DESIGN | MICHAEL MOSOTA
In response to the crisis, 12 vulture species were added to 18
additional raptors listed as threatened at an international meeting of
government representatives and experts in Trondheim, Norway.
Member
states, including Kenya, agreed to list the scavengers, including the
Hooded Vulture, White-rumped Vulture and the Lappet-faced Vulture, to
Annex 1 of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of
Migratory Birds of Prey (Raptors MOU).
Across Africa,
vultures die after eating toxic pesticide-laced carcasses intended to
kill predators such as hyenas, jackals and lions, or to control wild dog
populations.
They are also electrocuted by power
lines, hunted by witchdoctors ‘for their magical powers’ and have their
nestling habitat destroyed by human activities.
As a
result their population has been decimated, declining by an average of
62 per cent in the last 30 years, according to a study published in
Conservation Letters, a journal of the Society for Conservation of
Biology.
The
study, published in June 2015, found that at least six of the eight
African vultures studied appear to qualify for listing on the
International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of
threatened species.
According to the study by an
international team of researchers, including leading scientists from the
National Museums of Kenya, Africa's vultures are facing a range of
threats, the most significant of which are poisoning and trade in
traditional medicines, which together accounted for 90 per cent of
reported deaths.
According to the BirdLife
International World Bird Database, Kenya has over 1,100 bird species
with eight endemics and 39 globally threatened.
The
Lappet-faced Vulture and the Hooded Vulture species are found throughout
Africa, including Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and the Arabian
Peninsula.
The African Lappet-faced Vulture population
consists of at least 8,000 birds, and there may be 500 in the Middle
East, according to Birdlife International. Other common vultures in
Kenya are the White-headed vulture, Ruppell’s vulture and the
White-backed vulture.
The species’ habitat is found in open grassland, forest edge, wooded savannah, desert and along coasts.
The
birds play an important ecological role, according to wildlife
conservationists “Vultures are nature's garbage collectors. These
scavengers prevent the spread of disease and thereby directly protect
human health,” said Bradnee Chambers, the Executive Secretary of
Conservation of Migratory Birds.
“In order to prevent
yet another crisis, we must preserve animal and public health in Africa
by maintaining this unique self-purification capacity of Nature”.
At
the Norway meeting, which was held from October 5-8, countries agreed
on a coordinated international response led to tackle the African
vulture crisis. Iran announced a decision to ban diclofenac, a drug
which has almost wiped out vulture populations in India.
The
raptors MOU was concluded under the Convention on the Conservation of
Migratory Species of Wild Animals, to which Kenya is a signatory, as a
special instrument to address threats to these species.
Countries
that have signed the MOU have agreed to work together to better protect
vultures, eagles, hawks, falcons and owls. At the meeting, Comoros
added its signature bringing the number of Signatories to 53.
ABOUT THE RAPTORS MOU
The
Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of
Prey (Raptors MOU) was concluded under the Convention on the
Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals.
Bird of prey species included in Annex 1 are assigned within three categories:
Category
1: Globally threatened and Near Threatened species as defined according
to the latest IUCN Red List and listed as such in the BirdLife
International World Bird Database.
Category 2: Species
considered to have Unfavourable Conservation Status at a regional level
within the Range States and territories listed in Annex 2 to the MoU;
and
Category 3:All other migratory species.
The Annex to the MOU includes an Action Plan with the following key objectives:
- To halt and reverse the population declines of globally threatened and near threatened birds of prey and to alleviate threats to them;
- To halt and reverse the population declines of other birds of prey with an unfavourable conservation status within Africa and Eurasia and alleviate threats in order to return their populations to favourable conservation status;
- To anticipate, reduce and avoid potential and new threats to all bird of prey species, especially to prevent the populations of any species undergoing long-term decline.
Kenya’s 60 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) cover a total of 5.7 million hectares or about 10 per of the land area.
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