MULTI-SPECIES ACTION PLAN TO CONSERVE AFRICAN-EURASIAN VULTURES (VULTURE MSAP) CMS Raptors MOU Technical Publication No. 5 CMS Technical Series No. xx MULTI-SPECIES ACTION PLAN TO CONSERVE AFRICAN-EURASIAN VULTURES (VULTURE MSAP) CMS Raptors MOU Technical Publication No. 5 CMS Technical Series No. xx Overall project management Nick P. Williams, CMS Raptors MOU Head of the Coordinating Unit [email protected] Jenny Renell, CMS Raptors MOU Associate Programme Officer [email protected] Compiled by André Botha, Endangered Wildlife Trust Overarching Coordinator: Multi-species Action Plan to conserve African-Eurasian Vultures [email protected] Jovan Andevski, Vulture Conservation Foundation European Regional Coordinator: Multi-species Action Plan to conserve African-Eurasian Vultures [email protected] Chris Bowden, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Asian Regional Coordinator: Multi-species Action Plan to conserve African-Eurasian Vultures [email protected] Masumi Gudka, BirdLife International African Regional Coordinator: Multi-species Action Plan to conserve African-Eurasian Vultures [email protected] Roger Safford, BirdLife International Senior Programme Manager: Preventing Extinctions [email protected] Nick P. Williams, CMS Raptors MOU Head of the Coordinating Unit [email protected] Technical support Roger Safford, BirdLife International José Tavares, Vulture Conservation Foundation Regional Workshop Facilitators Africa - Chris Bowden, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Europe – Boris Barov, BirdLife International Asia and Middle East - José Tavares, Vulture Conservation Foundation Overarching Workshop Chair Fernando Spina, Chair of the CMS Scientific Council Design and layout Tris Allinson, BirdLife International 2 Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP) Contributors Lists of participants at the five workshops and of other contributors can be found in Annex 1. Additional contributions to the text: Robert D. Sheldon and Andrew Callander. Maps prepared by Mark Balman (range states), Hannah Wheatley (species range) and Tris Allinson (threats), all from BirdLife International. References checked or compiled by Ruby Finlen. Milestones in the production of the Plan November 2014 – Mandate established at CMS COP11 (Resolution 11.14) October 2015 – Endorsed by Signatories at MOS2 Raptors MOU February 2016 – Publication of Project Charter to develop Vulture MsAP Jun-Aug 2016 – Appointment of Overarching and Regional Coordinators October 2016 – African Regional Workshop in Dakar, Senegal. October 2016 – European Regional Workshop in Monfragüe, Spain. November 2016 – Asian Regional Workshop in Mumbai, India. January 2017 – First draft of the Vulture MsAP finalised. February 2017 – Middle East Regional Workshop in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. February 2017 – Overarching Workshop in Toledo, Spain. March 2017 – Second draft of the Vulture MsAP finalised. March-April 2017 – Public Consultation Exercise for 2nd draft Vulture MsAP. April 2017 – Review and incorporation of comments received. May 2017 – Production of final draft of Multi-species Action Plan. May 2017 – Submission of Multi-species Action Plan to the CMS Secretariat. July 2017 – Vulture MsAP reviewed by Sessional Committee of the CMS Scientific Council. August 2017 – Publication on CMS website as COP12 Meeting Document. October 2017 – 12th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to CMS (COP12). Geographical scope 128 Range States, which host populations of one or more of the species that are the focus of the Multi- species Action Plan (Figure 2). Species scope This Multi-species Action Plan covers 15 of the 16 species classified as the Old World vultures (Table 2), Palm-nut Vulture being excluded as explained in Section 1.2. Reviews This plan should be reviewed and updated every six years: mid-term review in 2023, final review in 2029. An emergency review could be undertaken if there is a significant change to the species’ status before the next scheduled review. Recommended citation Botha, A. J., Andevski, J., Bowden, C. G. R., Gudka, M., Safford, R. J., Tavares, J. and Williams, N. P. (2017). Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures. CMS Raptors MOU Technical Publication No. 5. CMS Technical Series No. xx. Coordinating Unit of the CMS Raptors MOU, Abu Dha- bi, United Arab Emirates. 