Final Evaluation Report

LIFE11INF/IT/253 LIFE + Information and Communication “Safe havens for wild birds” Action E.2: Evaluation of the “Safe havens for wild birds” campaign: Monitoring of the project impact on the main target audience and on the environmental problem targeted in Greece Final Evaluation Report Covering the project activities from 01/12/2012 to 10/09/2015 Reporting Date <10/09/2015> LIFE+ PROJECT NAME or Acronym < LIFE11INF/IT/253> Author: Dr Georgios Karris – Lecturer TEI of Ionian Islands LIST OF CONTENTS Introduction ………………………………………………………………………... 2 Methodology ………………………………………………………………………. 3 Results ……………………………………………………………………………... 5 Discussion …………………………………………………………………………. 30 References …………………………………………………………………………. 35 Annex ……………………………………………………………………………… 36 1 INTRODUCTION This action aims at monitoring, measuring and evaluating the “Safe havens for wild birds” campaign, in Greece and more specifically in the Ionian Islands, based on detecting possible attitude changes that will be occurred in the targeted groups concerning illegal killing of migratory birds. The first phase of the evaluation was taken place during the period 01-12-2013 to 10-04- 2013 through a public opinion questionnaire-based survey (see Baseline Evaluation Report) and just before the beginning of the current LIFE project. The results of this first survey were used as a baseline data set regarding the attitude towards illegal killing in the target audience as well as the perceptions and knowledge of migratory avifauna species and the migration pattern. Here we present the respective results of the second phase of the E2 Action which was also based on a questionnaire-based survey during the period 10-07-2015 to 10-09-2015. The main goal of this second phase, is the quantitative and qualitative comparison with the conclusions of the first phase, so as to detect possible: change of attitude and increase in knowledge about migratory birds and illegal killing during spring migration in the local community: hunters associations, landowners and local environmentally friendly business change of attitude and increase in knowledge about migratory birds and illegal killing during spring migration amongst the younger generation change of attitude and increase in knowledge about migratory birds and illegal killing during spring migration amongst law enforcement authorities As changes in attitude are difficult to measure, both surveys were used also to record any initiatives taken by the targeted groups towards the protection of migratory birds or towards stopping illegal killings. Moreover, the surveys searched for individuals with a more active attitude towards the environmental problem targeted and tried to enhance the level of teachers and schoolchildren involvement, awareness and participation in the respective public awareness campaign. Finally, changes in the frequency of wardening and controls during spring migration period by the law enforcement authorities were also been monitored. 2 METHODOLOGY During the second phase of the current action, data were collected through a questionnaire- based survey which was conducted in collaboration with a number of public and private services in Zakynthos and Corfu Prefectures from July to September 2015. The questionnaire (4 types according to each group of interest – Annexes A to D) was distributed to 4 main target groups: Schoolchildren, Hunters belonging to local hunting associations, Local community except hunting society, and Competent national and local authorities Each type of questionnaire was consisted of closed and open-ended questions. The questionnaires included questions of general information regarding the profile of the respondents as well as questions of specific interest about the conservation value of Ionian Islands for migratory birds during spring and poaching as a threat for the conservation of migrants. The method ensured respondent anonymity so as to increase willingness for participation to the survey and make it impossible to direct link incriminating data to a specific individual. Structure and type of questions were quite the same during the two phases of this work so as to allow comparisons and evaluation of the effectiveness of the current LIFE Communication project. Additionally, the obtained data could give the opportunity for further analysis in a time- spatial scale. For example, the collected hunting data included, hunting characteristics e.g. number of used bullets per year, main hunting areas, hunting months and average hunting days per month. The data related to hunting activity included a list of the birds which constitute the main target species of hunting, population trends of main target species, evaluation of possible threats for migratory birds etc. Hunting activities were illustrated on maps using 2x2 km grid in order to identify the main areas suffering from illegal hunting (Fig. 1). It has to be mentioned that hunters could not provide direct information on the total number of birds killed per season. On the other hand the level of hunting pressure in combination with the population trends of target species like Turtle Doves could give a rough picture of the threat’s magnitude. 3 Map of Zakynthos Island used on the questionnaire based survey The acquired data from questionnaires were stored in an Access data-base and were further spatially examined in Αrc GIS 9.3 software. The expected produced distribution maps will represent the core hunting areas used by illegal hunters in the Ionian Islands. 4 RESULTS A. General information A total number of 181 individuals corresponded to our second phase survey, under a questionnaire orientated methodological approach during July-September 2015. The majority of them were schoolchildren (83inds, 45.86%) followed by local community (68 inds, 37.57%), hunters (23 inds, 12.71%) and authorities (7 inds, 3.87%). Figure 1 shows the participation of individuals per target group during the first survey (December 2012-April 20130 and the second survey). Schoolchildren and local residents were the most abundant target groups of both surveys, followed by hunters and members of public authorities. Figure 1. Corresponded individuals per target group during each phase of our study. The total number of the respondents during both phases of the study was 416. It was expected that the final total number of the individuals could be up to 600-800. We assumed that non- response behaviour from the stakeholders and/or a delay from the public and private authorities to give the necessary permissions and allow the dissemination of the specific questionnaires to the target audience (e.g. schoolchildren inside classrooms, hunters belonged to local hunting federations etc.) may be attributed to our survey which included sensitive questions about illegal shooting and its impacts on birds and society. However, the responsive individuals are representative of the local Ionian communities and demonstrate increased response accuracy. 5 B. Schoolchildren The group of schoolchildren which was responded to our survey was represented by both sexes in almost an equal basis, as it was also observed during the first phase (Fig. 2). The students who filled questionnaires mostly belonged to Secondary level of Education (58 inds, 69.88%) followed by students of Primary level of Education (25 inds, 30.12%) (Fig.3). It has to be mentioned that the number of students of Primary level of Education who participated in the second phase of our study was assumed as representative contrary to the respective number during the first phase, while the majority of the students were aged between 12-14 years old (Fig.3). Figure 2. Sex ratio of schoolchildren participated to the current work Figure 3. Age classification of schoolchildren participated to survey during each phase of our study. during each phase of our study. About 71.08% of the schoolchildren had a previous experience of Environmental Education (Fig. 4) during the second phase of our study whereas the respective score during the first phase was much lower (47.46%). The majority of the schoolchildren declared the willingness to participate in future activities within the framework of Formal Environmental Education (Fig. 5) during both phases. Figure 4. Past Environmental Education experience of Figure 5. Declaration of schoolchildren willingness to participate to schoolchildren participated to the questionnaire based survey during future Environmental Education projects during each phase of our each phase of our study. study. 6 The level of knowledge of schoolchildren regarding the importance of the Ionian Islands in spring migration for the Eastern Mediterranean was increased during the last two years from 51% to 65% (Fig. 7 & Fig.8).Schoolchildren seemed also to increase their awareness about the significant pressure of illegal shooting on bird populations in a local scale. More specifically, the 36% of the schoolchildren in 2015 believe that illegal shooting pressure is significant in the Ionian Islands whereas the respective score was 16% in 2013 (Fig.9 & Fig.10). Figure 7. The level of knowledge in schoolchildren community Figure 8. The level of knowledge in schoolchildren community regarding the importance of the Ionian Islands for birds’ migration regarding the importance of the Ionian Islands for birds’ migration during the second phase of the study (2015). during the first phase of the study (2013). Figure 9. Evaluation of hunting pressure on birds in the Ionian Figure 10. Evaluation of hunting pressure on birds

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