Istanbul Uzbekistan Turkmenistan ArmeniaAzerbaijan AlbaniaSUDANS STRONGHOLD MIGRATION NORTH STRONGHOLD Madeira Italy Spain MediumGreece size stronghold and the most Small – medium size stronghold important stronghold for Lappet-faced Turkey extremely important habitat used by with habitat for Rüppell’s Egyptian migratingTe houtra ofn Vulture and , Egyptian . Relatively low risk here overall Vulture. Low overall threat risk from but high potential for wind turbine Afghanistan Malta people pressure then unintentional N. Cyprus Syria development, significant risk to electrical poisoning then wind turbine Cyprus infrastructure and some people pressure. Tunisia development potential. Lebanon SAVING SPACE FOR AFRICA’S VULTURES Iran Iraq Awaiting data for Africa North of the MIGRATION SOUTH STRONGHOLD Palestine Jordan Small – medium size stronghold very Morocco Cairo important for Egyptian Vultures SENEGAMBIA STRONGHOLD CHAD BASIN STRONGHOLD Israel migrating southwardKuwait into Africa. Also Medium-size stronghold important for The largest aggregation of vulture important for Lappet-faced Vulture. Hooded Vulture and wintering Griffon habitats in , very important Relatively safe habitats overall but Where are Africa’s vultures at risk? Habitat Vultures. High people pressure and high Algeria for Rüppell’s Vulture, Hooded Vulture, threat from high potential for wind potential for wind turbines plus the risk of White-headed Vulture, White-backed turbine development, risk to electrical persecution for killing for belief-based use. Bahrain Vulture and Lappet-facedLibya Vulture. Egypt infrastructure and people pressure. This map reveals where Africa’s vultures are at most risk THREATS These habitats are threatened by Qatar Strongholds W. Sahara NIGER STRONGHOLD poisoning for use in belief-based use, people pressure and unintentional United Arab Emirates to the different threats that they face. DEVELOPMENT Saudi Arabia Small but important aggregation of poisoning. Each of the seven principal threats facing vultures was assessed over the whole habitat for mainly Lappet-faced Vulture, continent of Africa to a resolution of 1km2 and on a scale of 0-3 where 0 represents Vultures need huge spaces and Rüppell’s Vulture and . no risk, 1 represents low risk, 2 represents medium risk and 3 high risk. High risk of killing for belief-based use, are known to regularly fly across other threats include people pressure We also developed a weighted value for each threat which is scaled in proportion Mauritania migration south countries and regions. They are and high potential for wind turbine Oman to the amount of vulture mortality that the threat is considered to account for. So We combined development corridors (Laurance et al development. 2015) with projections of urban expansions (UNDP) to ETHIOPIAN RIFT STRONGHOLD for each of the habitat strongholds where most vultures now exist, we could sum obtain a layer representing development threat. truly transboundary. migration north The largest aggregation of vulture habitats all of the values for each threat multiplied by its weighted value and this sum is PEOPLE PRESSURE shown as a slice in the pie diagram for each stronghold and colour-coded to identify Sadly, we are losing large areas of their habitat Mali Niger across Africa and highly important stronghold as wild spaces give way to urban expansion and for Bearded Vultures, Rüppell’s Vulture, the respective threat. The size of the slices and the pie diagram are scaled to this Sudans Eritrea YemenHooded Vulture with large extents of habitat sum of values so the larger pie diagrams in southern, eastern and western Africa agricultural transformation. used by five other species. Relatively low risk Chad Sudan represent the greatest areas and highest risk values where the vultures occur in each Vultures can co-exist happily with livestock Niger to these habitats overall but people pressure while providing vital ecosystem functions for Gambia Senegambia Ethiopian Rift and development, unintentional poisoning and stronghold; while the smaller pie diagrams in the Namib and North-East represent Three datasets were combined (traveltime to cities, population energy infrastructure still pose major threats. density, dollar spend in protected areas) to reveal where lower risk. The map reveals how the threat from poisoning for the belief-based use vultures are exposed most and least to people pressure. both livestock and people by disposing of Burkina Faso market is prevalent across West, East and ; the threat from poisoning by carcasses. But where carcasses are laced with Guinea-Bissau Djibouti poachers is characteristic of the safari areas in southern and eastern Africa; while the ELECTRICITY poison to kill carnivores, vultures