IAF December 2019 eBulletin

Thanks to volunteer translators, this eBulletin is available in other languages. If you would like to take part, email muehle@iaf.org . If your language does not appear, we upload  late translations onto the Facebook page

2019 IAF Council of Delegates Meeting, Carmona, Spain

This meeting was a great success for IAF, with over 80 delegates attending in person, representing over 100 IAF member organizations, some by proxy. Unfortunately, due to very strict visa regulations, over 20 delegates were unable to attend this year. Delegates are therefore advised to begin the visa process especially early for the 2020 Meeting in the USA. Some political highlights of the 2019 meeting are outlined below:

1) Presidents message from H.E. Majed Al Mansouri:

I am grateful to all of you who elected me president at the 2018 Council of Delegates Meeting, even though I was unable to attend the election in person due to the birth of my daughter Alreem. IAF has had presidents from Europe, North America and South Africa, each of whom has developed IAF in different ways, according to their skills and ideas. I am the first president from the Middle East. My strategy for IAF is to make it a self-sustaining, self-funding International Non-Government Organization. 

You will have noticed that we now have a much extended advisory committee, consisting of the Board (which is concerned with legal and administrative matters, according to the Constitution) and twelve Working Groups. Six of these are regional, under the regional vice- presidents, and six are on topics common to all regions. 

This new system for the advisory committee means that we include many more experts and volunteers in our work (around 80 people) and it makes IAF a much more inclusive organization, paying particular attention to the young people who have come into the organization since the Festival in 2017.

I look forward to working with you towards this goal.

My very best wishes,
Majed Al Mansouri

Vice-presidential elections:

Karim Rousselon of the Moroccan Association for Falconry and Raptor Conservation, was elected by the Council of Delegates as IAF Vice President for the Middle East North Africa region.

Dan Cechini was re-elected to his second, and thus final three-year term, as IAF Vice President for the Americas by the Council of Delegates.

IAF Constitutional Change:

A motion changing the IAF constitution to add a vice presidency for Latin America and the Caribbean was passed unanimously. This vice-presidency will begin in January 2021 and an election will take place at the 2020 Council of Delegates meeting. This move will do a lot to help the region develop its falconry culture, increase the IAF presence in Latin America and unite local clubs.

2020 Council Meeting:

The 2020 Council of Delegates Meeting will be held in Kearney, Nebraska in the US from the 22/23rd to the 27th of November 2020. IAF Vice Presidents for Asia Keiya Nakajima and IAF Vice President for Europe Janusz Sielicki will be concluding their second term and will stand down.

Presidential Awards:

Dr. Pierre Basset from Switzerland, who was present at the first IAF meeting in 1968, was awarded the Presidents Award in recognition of being the longest-serving delegate, and of his many accomplishments as a falconer.

Dr. Javier Ceballos, of Spain, was awarded the Presidents Award for his dedication to IAF and his founding of World Falconry Day - on the 16th of November of every year falconers across the world come together to celebrate and commemorate the inscription of falconry on to the representative list of intangible cultural heritage.

Count Umberto Caproni di Taliedo from Italy was awarded the president's award in absentia, for his distinguished services to falconry and his excellence in game hawking. He was one of a small group of top-class falconers who revived grouse hawking and the high flight in general.

7) New IAF Member Organizations:

Falconeria Maestra (Italy), Tsar’s Hound Hunting (Russia), UVMP Falconry and Raptor Rehabilitation Club (Slovakia) & Female Falconers Club, (UK) were approved as Members.
The International Raptor & Falconry Center, (USA) was approved as a Supporting Member.

8) Minutes

Delegates and official club delegates will receive a copy of the minutes of the meeting by email when the document has been completed. Will anyone who made a presentation and/or report at the meeting and who would like the whole report to appear as an Appendix to the Minutes, please email it to the Executive Secretary, Mark Upton upton@iaf.org 

Acknowledgment: photographs for this edition were all  kindly donated by Klaus Leix, seen here (left) with Ed Pitcher at the IAF Council of Delegates Meeting in Carmona

Individual Subscribers

Individual Subscribers assist IAF financially, there are a number of options beiginning at €30. They receive a copy of the annual International Journal of Falconry (see above) and can attend the Council of Delegates Meetings of IAF, where they have automatic Observer status. Please click on the green button.

They receive log-in details to the IAF members page on www.iaf.org to access areas of the site not open to non-IAF. 

A new page for donations is now open and member organizations, non members and individual subscribers a can all can make donations to specific projects in which IAF is directly involved: .General purposes, DOD's, Saker Falcons, Preventing Electrocutions, Pedix Portal, Schools Links Project and Vultures

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