The project for capacity building in the wintering grounds of the Balkan Egyptian vulture population finished successfully

19.12.2013

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• The project for capacity building in the wintering grounds of the Balkan Egyptian vulture population finished successfully

photos: D.Gradinarov

The short (only 8 months), but valuable project “Capacity Building to Support the Conservation of Migratory Egyptian Vultures (Neophron percnopterus) from the Western Palearctic on their Wintering Grounds in Ethiopia, Sudan and Chad” implemented in 2013 gave important information about vulture‘s wintering territories and built the base for future cooperation with conservationists and  institutions in Africa. 
The project was based on the alarming situation with Egyptian vulture on the Balkans. Its aim was to facilitate the undertaking of conservation measures for the migratory populations of Egyptian Vultures wintering in Eastern and Central Africa. The objectives were to build capacity among African conservationists to work with the species by broaden the understanding on the Egyptian Vulture problems and provide training on species-specific research and conservation methods in Africa. The project also initiated surveys on the wintering numbers, ecology and limiting factors in two of the main so far known wintering areas of the species: in Sudan and Chad. The trainees also had opportunity to visit the operating LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” in Bulgaria.
Two training Seminars (with theoretical and practical parts) were organized in Ethiopia and Bulgaria to share information and exchange experience for the conservation actions and practices important for the prevention Egyptian vulture extinction.A total of 32 conservationists from 11 countries (Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Bulgaria, Greece, FYROM, Albania, Turkey, and United Kingdom) took participation in the seminars.
After the capacity building seminar in Ethiopia hold in January 2013, the most dedicated trainees (from EWNHS/BirdLife Ethiopia, SWS/BirdLife Sudan and Ministry of Environment in Chad) were supported to implement Egyptian vulture surveys in Ethiopia, Sudan and Chad. Concentrations of wintering Egyptian vultures, habitat type, notes on ecology and threats were reported. .

During the seminar in Bulgaria hold in late July – early August 2013, participants were trained in practices for monitoring of Egyptian vulture breeding territories, nest guarding, supplementary feeding, tagging with satellite transmitters, collecting blood samples and samples for pathogens.
Thanks to the project important information was gathered, people shared their experience, but the most important result was the strengthening of the relationships between conservationists at trans-continental level and their good will to cooperate in future for the conservation of the Egyptian vulture.
The funding came from the Coordinating Unit of the UNEP/CMS Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia (Raptors MoU). The activities under the project were co-funded and facilitated by the team of the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron”  - financed by the European Union and co-finance by the “A. G. Leventis Foundation”.

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