are the first Guinea Pendjari-W Complex to arrive and the first to die. In large areas threat from unintentional poisoning is more widespread. Benin Somaliland of Africa, vultures are also being deliberately Nigeria Chad Basin (! Madeira Spain Italy Greece Turkey Turkmenistan poisoned either to obtain their body parts for Sierra Leone Togo Horn of Africa Malta N. Cyprus Cyprus Syria use in belief-based use or by poachers who Ghana S. Sudan Lebanon The electricity grid across Africa was ranked as a threat in Côte d'Ivoire Tunisia Iraq Iran accordance with voltage carried. Ogada et al (2016) compiled do not want attention drawn to their illegal data on 7819 vulture deaths across 26 countries and found HORN OF AFRICA STRONGHOLD Palestine electrocution responsible for 9% of these mortalities. Liberia Morocco IsraelJordan elephant kills. At a single elephant carcass in Central African Rep. Ethiopia Cameroon Medium size stronghold very important Kuwait 600 vultures were poisoned. Vultures Algeria WIND TURBINES for Egyptian Vulture, Rüppell’s Vulture Libya Egypt are long-lived and slow-breeding , their and Hooded Vulture, some use by Bahrain Qatar populations cannot sustain these sorts of losses Somalia Lappet-faced Vulture and White-backed W. Sahara Saudi Arabia PENDJARI-W COMPLEX STRONGHOLD United Arab Emirates Vulture. These habitats are relatively and are heading rapidly towards extinction. CENTRAL AFRICA STRONGHOLD Central migration south Medium-size stronghold important for Hooded safe except some risk of unintentional Mauritania Recently six species of African vulture were Vulture, White-headed Vulture and Rueppell’s Vulture. Medium-size habitat stronghold Kenyan Rift poisoning and people pressure. migration north Eq. Guinea Oman We developed a wind turbine potential map for Africa to Uganda Mali Niger represent this current and future threat using windspeed uplisted on the IUCN Red List of Threatened People pressure and killing for belief-based use are especially important to White-headed data and traveltime to cities (demand) and masked this Sudan Yemen very major threats here with a high potential for wind Vulture and also White-backed Vulture, Niger Species. Africa cannot afford to lose these Senegal Chad Eritrea layer to exclude protected areas, lakes, urban areas. São Tomé and Principe Kenya Burkina Faso enigmatic and vital birds as the free services turbine development. SOUTHERN TANZANIA STRONGHOLD Congo Rüppell’s Vulture, Hooded Vulture. KENYAN RIFT STRONGHOLD Gambia Sudans Ethiopian Rift Gabon These habitats are highly threatened by Guinea-Bissau Senegambia Djibouti BELIEF-BASED Serengeti - Tsavo Chad Basin they provide have been shown to be very Medium-size stronghold extremely Small but significant stronghold offering Guinea Pendjari-W Complex MARKET DEMAND people pressure, energy infrastructure Benin Nigeria Somaliland Rwanda reduced but important habitat for Sierra Leone Horn of Africa expensive to replace. important for White-headed Vulture, Togo S. Sudan and all three forms of poisoning CÙte d'Ivoire Ghana Dem. Rep. Congo Rueppell’s Vulture, Hooded Vulture, Ethiopia also White-backed Vulture and Hooded (unintentional, killing for belief-based Liberia Central African Rep. What can we do to stop the decline of vultures Cameroon Vulture and some Lappet-faced Vulture Burundi Lappet-faced Vulture, White-backed Central Kenyan Rift use and poaching). Somalia in Africa? We know the problem is geographic STRONGHOLDS habitat. This stronghold is at high overall Vulture, Egyptian Vulture and White- headed Vulture. This stronghold is Eq. Guinea Uganda in nature. It is a problem of space. As large risk to the use of poisons especially S„o TomÈ and Principe Vultures killed for traditional medicine trade or witchcraft threatened primarily by unintentional Gabon Congo (moistly poisoned) made up 29% of mortality in the study by poachers and unintentionally, also Serengeti - Tsavo Kenya mammals lose space, so do vultures. The African habitat space (all species) Rwanda by Ogada et al (2016). high development risk and energy FOUR CORNERS STRONGHOLD poisoning, development, wind turbines Dem. Rep. Congo Burundi Raptor Databank manages spatial information Tanzania 20 - 50 infrastructure risk. and electrical infrastructure. UNINTENTIONAL on African raptors and will soon be expanded Medium-size stronghold important Tanzania POISONING for White-headed, White-backed and southern Tanzania southern Tanzania globally. 51 - 75 NAMIB STRONGHOLD Lappet-faced Vulture. Very strategic SERENGETI-TSAVO STRONGHOLD Legend For this poster we have combined databank arrangement of habitat radiating Comoros 76 - 100 A small-medium size stronghold in Threat Type all threats weighted Reunion outwards from northern , Small but highly significant stronghold Malawi sightings of nine species of African vulture, 21 - 46 Luangwa highly arid country offering vital connecting large protected areas. around these protected areas. 