated to cost £144 million. The Government has contracted two companies - one Indian and the other based in Tanzania - to jointly undertake an Environment and Social Impact Assessment, which we believe is to be completed before the end of the year. If the project is given the go-ahead then construction is likely to start at the beginning of 2012.

The area is home to over 450 bird species. These include three Tanzanian endemic species and two globally threatened species: the Grey-crested Helmet Shrike and Karamoja Apalis, a rare African warbler. It is thought that one third of Africa’s Ruppell’s Vultures use the Serengeti ecosystem.

Now this extraordinary national park and its wildlife are in great peril.

Source: RSPB

26th August 2010: Catastrophic forest fire delivers huge blow to Europe’s rarest seabird

A massive forest fire on the island of Madeira has killed several breeding adults and 65% of this year’s chicks of Zino’s Petrel.

Zino’s Petrel Pterodroma madeira is Europe’s rarest seabird and one of the rarest birds in the world, nesting only on a few mountain ledges in the rugged central massif of Madeira island. Once on the edge of extinction with numbers down to a few tens of pairs, intense conservation action over the past 20 years, led by the Natural Park of Madeira (Parque Natural da Madeira - PNM) with support from SPEA, the Freira Conservation Project and Funchal Municipal Museum, has seen its population grow to almost 80 pairs.

In recent weeks, forest fires have ravaged parts of Madeira, and on 13 August they hit the heart of the central massif. This area (which is protected as part of the EU’s Natura 2000 network) comprises a very important habitat and supports several endemic plants and animals, including the Zino’s Petrel breeding colony, where many nestlings were still in their burrows.

On 15 August, as soon as the ground and soil had cooled down sufficiently, PNM staff visited the breeding cliffs to assess the damage. The results were shocking: 25 young and 3 adults were found dead, and only 13 young fledglings were found alive in their underground chambers. As well as the dead birds, the fire exacerbated soil erosion, with several nesting burrows having disappeared.

Source: BirdLife

12th August 2010: Biofuel threat to Kenyan IBA continues

Kenya's National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) has refused a licence for a 50,000 hectare biofuel plantation at the Dakatcha Woodland Important Bird Area (IBA). However, they advise the proponent to 'redesign and scale down the project to pilot level to prove sustainability before an EIA license can be issued for the entire proposed area of 50,000 hectares'.

"This appears to indicate that the full 50,000 hectare project is still under consideration for conversion to biofuel plantations", remarked Paul Matiku - Executive Director NatureKenya (BirdLife Partner).

Dakatcha Woodland IBA, which has no formal protection status, holds significant populations of Endangered Sokoke Pipit Anthus sokokensis, and is one of only two known sites for Endangered Clarke's Weaver Ploceus golandi. It's a biodiversity hotspot and the communities around the forest depend on it for their livelihoods and cultural practices.

Source: BirdLife

6th July 2010: A nightingale from Norfolk sang in Guinea-Bissau

British scientists have solved a major mystery of the natural world by tracking for the first time a migratory songbird on its winter journey through Africa. The bird, a male nightingale code-named OAD, left Britain on 25 July last year after nesting in Norfolk, and travelled through France and Spain and down the coast of West Africa to Guinea-Bissau, the former Portuguese colony which is one of Africa's smallest and least-known states, where it spent the winter. It returned to Britain in April.

The tracking of its incredible 3,000-mile odyssey was made possible by using a tiny "data logger" locator device fitted to the bird which has lifted the curtain on one of wildlife's great enigmas: where exactly do our migrant birds go in the winter? The discovery is likely to prove vital in finding out why many of these species, such as spotted flycatchers, wood warblers and whinchats, have begun to decline sharply in Britain and Europe, as it may be on their African wintering grounds that they are running into trouble. As reported in The Independent last week, nightingale numbers in Britain have fallen by 91 per cent in the past 40 years.

The findings have been made possible by the miniaturisation of tracking devices, which are now so small they can be fitted to birds weighing only a few grammes, without hindering them on their vast migrations. Nightingale OAD was captured on 2 May last year near Methwold Hythe in Norfolk, and fitted with a tiny geolocator by researchers from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Geolocators were developed by the British Antarctic Survey for tracking albatrosses. They use a light sensor and a memory chip to record the light level against a clock and a calendar, from which latitude and longitude on a particular date can be deduced. However, the geolocators are not big enough to transmit the information directly.

