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Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture Neophron Percnopterus (EVFAP)

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Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture Neophron Percnopterus (EVFAP) BSPB Conservation Series No. 32 CMS Raptors MoU Technical Publication No. 4 Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus (EVFAP) 1 Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus (EVFAP) BSPB Conservation Series No. 32 CMS Raptors MoU Technical Publication No. 4 Prepared with financial contributions from the LIFE+ project “The Return of the Neophron” LIFE10 NAT/BG/000152, www.LifeNeophron.eu (funded by the European Commission and co-funded by the “A. G. Leventis Foundation”), and the Small Scale Funding Agreement SSFA/CMSAD/2014/005 (funded by the Coordinating Unit of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia - CU Raptors MoU). 2016 Sofia 2 Preface: The preliminary draft was developed in July 2015 as a background source for participants of the EVFAP Workshop in Bulgaria (6-8th July 2015, Sofia; Barov et al. 2015). Based on EVFAP Workshop outputs, the first draft was improved and circulated for comments to Range States through a public consultation exercise in February 2017. The revised second draft was integrated as a key component of the Multi-species Action Plan to conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP) which is due to be submitted for adoption at CMS COP12, scheduled to be held in October 2017. Compiled by: Stoyan C. Nikolov (BSPB / BirdLife Bulgaria), Boris Barov (BirdLife International), Chris Bowden (RSPB / BirdLife UK) and Nick P. Williams (CU Raptors MoU) Authors: Vladimir Dobrev, Stoyan C. Nikolov (BSPB / BirdLife Bulgaria), Victoria Saravia, Tasos Bounas, Konstantina Ntemiri (HOS / BirdLife Greece), Alkis Kafetzis, Elzbieta Kret, Theodora Skartsi (WWF Greece) and Elizabeth Ball (RSPB / BirdLife UK) Geographical scope: Balkans, Central Asia, Caucasus region, Middle East, Central and East Africa FAP range states: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Central African Republic, Chad, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, FYR of Macedonia, Georgia, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Turkmenistan, UAE, Uzbekistan and Yemen. Reviews: It is envisaged that the EVFAP will be implemented over a 10-year period (2017 – 2026). The EVFAP should be reviewed every five years (first review of implementation in 2021), and updated every 10 years (first update in 2026). An emergency review will be undertaken if there is a sudden major change liable to affect the target population. Recommended citation: Nikolov, S. C., Barov, B., Bowden, C. and Williams, N. P. (Eds.) 2016. Flyway Action Plan for the Conservation of the Balkan and Central Asian Populations of the Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus (EVFAP). BSPB Conservation Series No. 32, Sofia, CMS Raptors MoU Technical Publication No. 4, Abu Dhabi. 124 p. ISBN 978-954-8310-35-2 3 Contents 0. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................7 1. BIOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT ...........................................................................................................8 1.1. Identification .......................................................................................................................8 1.2. Taxonomy and biogeographic populations ...........................................................................8 1.3. Distribution throughout the annual cycle .............................................................................9 1.4. Diet ................................................................................................................................... 11 1.4.1. General overview of diet ............................................................................................ 11 1.4.2. Variations in dietary diversity ..................................................................................... 12 1.4.3. Food availability and implications for conservation .................................................... 13 1.5. Habitat requirements ........................................................................................................ 13 1.5.1. Breeding sites ............................................................................................................ 13 1.5.2. Migration and stopover sites ...................................................................................... 14 1.5.3. Wintering sites ........................................................................................................... 14 1.5.4. Congregation sites ..................................................................................................... 15 1.6. Productivity and survival.................................................................................................... 15 1.6.1. Breeding .................................................................................................................... 15 1.6.2. Productivity and factors affecting this demographic parameter.................................. 16 1.6.3. Age-specific annual survival and factors affecting this demographic parameter ......... 17 1.7. Status, population size and trend ....................................................................................... 18 1.7.1. Global status .............................................................................................................. 18 1.7.2. Balkans ...................................................................................................................... 18 1.7.3. Central Asia and Caucasus ......................................................................................... 18 1.7.4. Middle East ................................................................................................................ 19 1.7.5. Africa ......................................................................................................................... 20 2. THREATS ................................................................................................................................... 22 2.1. General overview of threats .............................................................................................. 22 2.1.1. Threats causing direct mortality ................................................................................. 22 2.1.2. Threats resulting in decreased productivity ................................................................ 24 2.1.3. Threats affecting individual health ............................................................................. 26 2.1.4. Environmental and demographic stochasticity due to small population size ............... 27 2.2. Stakeholders associated with the main threats and their drivers ....................................... 27 2.3. Overview of major threats at regional level and problem trees .......................................... 28 4 2.3.1. Identification and evaluation of the direct threats ...................................................... 28 2.3.2. Balkans and Turkey (breeding) ................................................................................... 28 2.3.3. Central Asia and Caucasus (breeding)......................................................................... 30 2.3.4. Middle East and Turkey (migratory) ........................................................................... 31 2.3.5. Africa (non-breeding) ................................................................................................. 32 2.4. Population Viability Analysis .............................................................................................. 33 3. POLICIES AND LEGISLATION RELEVANT TO MANAGEMENT ........................................................ 34 3.1. International conservation and legal status ....................................................................... 34 3.1.1. International legislation and policies .......................................................................... 34 3.1.2. Relevant policy instruments for cross regional cooperation (north-south) ................... 36 3.2. National legislation and policies ......................................................................................... 36 3.3. Key sectoral programmes and ongoing activities relevant to management ........................ 37 3.4. Species Action Plans .......................................................................................................... 37 3.5. Identified legislation gaps .................................................................................................. 38 4. CONSERVATION BACKGROUND ................................................................................................. 39 4.1. Cultural value and attitude toward the species .................................................................. 39 4.2. Recent research and conservation actions ......................................................................... 39 4.3. Proposed strategic direction for conservation .................................................................... 42 5. FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION ........................................................................................................ 43 5.1. Goal, purpose, objectives, expected results and actions of the EVFAP................................ 43 5.2. Recovery strategy and criteria ..........................................................................................
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