2.3 We used the correspondence of wild carnivore distributions habitat models, and satellite-tracking data Saint Helena 47 - 95 with livestock distributions to estimate the threat of farmers 101 - 150 habitat for Lappet-faced Vulture and Very high threat levels from the use Important for White-headed Vulture, development putting out poisons to kill carnivores and accidentally killing 96 - 124 Gorongosa vultures. This and sentinel poisoning made up 61% of to show where populations still exist, where also very important for White-backed of poisons especially by poachers and Comoros White-backed Vulture, Rüppell’s Vulture, people_pressure Madagascar mortalities in the Ogada et al (2016) study. 151 - 300 Vulture. Historic use by . Luangwa 125 - 130 Namib vultures range, and where the remaining Angolaunintentional use. Lappet-faced Vulture and some current electricity Four Corners Threat level lower overall and mainly 131 - 161 suitable habitat exists. This has revealed Malawi use by . Very high risk turbines Botswana SENTINEL POISONING 162 - 189 Namibia 301 - 550 due to existing and future energy overall: at equally high risk to poisoning muthi_markets Kalahari 21 remaining habitat strongholds in Africa. infrastructure, but still at risk to Mozambique 190 - 208 Kruger complex Zambia (all three forms especially poaching) and unintentional_poisoning 209 - 228 Swaziland This poster depicts these important vulture unintentional use of poisons. population / infrastructure risks (planned poaching 229 - 256 strongholds. By identifying these strongholds habitat space bySaint species Helena future development corridors). 257 - 301 South Africa targeted conservation actions in the right KALAHARI STRONGHOLD Four Corners Gorongosa Poachers of elephants are known to poison vultures so they locations can benefit not just one, but many Namib cannot lead game guards to the scenes of their crimes. LUANGWA STRONGHOLD Together with unintentional poisoning this amounts to vulture species, as well as a host of other A small-medium size stronghold very Zimbabwe 61% of vultures killed. important for White-backed Vulture Madagascar One of the smallest strongholds in this wildlife species. and Lappet-faced Vulture and also for classification but offering important ranging Cape Vultures. Relatively intact GORONGOSA STRONGHOLD stepping stone habitat for vultures White-Headed Vulture habitats but at significant threat to Botswana moving between Southern and unintentional use of poisons, killing for Another small but significant stepping Eastern Africa as satellite telemetry White-Backed Vulture belief-based use and potential for future stone stronghold especially for White- Reunion Habitat strongholds identified by 3 lines of evidence Kalahari has revealed they do. This stronghold turbine developments. Namibia headed Vulture with use by White- Rüppell’s Vulture backed, Hooded and Lappet-faced offers particularly important habitat to 1. Satellite tracklogs 2. Direct sightings 3. Habitat models Vulture. Very high threat to these White-headed Vulture. High threat to Lappet-Faced Vulture NORTHERN CAPE STRONGHOLD habitats from all three uses of poison these habitats from poachers and the especially by poachers, and major unintentional killing by poison. Hooded Vulture A small stronghold offering useful Kruger complex risk to energy infrastructure and other stepping stone habitat for Cape Vulture, Swaziland developments. Cape Vulture resident colonies of White-backed Northern Cape Vulture. Under high threat mainly from Bearded Vulture energy infrastructure and other planned KRUGER COMPLEX STRONGHOLD developments. South Africa Egyptian Vulture The largest aggregation of vulture habitats in , this major DRAKENSBERG STRONGHOLD stronghold provides vital foraging range for the Cape Vulture and is also large protected areas A large mountain stronghold vital for Drakensberg significant for Hooded Vulture, White- local Bearded Vulture and Cape Vulture backed Vulture, White-headed Vulture populations. At high risk to energy and others. It is at relatively high risk infrastructure particularly planned mainly because of energy infrastructure, turbine developments. The proximity planned developments and sentinel to Durban renders this stronghold poisoning by poachers but also due to movement areas (yellow) and vulnerable to market demand for belief- unintentional poisoning of vultures and used to generate habitat models concentration areas of tracks (blue) where these three coincide based use. killing for belief-based use.

