Anser Erythropus Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA)
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TECHNICAL SERIES No. 36 International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Lesser White-fronted Goose (Western Palearctic Population) Anser erythropus Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Lesser White-fronted Goose (Western Palearctic population) Anser erythropus AEWA Technical Series No. 36 October 2008 Prepared with financial support from: the Ministry of the Environment of Finland; the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety; the Directorate for Nature Management of Norway; and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency AEWA Technical Series No. 36 Compiled by: Tim Jones1, Kirsten Martin 2, Boris Barov 3 & Szabolcs Nagy4 1 DJEnvironmental, Harpers Mill, Sterridge Valley, Berrynarbor, Ilfracombe, EX34 9TB, UK 2 UNEP/AEWA Secretariat, Hermann-Ehlers-Str. 10, 53113 Bonn, Germany 3 Birdlife International, European Division, Avenue de la Toison d'Or 67, 1060 Brussels, Belgium 4 Wetlands International, Bornsesteeg 69, Wageningen, the Netherlands Email: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] With contributions from: Tomas Aaravak, Sigute Alisauskiene, Hamid Amini, Åke Andersson, Maria Mihaela Antofie, Luba Baylan, Anna Belousova, Patrice Blanchet, Marie Björkland, Gerard Boere, Preben Claussen, Akram Eissa Darwich, Sergey Dereliev, Bart Ebbinge, Morten Ekker, Henri Engström, Martin Fichtler, Per Hansson, Thomas Heinicke, Baz Hughes, Esko Jaakkola, Hadhema Jwad, Lauri Kahanpää, Kees Koffijberg, Elena Kreuzberg, Robert Lacy, Petri Lampila, Torsten Larsson, Teemu Lehtiniemi, Szabolcs Lengyel, Monika Lesz, Anna-Carin Lundqvist, Juha Markkola, Juha Merila, Jean-Yves Mondain-Monval, Johann Mooij, Vladimir Morozov, Khairbek Mussabayev, Micheal O’Briain, Ingar J. Øien, Peter Örn, Matti Osara, John O’Sullivan, Maria Panayotopoulou, Christiane Paulus, Nikolai Petkov, Minna Ruokonen, Ivan Rusev, Eldar Rustamov, Oliver Schall, Wolfgang Scholze, Per Sjogren-Gulve, Sergey Sklyarenko, Øystein Størkersen, David A. Stroud, The Swedish Ornithological Society/BirdLife Sweden, Sami Timonen, Petteri Tolvanen, Maire Toming, Yannis Tsougrakis, Gerard van Dijk, Marko Valker, Seppo Vuolanto, Sergey Yerokhov. Milestones in the Production of the Plan - Initial expert workshop: 31 March – 2 April 2005, Lammi, Finland - First draft: Version 1.0, April 2005, presented to experts for technical review - Recommendation arising from the 13th Meeting of the Scientific Council of the Bonn Convention, 18 November 2005 - Second Draft: Version 2.0, February 2006, presented to experts Version 2.1, May 2006, presented to selected international experts Version 2.2, July 2006, presented to the Range States - Negotiation mission by AEWA Secretariat: January 2007 (Finland, Germany, Norway, Sweden), preliminary agreement achieved in November 2007 - ‘Committee for captive breeding, reintroduction and supplementation of Lesser White-fronted Geese in Fennoscandia’ established, initial meeting: 7-8 May 2008, Bonn, Germany - Third draft: Version 3.0, May 2008, presented to Range States Version 3.1, August 2008, presented to the 4th Meeting of the Parties to AEWA in September 2008, adopted with final amendments Geographical Scope This International Single Species Action Plan requires implementation in the following countries regularly supporting Lesser White-fronted Geese of the Western Palearctic Population: Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iraq, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Reviews This International Single Species Action Plan should be revised in 2013. An emergency review shall be undertaken if there are sudden major changes liable to affect the Western Palearctic Population. Credits Thanks go to Gerard Boere, Sergey Dereliev, Bert Lenten, David Stroud, the European Commission and the French EU Presidency 2008 for their invaluable guidance, coordination and constructive criticism during the preparation and consultations of this Action Plan. Recommended Citation: Jones, T., Martin, K., Barov, B., Nagy, S. (Compilers). 2008. International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Western Palearctic Population of the Lesser White-fronted Goose Anser erythropus. AEWA Technical Series No.36. Bonn, Germany. Picture on the cover: © Ingar Jostein ∅ien Drawing on the inner cover: © Pavel Prochazka/BirdLife International Printing kindly sponsored by the Directorate for Nature Management of Norway. International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Lesser White-fronted Goose 1 AEWA Technical Series No. 36 CONTENTS Foreword by Mr. Bert Lenten, Executive Secretary, Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA)............................3 Preface and Note..........................................................................................................4 Executive Summary.....................................................................................................6 1. Biological Assessment.................................................................................................9 1.1. General Information.............................................................................................9 1.2. Taxonomy ..........................................................................................................10 1.3. Population Development....................................................................................11 1.4. Distribution throughout the Annual Cycle.........................................................15 1.5. Survival and Productivity, Life Cycle and Habitat Requirements .....................19 2. Available Key Knowledge.........................................................................................21 3. Threats .......................................................................................................................27 3.1. Background ........................................................................................................27 3.2. Overview of Species Threat Status ....................................................................27 3.3. Description of Threats........................................................................................28 4. Policies and Legislation Relevant for Management ..................................................42 4.1. International Conservation and Legal Status .....................................................42 4.2. Member States’ / Contracting Parties’ Obligations............................................42 4.3. National Policies, Legislation and Ongoing Activities ......................................45 4.4. Site and Habitat Protection and Research ..........................................................45 4.5. Recent Conservation Measures..........................................................................45 5. Framework for Action ...............................................................................................48 5.1. Lesser White-fronted Goose Action Plan Goal, Purpose, and Results ..............48 6. Activities by Result....................................................................................................53 7. Implementation..........................................................................................................60 8. References..................................................................................................................62 9. Annexes ........................................................................................................................I International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Lesser White-fronted Goose 2 AEWA Technical Series No. 36 Foreword by Mr. Bert Lenten, Executive Secretary, Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) During their life cycle, migratory waterbirds cover considerable distances in order to find the best ecological conditions and habitats for feeding, breeding and raising their young. However, migration is a perilous journey, presenting a wide range of threats. Only a small number of birds are actually threatened by natural events: it is sad but true that human activities are the source of most dangers migrating birds are exposed to. Flying over long distances means crossing many international borders and entering different political areas with their own environmental policies, legislation and conservation measures. It is clear that international cooperation between governments, NGOs and other stakeholders is needed along the whole flyway of a species in order to share knowledge and to coordinate conservation efforts. The necessary legal framework and instruments for such international cooperation are provided by international agreements such as the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA). One of these coordinating instruments for the conservation of biological diversity is in the form of International Single Species Action Plans (SSAP). They are being developed to find out more about populations of species with an unfavourable conservation status throughout their entire range, to identify underlying threats and, more importantly, to list all necessary conservation measures