The Vulture Multi-species Action Plan – a single international action plan covering 15 vulture species, many of them in danger of extinction, took center stage today in the proceedings of the 12th Conference of the Parties of the Convention for Migratory Species (CMS), that is taking place in Manila, Philippines.
Following a successful side event explaining and promoting the plan – in which Dr. Bradnee Chambers, the chief executive officer of CMS, and Dr. Fernando Spina, the head of the CMS scientific council asked member states to approve the plan, the Committee of the Whole of the CMS endorsed the Vulture MsAP with enthusiasm. Countries like Afghanistan, the European Union, Israel, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Switzerland and the UAE praised the Vulture MsAP, and urged the plenary for approval.
The Vulture MsAP was developed in record time, and in a full participatory way, by VCF, BirdLife International, and the IUCN Vulture Specialist Group, under a contract from the Coordinating Unit of the Raptors MoU, and aims to prevent the further decline of vultures, which are nature’s primary scavengers, providing indispensable ecological services as carrion feeders and disposers of disease-carrying carcasses.
Following population declines of 95 per cent in Africa and Asia in recent decades, most vulture species in Africa, Asia and Europe are now threatened with extinction. This international Action Plan, covering 15 species of Old World Vultures occurring in 128 range countries, will hopefully lead to the step-change needed in the conservation of vultures.
It is time to celebrate – the hard work and long hours have paid off. But now we are faced with the biggest challenge of all – securing the resources needed for coordination and implementation of the Vulture MsAP. We now need to keep the momentum on, and call for governments and institutional funders to help us.
The complete Vulture MsAP, together with a summary in several languages, can be accessed from the CMS website at
http://www.cms.int/sites/default/files/document/cms_cop12_doc.24.1.4_annex3_vulture-msap_e.pdf
You can download the summary below.
vulture-msap_summary_e.pdf Adobe Acrobat Document 3.7 MB Download
