Convention on Migratory Species Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures 2nd Draft 16 March 2017 1 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, Italian Bird Ringing Centre 2 Contributors Lists of participants at the action planning 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 Allison (threats), all from BirdLife International. 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. • February 2017 – Middle East Regional Workshop in Sharjah, UAE. • February 2017 – Overarching Workshop in Toledo, Spain. • March 2017 – Public consultation exercise for draft Vulture MsAP. • April 2017 – Production of final draft of Multi-species Action Plan. • May 2017 – Submission of Multi-species Action Plan to CMS Secretariat. • June 2017 – Review of Multi-species Action Plan by CMS Scientific Council. • August 2017 – Publication on CMS website as document for COP12. • October 2017 – 12th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to CMS (COP12). Geographical scope 127 Range States, which host populations of one or more of the species that are the focus of the Multi-species Action Plan (Fig. 2). Species scope This Multi-species Action Plan covers 15 of the 16 species classified as the Old World vultures (Table 3), 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) CMS Multi-species Action Plan to conserve African-Eurasian Vultures. Coordinating Unit of UNEP/Raptors MoU, Abu Dhabi. Authority for taxonomy, sequence and species names Del Hoyo, J., Collar, N. J., Christie, D. A., Elliot, A. and Fishpool, L. D. C. (2014) The 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 3 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 entities 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 boundaries. Links to resources outside this document are provided as a convenience and for informational purposes only and should not be construed as an endorsement or approval by CMS of information provided 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 below, 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, these had been greatly contributed to by the work of Rob Davies (HabitatInfo) and Ralph Buij (Wageningen University) using information from the African Raptor Databank and tracking data from a range of research projects across the continent. Photograph credits Andre Botha: White-headed Vulture, Hooded Vulture, White-backed Vulture, Cape Vulture, Rüppell’s Vulture, Lappet-faced Vulture; Angel Sanchez: Bearded Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, Griffon Vulture, Cinereous Vulture; Tulsi Sebedi: Himalayan Griffon, White-rumped Vulture, Indian Vulture; Phearun Sum: Red-headed Vulture, Slender-billed Vulture. 4 Contents Foreword ................................................................................................................................................. 8 Executive Summary ............................................................................................................................... 10 How to use this Action Plan .................................................................................................................. 12 List of acronyms and abbreviations ...................................................................................................... 13 1. Multi-species Action Planning for vultures: background and approach ....................................... 15 1.1 Rationale ..................................................................................................................................... 15 1.2 Methods ...................................................................................................................................... 16 2. Scope ............................................................................................................................................. 20 2.1 Geographic scope ........................................................................................................................ 20 2.2. Taxonomic scope ....................................................................................................................... 20 3. Biological assessment ................................................................................................................... 22 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 22 3.2 Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus .......................................................................................... 22 3.3 Egyptian Vulture Neophron percnopterus .................................................................................. 26 3.4 Red-headed Vulture Sarcogyps calvus ........................................................................................ 29 3.5 White-headed Vulture Trigonoceps occipitalis ........................................................................... 31 3.6 Hooded Vulture Necrosyrtes monachus ..................................................................................... 33 3.7 Himalayan Griffon Gyps himalayensis ........................................................................................ 35 3.8 White-rumped Vulture Gyps bengalensis ................................................................................... 37 3.9 White-backed Vulture Gyps africanus ........................................................................................ 40 3.10 Indian Vulture Gyps indicus....................................................................................................... 42 3.11 Slender-billed Vulture Gyps tenuirostris ................................................................................... 44 3.12 Cape Vulture Gyps coprotheres ................................................................................................ 46 3.13 Rüppell’s Vulture Gyps rueppelli ............................................................................................... 49 3.14 Griffon Vulture Gyps fulvus ....................................................................................................... 51 3.15 Cinereous Vulture Aegypius monachus ...................................................................................