The one fitted to OAD, which was developed by the Swiss Ornithological Institute, weighed just one gramme and was the size of a shirt's button. As a result, birds fitted with the devices had to be recaptured on their return to Britain so the locator could be recovered and the data downloaded for analysis. After its breeding season, the bird, which was probably born in 2007, left Britain's shores somewhere near the border of Kent and Sussex, crossed the Channel, and headed due south down through Central France, crossing the Pyrenees in mid-August.

It turned down the eastern side of Spain and crossed the Mediterranean from the region of Almeria to Morocco, where it had a three-week stopover from late August to mid-September for rest and feeding. These stopover sites are increasingly seen as crucially important, and if they are suffering from environmental degradation, that may be a reason for declines in bird numbers.

Having rested and refuelled, OAD carried on flying down the Atlantic coast of Africa, through the Western Sahara and Mauritania, into Senegal and finally to Guinea-Bissau, where it arrived in mid-December, and spent about six weeks. It departed on its spring migration back to Britain in February this year, about which time the geolocator failed. But researchers believe it arrived in Norfolk in mid-April, and it was caught again on 9 May.

The researchers say that the word "breakthrough" is not too strong a description of what the geolocator's data showed. Scientists have traditionally relied on the recovery of birds which had been ringed in order to reconstruct their journeys. Although this works well enough within Britain and Europe, the number of recoveries of European-ringed migrants south of the Sahara has been minimal. In many cases, nothing whatsoever has been known about where European migrants fly to, once they cross the Mediterranean in the late summer, and head out into the vast African continent.

Source: The Independent

24th June 2010: NatureKenya oppose the destruction of Dakatcha Woodland IBA

NatureKenya is working alongside local community members to oppose the destruction of a vitally important woodland for biodiversity and people at the Kenya's coast. In total 50,000 ha have been identified for conversion to grow Jatropha - a plant used for biodiesel production which is largely untested and potentially destructive. The area identified poses a threat to Dakatcha Woodland Important Bird Area (IBA) which lies within the proposed development.

Dakatcha is an extensive tract of relatively intact coastal woodland, north of the Sabaki River and between 25 and 50 km inland from the Kenyan coast. It is an IBA and Key Biodiversity Area for many Globally Threatened species such as Endangered Clarke's Weaver Ploceus golandi.

Dakatcha is also the ancestral land for the indigenous minority Watha community. The Watha gain invaluable ecosystem services from the forest such as clean stream water for drinking, and a sustainable supply of firewood for cooking and lighting.

NatureKenya works with many community groups called Site Support Groups in and around priority conservation sites across the country. At Dakatcha, Nature Kenya - in collaboration with various partners - has initiated alternative livelihood activities including promotion of bee keeping, ecotourism and development of sustainable forestry management to conserve the Dakatcha Woodlands IBA.

Sadly, the County Council of Malindi and Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd. have announced the setting aside of 50,000 ha of land within Dakatcha and the surrounding areas for conversion to Jatropha Plantations. "Jatropha curcas is an untested and potentially destructive plant", said NatureKenya's Director - Paul Matiku. "Large scale clearing of land for plantations in the Dakacha area will erode the fragile soil and take up scarce water".

NatureKenya is working alongside the Dakatcha Woodland Conservation Group SSG and Dakatcha Woodland Community Forest Association to fight the plans which endanger the future of both local people's livelihoods, and Globally Threatened biodiversity.

Speaking about the felling of indigenous trees before the completion of an Environmental Impact Assessment report, Paul Matiku warned: "any further cutting of forest, woodland or thicket in Dakatcha will damage the ability of the landscape to be a water catchment and protect the soil from erosion; and threaten with extinction plants and animals which Kenya has a global responsibility to conserve".

The local conservation group and the general community have held demonstrations in Mulunguni area, and communities in Chamari and Mulunguni villages have filed a court case against Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd. to stop alienation of their land.

