SSOOUUTTHHEERRNN AAFFRRIICCAANN RRAAPPTTOORR CCOONNSSEERRVVAATTIIOONN STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP REPORT 23 – 25 March 2004 Gariep Dam, Free State, South Africa Hosted by: THE RAPTOR CONSERVATION GROUP OF THE ENDANGERED WILDLIFE TRUST Sponsored by: SA EAGLE INSURANCE COMPANY ESKOM In collaboration with: THE CONSERVATION BREEDING SPECIALIST GROUP SOUTHERN AFRICA (CBSG – SSC/IUCN) 0 SSOOUUTTHHEERRNN AAFFRRIICCAANN RRAAPPTTOORR CCOONNSSEERRVVAATTIIOONN STRATEGIC PLANNING WORKSHOP REPORT The Raptor Conservation Group wishes to thank Eskom and SA Eagle Insurance company for the sponsorship of this publication and the workshop. Evans, S.W., Jenkins, A., Anderson, M., van Zyl, A., le Roux, J., Oertel, T., Grafton, S., Bernitz Z., Whittington-Jones, C. and Friedmann Y. (editors). 2004. Southern African Raptor Conservation Strategic Plan. Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (SSC / IUCN). Endangered Wildlife Trust. 1 © Conservation Breeding Specialist Group (CBSG-SSC/IUCN) and the Endangered Wildlife Trust. The copyright of the report serves to protect the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group workshop process from any unauthorised use. The CBSG, SSC and IUCN encourage the convening of workshops and other fora for the consideration and analysis of issues related to conservation, and believe that reports of these meetings are most useful when broadly disseminated. The opinions and recommendations expressed in this report reflect the issues discussed and ideas expressed by the participants during the Southern African Raptor Conservation Strategic Planning Workshop and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of the CBSG, SSC, or IUCN. Cover photograph courtesy of Albert Froneman CBSG Southern Africa gratefully acknowledges the support of: Vodacom Elizabeth Wakeman Henderson Charitable Trust Lomas Wildlife Trust BP South Africa Davies Foundation Impala Platinum CBSG SSC/IUCN (USA) 2 SOUTHERN AFRICAN RAPTOR CONSERVATION Strategic Planning Workshop 23 – 25 March 2004 Gariep Dam, Free State, South Africa CONTENTS Page Executive Summary Section 1 4 The CBSG Strategic Planning Process Section 2 8 Presentations Section 3 11 Raptor Conservation in the Northern Cape Province: Mark D. Anderson 12 The Status and Conservation of Raptors in the Free State: BD Colahan 13 Raptor Conservation: Limpopo Province: Kobus Pienaar 16 The Status of Raptor Conservation in Gauteng: C.A. Whittington-Jones 18 Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Activities Towards Conserving Birds of Prey in KZN: Bill Howells 23 Profiling the Western Cape Raptor Research Programme: Andrew Jenkins, Odette Curtis, Koos de Goede, Anthony van Zyl and Ann Koeslag 25 Bird Monitoring – The ADU’s Approach: James Harrison 27 Raptor Ringing in Southern Africa: Mark Anderson for H Dieter Oschadleus 30 Raptor Conservation Group of the Endangered Wildlife Trust: Jenny le Roux 33 The Vulture Study Group: Mark D. Anderson and Kerri Wolter 37 Profile of BirdLife South Africa: Steven Evans 38 Migrating Kestrel Project: Hein Pienaar 43 Social Pale Chanting-goshawks and Tree-nesting Forest Raptors: Gerard Malan 45 Eagle conflict in the Eastern Cape: Survival of Two Beasts: Adri Barkhuysen 46 Powerline Interaction Programme: Chris van Rooyen 52 Falconry in South Africa: Alan Stephenson 57 Zimbabwe Falconers’ Club Raptor Research and Conservation programme: Dr Adrian Lombard for Ron Hartley 60 Pesticides, Poisons and Raptors in Southern Africa: Gerhard H Verdoorn 63 Raptors Drowning in Farm Reservoirs in Southern Africa: Mark D. Anderson, Abrie W.A. Maritz & Enrico Oosthuyse 66 The Role of NGOs, the EWT and the RCG…in the Bigger Picture, Dr. Nicholas King 67 3 Working Group Reports Section 4 72 Data Obsessive Scientists (DOS) 73 Legislation and Policy Enforcement 78 Education and Awareness 83 Habitat Loss / Change 87 Immediate Threats 89 Raptor Conservation Group Discussion Section 5 97 Workshop Participants Section 6 102 Participants Contact Details 103 Participants Hopes and Expectations 105 Appendices Section 7 108 APPENDIX 1: Raptor Conservation Workshop Invitation 109 APPENDIX 2: Raptor Conservation Workshop Programme 110 APPENDIX 3: The Endangered Wildlife Trust 112 APPENDIX 4: The Raptor Conservation Group 113 APPENDIX 5: CBSG and CBSG Southern Africa 115 4 SOUTHERN AFRICAN RAPTOR CONSERVATION Strategic Planning Workshop 23 – 25 March 2004 Gariep Dam, Free State, South Africa WORKSHOP REPORT SECTION 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 5 Executive Summary The Raptor Conservation Group (RCG) is a Working Group of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) – one of the largest field-based conservation NGOs in southern Africa. The RCG coordinates and implements many raptor conservation programmes throughout South Africa and operates via a large