3 Authority for taxonomy, sequence and species names del Hoyo, J., Collar, N. J., Christie, D. A., Elliot, A. and Fishpool, L. D. C. (2014) Handbook of the Birds of the World/BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World, Volume 1: Non- passerines. Lynx Editions, Barcelona and BirdLife International, Cambridge. Disclaimer Opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of CMS. The designation of geographical enti- ties does not imply the expression of any opinion on the part of CMS concerning the legal status of any country, territory or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or bounda- ries. Links to resources outside this document are provided as a convenience and for informational pur- poses only and should not be construed as an endorsement or approval by CMS of information provid- ed through other sites and computer systems. Information sources This Multi-species Action Plan is based on information provided freely by the large number of experts and specialists listed in Annex 1, together with the published and unpublished literature cited. Much of the additional uncited information on individual species (distribution, population size and trend, Red List status, ecology, threats and conservation action) derives from the factsheets on the BirdLife Data Zone http://datazone.birdlife.org (BirdLife International 2016a). Species range maps were updated by BirdLife International from those used for the 2016 BirdLife/IUCN Red List of birds. For African species, the outstanding work of Rob Davies (HabitatInfo) and Ralph Buij (Wageningen University) has greatly contributed to these maps as well as to the information on threats to African vultures including supple- mentary maps, using information from the African Raptor Databank (http://www.habitatinfo.com/ african-raptor-databank/) and tracking data from a range of research projects across the continent. Re- finement and updating of distribution maps was enhanced, particularly for three of the Asian species, by observations downloaded from eBird (http://ebird.org/content/ebird/). Photograph credits (page numbers) Andre Botha: White-headed Vulture (32, 56), Hooded Vulture (34, 73), White-backed Vulture (24, 39), Cape Vulture (14, 19, 20, 44), Rüppell’s Vulture (23, 46), Lappet-faced Vulture (13, 52, 55), Beard- ed Vulture (117); Emmanuel Keller: Griffon Vulture (cover); Angel Sanchez: Bearded Vulture (26), Egyp- tian Vulture (frontispiece, 28), Griffon Vulture (48, 74), Cinereous Vulture (50, 110); Tulsi Subedi: White -rumped Vulture (37); Phearun Sum: Red-headed Vulture (31), Slender-billed Vulture (42, 78), White- rumped Vulture (94); Mandy West: Himalayan Griffon (35), Indian Vulture (41). Acknowledgements The Coordinating Unit of the CMS Raptors MOU wishes to record a debt of gratitude to the following generous contributors of financial and in-kind support: Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi on behalf of the Government of the United Arab Emirates has provided core funding for the Coordinating Unit since its establishment in 2009; the Federal Office for the Environment, on behalf of the Government of Switzerland; the Regional Governments of Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha, on behalf of the Gov- ernment of Spain; and the Environment and Protected Areas Authority, Sharjah, on behalf of the Gov- ernment of the United Arab Emirates. Substantial in-kind support was also received from BirdLife Inter- national, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB – BirdLife UK) and the Vulture Conserva- tion Foundation, as well as wider support in the form of working time contributed by all the members of the Vulture Working Group. Without all of these valuable contributions the Vulture MsAP could not have been developed. 4 Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP) Content Foreword 8 Executive Summary 9 How to use this Action Plan 11 Acronyms and abbreviations 12 Part 1 Background and approach 15 1.1 Rationale 15 1.2 Methods 16 Part 2 Scope 21 2.1 Geographic scope 21 2.2 Taxonomic scope 21 Part 3 Biological assessment 25 3.1 Introduction 25 3.2 Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus 26 3.3 Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus 28 3.4 Red-headed Vulture Sarcogyps calvus 31 3.5 White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis 32 3.6 Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus 34 3.7 Himalayan Griffon Gyps himalayensis 35 3.8 White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis 37 3.9 White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus 39 3.10 Indian Vulture Gyps indicus 41 3.11 Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris 42 3.12 Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres 44 3.13 Rüppell’s Vulture Gyps rueppelli 46 3.14 Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus 48 3.15 Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus 50 3.16 Lappet-faced Vulture Torgos tracheliotos 52 Part 4 Threats 57 4.1 Poisoning 58 4.1.1 Unintentional (secondary) poisoning 58 4.1.2 Intentional poisoning targeted at vultures 61 4.2 Mortality caused by power grid infrastructure 64 4.2.1 Electrocution 64 4.2.2 Collisions 64 4.3 Decline of food availability