This week NatureKenya, the East African Wildlife Society, Youth for Conservation and community representatives held a press conference to oppose the project where local people spoke out. Joshua Kahindi, a representative of the Dakatcha community, decried the: "alienation of land from local communities to be given to the Kenya Jatropha Energy Ltd". "The community was not adequately consulted", said another member of the local community - Jacob Kokani. "We are against the project as it will displace us from our ancestral land", he concluded.

Source: BirdLife

24th June 2010: Vultures in Africa

Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres - one of Africa's largest birds of prey - is believed to be under threat from the followers of muti magic in South Africa, who mistakenly believe smoking dried vulture brains will confer supernatural powers upon gamblers enabling them to predict match results from the forthcoming football World Cup.

Betting on the outcome of World Cup games will be big business and conservationists believe superstition and sorcery will be powerful attractions for gamblers desperate to increase their chances of a big win, placing even more pressure on the Cape vulture, which is already classified as facing global extinction.

Mark Anderson is the Executive Director of BirdLife South Africa. He said: "Many vultures species across the world are in trouble. Our very own species in southern Africa is declining sharply for a number of reasons, including reduced food availability, deliberate poisoning and electrocution from electricity pylons. The harvesting of the bird's heads by followers of muti magic is an additional threat these birds can't endure."

The RSPB's Dr Chris Magin works with BirdLife South Africa. He said: "One in every six of the world's birds of prey are facing extinction and during the past two decades vultures have virtually vanished from West Africa, South Asia and other parts of the world."

Steve McKean, from KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife, has been studying the decline of vultures related to the harvesting of birds for muti magic. He said: "Our research suggests that killing of vultures for so-called 'traditional' use could render the Cape Vulture extinct in some parts of South Africa within half a century. In the worst case, the Cape Vulture could be suffering population collapse within 12 years."

Conservationists remain concerned that most vultures are killed for muti magic are killed using the poison Aldicarb, which is also lethal to humans.

André Botha, manager of the Birds of Prey Working Group at the Endangered Wildlife Trust in South Africa, said: "Vultures fulfill an important ecological role as scavengers and their absence in Africa indicates an unhealthy environment. This threat is also known to occur widely in East and West Africa and poses a threat to all species of vulture on the African continent."

"Vultures are currently considered among the most threatened bird groups in Africa, with four out of eleven species Globally Threatened according to BirdLife International on behalf of the IUCN Red List", said Dr Julius Arinaitwe - Head of BirdLife's Africa Secretariat. "It is our duty to save them", he concluded.

Source: BirdLife

30th May 2010: African Penguin status

Each year BirdLife International revises the Red List for the bird species of the world. Today they announced that the African Penguin has gone from Vulnerable to Endangered. This assessment is based on rigorous criteria, for the penguin, the population has crashed by more than 50% in the past 30 years, signalling a strong warning to conservationists.

BirdLife International report that recent data have revealed that the African Penguin is undergoing a very rapid population decline, probably as a result of commercial fisheries and shifts in prey populations. Worryingly, the assessment notes that this trend shows no sign of reversing, and immediate conservation action is required to prevent further declines.

In 1956, the first full census of the species was conducted, and 150,000 pairs were counted. These were the birds that had survived more than a century of sustained persecution, principally from egg collecting and guano scraping. In 2009, after another decrease (the global population fell another 10% from the 2008 count), there were only 26 000 pairs. Those numbers represent a loss of more than 80% of the pairs in just over 50 years, equivalent to around 90 birds a week, every week since 1956!

“The colonies around our coast have shrunk to dangerously small numbers.” said Dr Ross Wanless, Seabird Division Manager for BirdLife South Africa. “Now the colonies are very vulnerable to small-scale events, such as bad weather, seal predation **or** seagulls taking eggs. In a large, healthy population these events were trivial. Now, they have potentially serious consequences. We’re almost at the point of managing individual birds.” he continued.

Dr Rob Crawford, chief scientist for Marine & Coastal Management, the government department responsible for monitoring and protecting seabirds, has worked on the African Penguins for more than 30 years. He said “While it’s difficult to prove exactly what has caused the decreases, all the indications are that the penguins are struggling to find enough sardines and anchovies. A huge amount is done to protect penguins from other threats, but the decreases have continued unabated.”