BEARDED VULTURE WHITE-BACKED VULTURE RÜPPELL’S VULTURE CAPE VULTURE GRIFFON VULTURE WHITE-HEADED VULTURE LAPPET-FACED VULTURE HOODED VULTURE EGYPTIAN VULTURE

IUCN: Near Threatened IUCN: Critically IUCN: Critically IUCN: Endangered IUCN: Least Concern IUCN: Critically IUCN: Endangered IUCN: Critically IUCN: Endangered (uplisted from Least endangered (uplisted Endangered (uplisted (uplisted from vulnerable 80,000 – 120,000 Endangered (uplisted (uplisted from vulnerable Endangered (uplisted 12000 – 38000 mature Concern in 2014) from Endangered in from Endangered in in 2015) individuals globally from vulnerable in 2015) in 2015) from Endangered in individuals globally (50% 1300 – 6700 mature 2015) 2015) 9,400 mature individuals (20% of range falls in 3685 mature individuals 8,500 individuals 2015) of range falls in Africa) individuals globally, a 270,000 individuals 22,000 individuals Suitable habitat space: Africa) Suitable habitat space: Suitable habitat space: 197,000 individuals Suitable habitat space: few hundred pairs of the Suitable habitat space: Suitable habitat space: 0.19m km2 Suitable habitat space: 0.39m km2 1.17m km2 Suitable habitat space: 3.64m km2 in Africa & African subspecies 2 2 2 2 1.4m km 1.8m km Strongholds: 0.36m km (wintering) Strongholds: Strongholds: Sudans, 1.40m km Arabia Suitable habitat space: Strongholds: Strongholds: Kruger complex, Strongholds: southern Tanzania, Chad Basin, Namib Strongholds: Strongholds: Horn of 2 0.05m km in Africa & Arabia Chad Basin, Kalahari, Kruger complex Ethiopian Rift, Chad Basin, Horn of Africa Drakensberg, Kalahari Senegambia, Chad Basin, Pendjari-W complex Central, Chad Basin Threats: people pressure, unintentional Ethiopian Rift, Chad Basin, Senegambia Africa, migration routes, Ethiopian Rift Strongholds: Ethiopian Rift, Drakensberg Threats: belief-based use, unintentional Threats: unintentional poisoning, people Threats: belief-based use, turbines, Threats: belief-based use, turbines, Threats: poaching, unintentional poisoning, electrical infrastructure Threats: unintentional poisoning, Threats: unintentional poisoning, Threats: unintentional poisoning, poisoning, turbines, electrical infrastructure pressure, belief-based use unintentional poisoning, electrical unintentional poisoning poisoning, people pressure belief-based use, development people pressure, turbines, electrical turbines, belief-based use infrastructure infrastructure

ECKERSTROM CONSULTING

CREDITS: Poster Production: Habitat Info and www.savageandgray.co.uk; Photographs: Andre Botha, Rob Davies, Corinne Kendall, Darcy Ogada, Munir Virani, The Conservancy; Brouhaugh, Sabi), Keith Bildstein, Claire Bracebridge, Andy Branfield, Erik & Asaph Brohaugh, Joost Brouwer, Chris Brown, Evan Buechley, Ralph Buij & Barbara Croes, Andre Botha, Mike Cadman, TRUST, HAWK CONSERVANCY TRUST, HAWK MOUNTAIN SANCTUARY, INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE (AFRICAN ELEPHANT DATABASE & REDLIST MAPS), ISRAEL Project coordination: Ralph Buij (Wageningen University & Research), Corinne Kendall (North Carolina Zoo), Ara Monadjem (University of