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