Earlier this year, research lead by Dr Lorien Pichegru, from the Percy FitzPatrick Institute at the University of Cape Town, reported on preliminary results from a study on the impacts of closing fishing areas around key penguin breeding islands. Their study suggests that preventing fishing directly around the penguin islands may well provide benefits to the penguins. Marine and Coastal Management has commissioned a team to consider how closures could be implemented to benefit the penguins while minimising the impacts on the fishing industry and fisher’s livelihoods.

Source: Africa Geographic

26th May 2010: Bird wiped out by introduction of killer fish

A lake bird only found in Madagascar, but not seen in more than 25 years, has been declared extinct - with its passing blamed on the introduction of a carnivorous fish.

The Alaotra Grebe Tachybaptus rufolavatus lived in a tiny area to the east of the Indian Ocean island. The species declined through the last century after the introduction of a Snakehead Murrel, a non-native fish. The demise of the grebe was accelerated by nylon fishing nets in which birds were caught and drowned.

Its death knell is featured in the latest Red List of endangered birds by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It brings the number of bird species to have become extinct since 1600 to 132, with one in 8 species now at risk.

Source: The Times, UK

26th May 2010: Azores Bullfinch downlisted

The Red List update shows that we now know, more than ever, that conservation works. Azores Bullfinch Pyrrhula murina has been downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered as a result of conservation work to restore natural vegetation on its island home. SPEA (BirdLife in Portugal) and RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) have worked together with others to turn around the fortunes of this species in what is a model for other projects.

"This is a clear example of conservation action succeeding in turning the tide for a highly threatened species", said Andy Symes, BirdLife's Global Species Programme Officer. "Where there is commitment and financing we can save species. We have the knowledge and will, but there needs to be better funding globally to address the loss of species."

Source: BirdLife International

16th May 2010: Biodiversity in Africa's Protected Areas declining Fast

The status of Biodiversity is progressively declining in African Protected Areas according to BirdLife International. This was unveiled during a side event hosted by BirdLife during the on-going CBD SBTTA 14 meeting attended by Government delegates from all over the world at UNEP Gigiri in Kenya.

In total, BirdLife is working in 22 countries in Africa in over 1,200 IBAs. While all countries have increased efforts to conserve biodiversity, much more is still to be done. The side event in Nairobi, Kenya, shared results from a monitoring project of Protected Areas at 117 sites, across seven African countries, implemented by BirdLife and RSPB and funded by the European Commission. The monitoring results clearly show that the state of biodiversity in Protected Areas is declining. Sites identified as being in a poor state increased from 43% in 2001, to 57% in 2008.

At the same time there has been a general increase of threats facing Protected Areas. "The results of our monitoring indicate that the pressures on biodiversity have been increasing falling far short of the target to reduce biodiversity loss", said Dr. Muhtari Aminu Kano - BirdLife International's Global Policy and Advocacy Advisor.

Delegates at the meeting heard how BirdLife used a simple 'State, Pressure, Response' Model for the monitoring of the over 1,200 African Important Bird Areas (IBAs), of which about 46% are Protected Areas. 

The data from the monitoring have been used to develop indicators to show trends over time within IBAs. These results form important components of the suite of indicators suitable to track biodiversity progress towards the 2010 Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) target, and wider sustainable development around the globe. 

"The results also show that if proper management responses are put in place it is possible to improve the state of biodiversity and reduce pressures", said Achilles Byaruhanga - Executive Director of Nature Uganda. "This was well demonstrated through the sites monitored in Botswana - Central Kalahari Game reserve, Okavango Delta and Mannyelanong - where comprehensive and effective use of existing management plans have been instituted".

Source: BirdLife

20th April 2010: South Atlantic becomes more seabird-friendly

BirdLife International and WWF South Africa recently achieved a major conservation success by improving the methods used by commercial fishermen in the south-east Atlantic Ocean to avoid killing seabirds. Seabirds, particularly albatrosses, are becoming threatened and at a faster rate than all other groups of birds. By far the biggest threat faced is death on longline fishing hooks.

