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Hi Paul
MY COMMENTS IN BOLD
CAPS
NEIL
----- Original Message ----
From:
"Buckley, Paul" <paul.buckley@
To: Neil & Liz
Baker <tzbirdatlas@
Cc:
AfricanBirding@
Sent: Friday, 14 September, 2007
12:33:14 PM
Subject: RE: [AfricanBirding] trade in cranes
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Hi Neil
I don't normally respond to these, but couldn't let this one
go
GOOD, IT'S A SUBJECT THAT CERTAINLY REQUIRES
AIRING. PERHAPS ON THE NEW ABC DEBATE FORUM.
For information BirdLife International is a global partnership
of
conservation organisations. This includes non
governmental
organisations in 18 African countries, staffed by Africans. They
are
supported by a BirdLife partnership office based in
staffed by Africans. Many of them are
young organisations with few
resources
YES, IT IS CLEAR THEY HAVE FEW RESOURCES BUT WHY ??????
and few staff
YES, TERRIBLY UNDERSTAFFED BUT WHY ???
but they are all 'in touch'
HOW CAN THEY BE, THEY HAVE SO "FEW RESOURCES" AND SO "FEW STAFF" ?
IF THEY ARE IN TOUCH WHY HAVE NONE OF THEM
EXPRESSED DEEP CONCERNS ABOUT THIS TRADE . WOULD LIKE TO BET VERY FEW, IF ANY,
HAVE REAL FIGURES ON TRADE OR EVEN A STAFF MEMBER WORKING ON IT.
and doing an excellent job
THIS IS SERIOUSLY DEBATABLE. HOW CAN THEY WITH SO FEW RESOURCES AND SO FEW STAFF ?
IF THE UN IS FAILING
of trying to protect birds against tough odds, and have had some notable successes.
WOULD BE GOOD TO LIST THESE NOTABLE
SUCCESSES, NOT SURE MANY FOLK ARE AWARE OF THEM. IS THERE A URL YOU CAN SHARE
WITH US ON THIS ?
Both RSPB and BirdLife (with active support from
our African partners)
have been heavily involved in the successful lobby to
ban the wild bird
trade in the European Union. Yes it was helped by avian
influenza
WHERE WERE YOU BEFORE A.I. RAISED IT'S HEAD ?
andyes there are some exemptions for zoos
WHERE DO THESE CRANES GO IF NOT TO ZOOS ? NOT MANY
SADDLE-BILL STORKS IN THE PET TRADE.
but it was still a hard fight andit will make a big difference for wild birds.
SOME EVIDENCE PLEASE. LAST TWO YEARS FIGURES
FROM
WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF TRADE TO THE MIDDLE EAST ? AND
THE FAR EAST ? AND THE
I am copying in a couple of colleagues who played a big part in
that.
WOULD BE INTERESTING TO HAVE A URL TO
DISSEMINATE THIS GOOD NEWS.
We do not 'encourage this trade' and I am not sure what leads you to
think
that.
PAUL, I BEGAN THIS TRADE DEBATE WITH THE RSPB IN
1983. IN 1993 AT ROSSENHEIM WHERE WERE "YOU" ON THIS DEBATE ?25 ODD YEARS
FOR YOU GUYS TO BEGIN TO DISCOURAGE IT AND THEN ONLY BECAUSE "YOU" THOUGHT A.I.
MIGHT BECOME AN ISSUE. AND STILL YOU ARE NOT TAKING ON THE ZOO TRADE OR THE
ILLEGAL TRADE OR THE NON-EU TRADE. TRAFFIC TELL US THAT BIRDS ARE NOT THEIR
PRIORITY SO WHO SHOULD BE ON THIS PARTICULAR CASE OTHER THAN THE RSPB AND
BIRDLIFE ?
But you raise a good point. All crane species are on Annex 2 of CITES
WHICH IS TOTALLY TOOTHLESS.
but none of the African ones are on Annex 1. I will try and find out
if
there is history on this and maybe this is something that can be
pushed
as a priority - I am sure ICF must have tried this already.
NO DOUBT IT WILL BE DISCUSSED AT THE NAIVASHA
CRANE TRADE MEETING NEXT MONTH.
Of course trade is only one of the threats facing
DO NOT GET ME GOING ON THIS OLD SONG OF
YOURS. WE ARE ALL WELL AWARE THAT WE HAVE A HUGE POPULATION EXPLOSION IN
BUT OUR LARGE BIRDS ARE GOING FROM OUR
PROTECTED AREAS BECAUSE THE WEST DOES NOT CARE ENOUGH TO STOP THIS TRADE. IT IS
AS SIMPLE AS THAT AND HAS BEEN FOR A VERY LONG TIME. DURING WHICH WE HAVE LOST
MOST OF OUR LARGE WATERBIRDS. HAVE YOU LOOKED AT SHOEBILL TRADE DATA, HORRIFIC.
AMERICAN ZOOS EVEN EMPLOY A LOBBYIST TO WORK THEIR SYSTEM FOR
THEM.
I FLEW
TRANSECTS OVER THE IHEFU SWAMP ON THE USANGU PLAIN RECENTLY, ONLY TWO
WATTLED CRANES YET THE RSPB COMMISSIONED A REPORT BY WCST THAT GIVES A FIGURE OF
400 !!!! UNDERSTAFFED OR POORLY STAFFED. VERY FEW, <20 GREY CROWNED CRANES
AND NO SADDLE-BILLED STORKS, NONE, AND THIS IS THOUSANDS OF SQUARE KM OF
EXCELLENT HABITAT.
A REALITY CHECK
WOULD BE MOST USEFUL IF YOU ARE REALLY GOING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.
NEIL