Swaziland). Data collation: Lutfor Rahman Alazar Daka Rufo, Rob Davies, Maria Diekmann, Nina Farwig, Oliver Fox, Toby Galligan, Beckie Garbett, Ashwell Glasson, Roi Harel, Abdoulaye Harouna, Stratton Hatfield, Ohad Hatzofe, Joseph NATURE & PARKS AUTHORITY, NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM (TRING), MOVEBANK, NIOKOLO-KOBA CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT, NOé CONSERVATION, NORTH CAROLINA ZOO, RAPTORS & Lou Luddington (Habitat Info). Analysis & map production: Rob Davies (Habitat Info). Finance: The vulture surveys, data gathering, habitat and threat modeling and poster design Heymans, Constant Hoogstad, Mawdo J Jallow, Walter Jubber, Gregory Kaltenecker, Adam Kane, Chris Kelly, Alan & Meg Kemp, Corinne Kendall, Holger & Claire Kolberg, Ulf Lieden, Bernard & BOTSWANA, RARE AND TRUST, ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS, SAHARA CONSERVATION FUND, SAN DIEGO ZOO, TANZANIAN ATLAS, THE and production costs were funded by the following organisations through Wageningen University & Research (which also contributed resources): Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Antje Madden, Glyn Maude, John Mendelsohn, Mike McGrady, Ara Monadjem, Campbell Murn, Ran Nathan, Karin Nelson, Stoyan Nikolov, Darcy Ogada, Steffen Oppel, Louis Phipps, Bram Piot, PEREGRINE FUND, UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, VULPRO, WEST AFRICAN BIRD DATABASE, WILDLIFE ACT, WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY, ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY LONDON. , WWF-Netherlands, UNEP-CMS Raptors MoU, North Carolina Zoo, Fondation LePal Nature, Quagga Foundation, Stichting Vogelpark Avifauna, Stichting Koninklijke Thomas Rabeil, Sascha Rösner, Lizanne Roxburgh, Volker Salewski, Andrea Santangeli, Dana Schabo, Orr Spiegel, Lindy Thompson, Simon Thomsett, Dirk van Stuyvenberg, Rien van Wijk, Munir Further Reading: Buij, R., Davies, R., Kendall, C. & Monadjem, A. (in prep.) Vulture hotspots and key threats: a mapping exercise to guide vulture conservation in Africa. Rotterdamse Diergaarde, Detroit Zoological Society, and Stichting Wildlife. Through The Peregrine Fund this project benefited greatly from access to the ESRI Grant Scheme. Virani, Tim Wacher, Nick P. Williams, Kerri Wolter (VULPRO) and numerous other African Raptor Databank observers; and by the following organisations: AFRICAN RAPTOR DATABANK, AFRICAN Botha, A.J., et al. 2017. CMS Multi-species Action Plan to conserve African-Eurasian Vultures. Coordinating Unit of UNEP/Raptors MoU, Abu Dhabi. Data on vultures were contributed or facilitated by the following individuals: Yilma D Abebe, Hichem Azafzaf, Laila Bahaa El Din, Neil & Liz Baker, Clive R Barlow (Birds of & Erik IMPACT, BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL & NATURESERVE, BIRDLIFE BULGARIA (BSPB), BIRDLIFE TUNISIA (AAO), BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY, CITES (MIKE DATABASE), ENDANGERED WILDLIFE Ogada, D. et al. 2016. Another continental vulture crisis: Africa’s vultures collapsing toward extinction. Conservation Letters 9(2): 89-97.