Birdlife launches new project to protect birds across the Mediterranean

Delivering an effective and collaborative new migratory bird conservation initiative in the Mediterranean Basin

February 2013. Capacity Building for Flyway Conservation in the Mediterranean is an important new BirdLife project with support from the MAVA Foundation for Nature. The project aims to achieve long term outcomes for the conservation on the Africa-Eurasia flyway for migratory birds in the Mediterranean Basin, through establishing a strong, committed and dynamic network of NGOs in the region.

Photo courtesy of Birdlife

Hundreds of millions of migratory birds passing twice-yearly

The Mediterranean Basin lies at the heart of the Africa-Eurasia Migration Flyway, with hundreds of millions of migratory birds passing twice-yearly. However, many key stop-over and non-breeding sites are seriously threatened, hunting and trapping are widely out of control, and there is an emerging collision and electrocution threat for soaring birds from the expansion of power infrastructure (wind and solar energy and transmission lines). Furthermore, lack of political and public support for conservation and a strong hunting and trapping culture in some countries further compound the situation in the region.

Capacity development
The project's main focus is the strengthening of a group of eight national NGOs working effectively to protect key species, sites and habitats along the Africa-Eurasia Flyway. Participating countries and organisations include: Turkey (Doga Dernegi), Lebanon (Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon), Cyprus (BirdLife Cyprus), Malta (BirdLife Malta), Macedonia (Macedonian Ecological Society), Montenegro (Center for Protection and Research of Birds of Montenegro), Morocco (Groupe de Recherche pour la Protection Malta des Oiseaux au Maroc) and Tunisia (Les Amis des Oiseaux).

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/mediterannean-birds.html

Seed Money Available to Protect Mediterranean Basin Birds

Sick of reading about Cyprus songbirds killed and pickled for snacks?  Weary of wild killing sprees like Egypt’s sanctioned bird hunt ? Or maybe the downed flamingos in Kuwait ruffled your feathers?

BirdLife International has created a fund to underwrite environmental preservation projects in one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots: the Mediterranean Basin. Check out their new website to learn more about the group and their work.  Especially nice is a link where you can enter your country and see which species are at risk and find resources to get involved locally.  A search on Jordan, as example, leads to The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, BirdLife’s partner in Jordan, which in turn will advise on in-kingdom conservation.

This five-year conservation investment aims to preserve regional biodiversity by engaging with and developing existing civil society organizations, said Ibrahim Khader, Regional Director of BirdLife International’s Middle East Division.

“The Mediterranean Basin is the world’s second largest global biodiversity hotspot, covering more than two million square kilometers spanning 34 countries and territories. It stretches from Portugal to Jordan and from northern Italy to Cape Verde,” Khader told The Jordan Times. A biodiversity hotspot is any place that boasts a large number of diverse species under threat of human interference.

“The Mediterranean Basin is one of the biological wonders of the world and is the third richest biological hotspot in the world, with more than 13,000 endemic species found nowhere else on Earth,” he added. “The primary threat is habitat loss due to increasing pressure on water resources, agricultural intensification, land abandonment, and infrastructure and residential development.”

Twice a year, BirdLife International will invite proposals for small grants worth up to $20,000 and large grants of up to $1 million, according to the Regional Director.  The money will support conservation at a local level, especially vital given economies struggling in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Continued:  http://www.greenprophet.com/2012/10/bird-protection-seed-money/