"A single vessel may use a line extending for 10 km, from which can hang as many as 20,000 hooks", said Dr Ross Wanless - Southern Africa Coordinator for BirdLife's Global Seabird Programme. "Globally we estimate that around 300,000 seabirds grab baited-hooks and drown each year".

The south-east Atlantic Ocean is a particularly important area where large numbers of seabirds and commercial fisheries overlap; fisheries which are managed by The South East Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (SEAFO). SEAFO covers a vital area for seabirds. Endangered Atlantic Yellow-nosed Albatross Thalassarche chlororhynchos and Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophrys are just two of the thirteen Globally Threatened seabird species found within SEAFO's region.

Working alongside WWF South Africa, BirdLife's Global Seabird Programme recently reviewed SEAFO's seabird conservation measures, and presented a number of improvements to result in fewer birds being killed. "Using BirdLife's Seabird Mitigation Fact-sheets, we suggested ways in which SEAFO's conservation measures could meet current best practice", said Ross.

SEAFO subsequently accepted the BirdLife / WWF recommendations, and have now incorporated them into their new seabird conservation measures. "We were delighted", noted Ross. "Thousands of seabirds could be saved each year as a result of this decision. SEAFO now sets the gold standard for other regional fisheries management organisations around the world to follow".

Source: BirdLife

19th April 2010: New species of shrike described

The discovery, backed by DNA analysis, means scientists now know that there is one more species of black shrike in Africa’s Albertine Rift Valley than was previously thought. The bird Laniarius willardi, is a newly described species of boubou shrike (Malaconotidae) whose single distinctive trait is its blue-gray eyes.

“This bird has been around for probably at least a couple million years, it's old, but it’s new to science at least in the DNA age,' said Voelker, assistant professor of wildlife and fisheries and curator of birds with Texas AgriLife Research at College Station. 'Clearly, it was noticed before, because as we started to look at comparative material from other natural history collections, we saw that several specimens collected in 1910 were noted to have had gray eyes,' he said. 'But it apparently never occurred to those collectors that their find was potentially something different than other black shrikes that might have been collected in the same basic region.'

“The DNA work that shows this to be a new species is recent, though the actual birds sampled were collected in 1997 by Gnoske and Marks on a research expedition for the Field Museum of Natural History,' Voelker said.

“Another significant aspect of this particular species, at least from what we can tell from the data we”ve gathered, is that it occurs in a narrow elevational band between 1,200 and 2,000 meters,' he said. 'Those birds collected in 1910 were taken from sites that are now likely completely deforested to make way for tea plantations which grow successfully to about 2,000 meters elevation. Above that level, Laniarius willardi gets replaced by another shrike species that looks exactly like it except for the eye-colour difference.'

The paper describing the new species will appear in the July issue of the international ornithological journal The Auk.

Source: Africa Geographic

18th February 2010: Celebrating Natron's Flamingos with action

The 2010 World Wetlands Day celebrations in Tanzania focussed on a meeting to support the conservation of Lesser Flamingo Phoenicopterus minor (Near Threatened) through the completion of a National Single Species Action Plan.

"This is an important step in ensuring the protection of this important species not only for Tanzania but also for the world", said Lota Melamari - CEO of Wildlife Conservation Society of Tanzania (WCST, BirdLife Partner). "This action plan provides Tanzania with an opportunity to ensure that threats facing Lesser Flamingo are thoroughly addressed", he added.

Tanzania is home to the most important breeding site in the world for Lesser Flamingo - Lake Natron. Of the world's global population of Lesser Flamingo, 75% breed at Lake Natron.

These flamingos drew global attention when a proposal to build a soda ash processing plant at Lake Natron came to light in 2006. The global community, led by BirdLife International, WCST, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB, BirdLife in the UK), and the Lake Natron Consultative Group opposed the plans citing serious threats to the critical flamingo breeding site.

During the meeting, actions were agreed aimed at ensuring that the species is protected at Lake Natron and eleven other lakes within Tanzania.

Source: BirdLife

18th February 2010: Africa Climate Exchange

This website, developed by BirdLife International, serves as a one stop shop on information on climate change, mitigation and adaptation in Africa. Using birds and BirdLife's Important Bird Area network as entry points, it demonstrates how biodiversity in Africa will respond to climate change and what can be done.

