Have your say in saving Egyptian Vulture!
7118c94e-d523-4b9c-b64d-f6011806f311
.jpg?&width=640&height=480&format=webp&webp.quality=85&scale=down "Egyptian Vulture has declined over all of its range, but it is hoped that the EU+ LIFE project will reverse this parlous situation. Photo: Artemy Voikhansky (commons.wikimedia.org).")
EU conservationists have begun a public consultation on a proposed Flyway Action Plan (EVFAP) to save Egyptian Vulture, and BirdLife hopes that citizens will use the opportunity to have their say.
As part of the EU LIFE+ project called ‘The Return of the Neophron’, the union will consult ordinary Europeans for advice and information on how to save the rapidly declining Egyptian Vulture, one of just four breeding vulture species on the Continent.
There was a time when the striking silhouette of the Egyptian Vulture in flight cut an impressive figure through the skies over Europe, Africa and the Indian sub-continent. Now, it is listed a globally Endangered species by the IUCN Red List. The overall European population has decreased by 50 per cent over the last 50 years, while in the Balkans numbers have declined by 80 per cent over the last three decades and the prospect of extinction is serious.
Balkan Egyptian Vulture is a long distance migrant which winters in the Sahel zone of sub-Saharan Africa, and its annual return flight is perilous. Birds have to negotiate a veritable gauntlet of challenges, including electrocution by power lines, poisoned baits aimed at mammalian carnivores and shooters.
In 2015, the EU LIFE+ Project ‘The Return of the Neophron’ initiated the development of an EVFAP. As birds know no borders, the plan involves a high degree of international co-operation between countries that host breeding populations in the Balkans, Central Asia and the Caucasus, flyways in the Middle East and wintering grounds in Central and Eastern Africa. It is hoped that, by improving the conservation status of the species throughout the flyway, the Egyptian Vulture can make a comeback.
The proposed Flyway Action Plan looks at how to counter these threats concretely and identifies key additional needs to bring the species back from the brink: long-term research and monitoring; designation of protected areas; rebuilding the populations; improving exchange of information; enhanced co-ordination between NGOs; partnerships with industry; and improving awareness and publicity.
The entire process has been collaborative from the get go, and it is vital that the people – be they government officials, private sector representatives (from power companies for example), conservationists or simply concerned citizens – who share their homelands with these magnificent raptors, see and understand just what is at stake and actively take part in saving a priceless part of their natural heritage. This is why, today, Raptors MoU has launched a month-long public consultation exercise on its draft Flyway Action Plan and has published the plan online in English, French and Russian.
The consultation opened yesterday and runs until 20 February 2017. All comments will then be reviewed and, where appropriate, integrated into the final (new and improved) version of Action Plan in March which will be implemented over the next ten years. Readers are invited to submit comments and feedback on the EVFAP via email to: Mr Stoyan Nikolov ([email protected]), with a copy to the Co-ordinating Unit ([email protected]).
As part of the EU LIFE+ project called ‘The Return of the Neophron’, the union will consult ordinary Europeans for advice and information on how to save the rapidly declining Egyptian Vulture, one of just four breeding vulture species on the Continent.
There was a time when the striking silhouette of the Egyptian Vulture in flight cut an impressive figure through the skies over Europe, Africa and the Indian sub-continent. Now, it is listed a globally Endangered species by the IUCN Red List. The overall European population has decreased by 50 per cent over the last 50 years, while in the Balkans numbers have declined by 80 per cent over the last three decades and the prospect of extinction is serious.
Balkan Egyptian Vulture is a long distance migrant which winters in the Sahel zone of sub-Saharan Africa, and its annual return flight is perilous. Birds have to negotiate a veritable gauntlet of challenges, including electrocution by power lines, poisoned baits aimed at mammalian carnivores and shooters.
In 2015, the EU LIFE+ Project ‘The Return of the Neophron’ initiated the development of an EVFAP. As birds know no borders, the plan involves a high degree of international co-operation between countries that host breeding populations in the Balkans, Central Asia and the Caucasus, flyways in the Middle East and wintering grounds in Central and Eastern Africa. It is hoped that, by improving the conservation status of the species throughout the flyway, the Egyptian Vulture can make a comeback.
The proposed Flyway Action Plan looks at how to counter these threats concretely and identifies key additional needs to bring the species back from the brink: long-term research and monitoring; designation of protected areas; rebuilding the populations; improving exchange of information; enhanced co-ordination between NGOs; partnerships with industry; and improving awareness and publicity.
The entire process has been collaborative from the get go, and it is vital that the people – be they government officials, private sector representatives (from power companies for example), conservationists or simply concerned citizens – who share their homelands with these magnificent raptors, see and understand just what is at stake and actively take part in saving a priceless part of their natural heritage. This is why, today, Raptors MoU has launched a month-long public consultation exercise on its draft Flyway Action Plan and has published the plan online in English, French and Russian.
The consultation opened yesterday and runs until 20 February 2017. All comments will then be reviewed and, where appropriate, integrated into the final (new and improved) version of Action Plan in March which will be implemented over the next ten years. Readers are invited to submit comments and feedback on the EVFAP via email to: Mr Stoyan Nikolov ([email protected]), with a copy to the Co-ordinating Unit ([email protected]).