network of volunteers and supporters (see appendices 3 and 4 for more). In order to ensure that the RCG continues to address the most critical raptor conservation issues and remains effective and relevant in light of the most pressing threats facing raptors in the region, it was deemed necessary that a strategic planning workshop be convened. The workshop needed to be inclusive and open to all stakeholders and the aims of the workshop were to determine the priorities for raptor conservation, identify the biggest threats facing raptors and highlight the gaps in current raptor conservation programmes which need addressing. With this background information at hand, it would then be possible to determine what role the RCG and other conservation groups need to play in order to be effective and deliver meaningful results. The workshop was organised by the EWT’s Raptor Conservation Group, sponsored by SA Eagle Insurance Company and attended by 38 people from a variety of stakeholder groups and organisations. The workshop ran over three days with the first day and a half being dedicated to presentations dealing with critical raptor issues and updates on various projects (see section 3 - Presentations). The second section (a day and a half) was used to run a strategic planning workshop for raptor conservation in southern Africa, and was facilitated by CBSG Southern Africa, a regional network of the Conservation Breeding Specialist Group of the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Species Survival Commission. The second section of the workshop, after formal presentations, began with a group brainstorming session to determine the main issues facing raptor conservation in the region. These issues were then themed resulting in the formation of five Working Groups namely: Data Obsessive Scientists (DOS) Legislation and Policy Enforcement Education and Awareness Habitat Loss / Change Immediate Threats Participants chose the working group in which they wished to work, according to the level of input they could provide and the contribution they could make. Working groups were given a set of tasks to work through which included formulating problem statements, developing possible solutions and, time permitting, developing recommendations and action steps for implementation. All problems and solutions were prioritised and filtered through a set of “checks” in order to ensure that solutions and recommendations were practical, realistic and appropriate. Between intensive working group sessions, open plenary sessions were held whereby working groups presented their discussions and conclusions to the entire group, openly discussed them and made adaptations where necessary in order to ensure that the reports and outcomes were as inclusive and representative as possible. The following summarises the outcomes of the Working Group reports. DATA OBSESSIVE SCIENTISTS (DOS) This group dealt with the issue facing the need for relevant, accessible scientific information to guide conservation actions. The group felt that there is insufficient information on the biology and 6 conservation status of raptors, the relative importance of threats and therefore, the effectiveness of conservation actions. Studies on the biology of many raptor species are lacking and need to be encouraged. There is insufficient collaboration and no coordinated plan to accumulate these data. Data gathering protocols (especially for monitoring and incident recording) are not currently available or nationally accepted. Existing and new information is not computerised and integrated, with no regular outputs or information dissemination. There is a strong birding and conservation community in southern Africa, who could provide the data if their efforts were coordinated. Thus, solutions suggested by this group included the development of a national raptor roadcount to monitor the populations of raptors and crows in the region and a review of existing databases and literature on southern African raptors with the objective of identifying important gaps in conservation-related topics. The establishment of a scientific advisory group was recommended to advise on project selection, design and execution and to review the suite of data collection protocols that exist, to consolidate and refine these and to develop additional protocols if necessary. The group also stressed the need to regularly update the conservation status of raptors according to the IUCN Red List Criteria and to monitor the productivity, mortality and dispersal of species selected using this system. The need for integrated databases and well-coordinated data collection methods was stressed time and again. Finally, the need to disseminate information (see group dealing with education and awareness) was emphasised. LEGISLATION AND POLICY ENFORCEMENT The participants in this group