The site contains information and news about climate change and its potential impact on Africa birds and includes a suite of maps, showing how the ranges of the majority of bird species breeding in sub-Saharan Africa could be impacted by climate change.

These ranges have been prepared for 1608 species, the entire breeding avifauna of sub-Saharan Africa, minus 71 species recorded from fewer than five grid cells, for which modeling was impractical.

Source: Africa Climate Exchange

18th February 2010: Radar station in Madeira threatens Zino's Petrel

After many years of uncertainty and inaction, the Portuguese Government has finally started building a military radar on top of Pico do Areeiro, one of Madeira’s most popular tourist destinations and the only home of Zino’s Petrel Pterodroma madeira, a rare endemic seabird.

The Pico do Areeiro lies within a Natura 2000 site designated as a Special Protection Area, and therefore has the highest level of protection under European Union law. “It is the only known breeding site in the world of Zino's Petrel, a globally Endangered species whose total population of 65-80 pairs makes it the rarest seabird in Europe and one of the rarest birds in the world”, said Dr Ian Burfield – European Research and Database Manager at BirdLife International.

Since as long ago as 2000, SPEA (BirdLife in Portugal) and BirdLife International have opposed the construction of this radar station at Pico do Areeiro, which is an area of extreme importance for rare high-altitude flora, as well as Zino’s Petrel.

Concerned that its construction and operation could have a detrimental impact on Zino's Petrel, as well as the unique landscape, SPEA and BirdLife have repeatedly requested the plans to be shelved and EU nature legislation respected.

“Unfortunately, none of the valid arguments presented proved sufficient to convince the Madeiran and Portuguese authorities, who have now gone ahead, arguing that building the radar is a matter of national security”, added Dr Burfield.

Source: BirdLife

31st January 2010: Unique Cameroon mountain area gets crucial protection

A new park created by the Cameroonian government that encompasses the highest mountain in West and Central Africa will help protect some of the rarest ecosystems in the Congo Basin.

The government of Cameroon recently signed a decree creating the 58,178 hectare Mount Cameroon National Park which includes the 4,095-metre high Mount Cameroon – also one of the largest active volcanoes on the African continent.

“A park of such importance will help animal populations to rebuild,” said Atanga Ekobo, Manager of WWF Coastal Forest Project, which covers the region. “It will also encourage the sustainable use of natural resources by introducing and promoting alternative sources of income to the local communities”.

Mount Cameroon is an important refuge and home to many species found nowhere else, including high numbers of plants. A very isolated population of forest elephant also lives there.

For many years, poor land-use planning, land clearance, increasing agriculture, and the bushmeat trade damaged the area’s forest resources and high biological diversity.

But if well managed, the new park will both conserve the remaining natural richness of this fragile ecosystem and improve the livelihoods of local people, according to WWF.

Source: WWF

31st January 2010: Twelve years of site support in Burkina Faso

In 1997, Georges Oueda of Naturama (BirdLife in Burkina Faso) came to the northern wetland of Oursi to find volunteers to perform water bird counts. Acting on a request from the government, who had been asked by Wetlands International to organise participation in the African Waterbird Census, he asked the mayor of Oursi town to identify young people keen to be trained as ornithologists.

A group of about six young men took up the challenge. Among them were Housseini Salou, Maiga 'Mero' Hamidou and Aly Issa, now president, deputy and member respectively of the board of Site Support Group (SSG) Oursi.

Through the IBA Local Conservation Group approach BirdLife Partners around the world are working in partnership with communities and other stakeholders at IBAs towards shared objectives of conservation and sustainable resource management. In Africa, 'Site Support Groups' are organised, independent groups of volunteers who work with community stakeholders at IBAs to protect biodiversity and enhance benefits from the wise use of the natural resources.

The SSG at Oursi now numbers 28 people from several villages around the lake. They include not only bird enthusiasts but also representatives of the different livelihood communities: fishermen, pastoralists, schoolteachers, and community groups working the vegetable gardens and tree nursery established by the SSG.

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