Art of Harvesting

Africa contains more than 300 threatened species of birds that would significantly benefit from the compilation and implementation of Species Action Plans. Until recently, the capacity for this form of species conservation planning in Africa was limited. Through the Species Action Planning Project, jointly funded by the UK Darwin Initiative and the RSPB, the BirdLife International Africa Species Working Group and the RSPB have built the capacity of African NGO’s and governments in species action planning.

Experience has shown that species action plans make a real contribution to conservation. This manual is meant to act as an aid to African conservationists when preparing action plans for their priority species. It was developed for work on birds, although the format has been successfully used to develop plans for other taxa.

 

The Manual includes:

 

Section 1: BirdLife International’s Africa Species Action Plan format

Section 2: BirdLife International’s Species Action Plan stakeholder workshop process

The BirdLife Africa Partnership define a Species Action Plan as ‘a scientifically authoritative, strategic document that defines specific, measurable objectives and actions for conserving priority species. It should be achievable, time-bound and involve all appropriate stakeholders’. Through the development and implementation of a species action plan, numbers of the Seychelles magpie-robin increased from 23 individuals in 1990 to 100 in 2002. In Europe, detailed SAPs are available for all threatened and near-threatened species (24 currently available) occurring in the region. A review of their implementation is under way. The RSPB has compiled a number of SAPs. There are plans to develop SAPs for all 41 Critically Endangered Asian species.

The training manual provides an aid to the people trained under the SAP Project and anyone else who wishes to use the BirdLife Africa Partnership approach to prepare species action plans. The approach is not restricted to birds and can be used to prepare action plans for any threatened species. Indeed, the Wildlife Conservation Society and Uganda Wildlife Authority have used the BirdLife Africa Partnership process to develop a Chimpanzee Action Plan for Uganda.

 

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