IAF October 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

Mongolia

A team from the Mongolian Bird Conservation Center (MBCC) met with IAF President H.E Majed Al Mansoori and his team in Mongolia. They discussed threats and current situations regarding falconry heritage and the conservation of birds of prey. Sarangerel Ichinkhorloo, Manager of IAF School Links Programme discussed with H.E Majed the IAF education programs, especially IAF Schools Links Programme towards formulating a clear strategy that will move the education programs forward. 

Bird Poachers arrested in Lebanon

Campaign Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) checks in the Akkar region in northern Lebanon have led to another arrest.

A CABS Team had been watching and filming a hunter from a distance who shot several times at Honey Buzzards, Sparrow hawk and other protected birds.

They managed to document the shooting of a Sparrow hawk so that enough evidence was available to the police.

The officers arrived quickly and were able to arrest the offender in the area (photo: police officers and hunters in handcuffs).

The man stated that he did not know the hunting law; he will be put on trial. After some search, we were able to find the Sparrow hawk - he was still alive and was taken to a rescue center by us. With a bit of luck, he will survive.

Source: CABS Facebook 11-10-2019

Attack on Trophy Hunting

COMMUNITY VOICES: STATEMENT ON ADDRESSING IWT[1]

We are allies, not enemies, in the fight against poaching and IWT. We are rights holders, not just stakeholders.

We are the people who feel the most direct impacts of IWT. IWT is stealing our resources, our wellbeing and our future.

Sustainable use is intrinsic to our cultures and livelihoods and is fundamental in reducing poaching and IWT. We want to strengthen our rights and our capacities to sustainably use and benefit from our wildlife in line with our customs and traditions. But we also want to find new opportunities to enhance benefits from wildlife to better meet our community needs.

Our traditional and local knowledge is a valuable resource for stopping poaching and managing wildlife sustainably.

We need to strengthen local governance based on traditional rights and obligations, and build networks and a collective voice among communities.

Law enforcement against IWT imposed on us is sometimes harsh and unfair. We can be powerful enforcers of laws when they are fair and inclusive, and based on consultation and respect for our traditions. Laws need to recognise our rights to use and benefit from wildlife, in line with international commitments.

Ilegal trade is a crime against wildlife and a crime against us. Right now, the battle is being lost.

With us, working together, we can win. We call on governments and all partners here to recognise and respect our rights and our role in combating IWT.

[1] This declaration was agreed by 20 representatives of indigenous communities, of Peru, Bolivia, Guyana, French Guyana, Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Mexico and Argentina, at a meeting held September 30 – October 2, organised by the National Agricultural University of La Molina (Lima, Peru), The Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, the Peru National Protected Areas Service, CIFOR, the IUCN Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Specialist Group, the International Institute for Environment and Development (London, UK), supported  by USAID, CIFOR, TRAFFIC, and the UK IWT Challenge Fund.

Our former IAF president, Dr. Adrian Lombard, has asked that we share the following YouTube clip, which is clear and straightforward reasoning why trophy hunting must never judged on emotion, only on science and fact.

https://youtu.be/JQ8xj2OJDFI?t=241

There is a serious attack on the whole concept of Sustainable Use as a conservation tool. It will come to a head at the 2020 IUCN Congress and which will be subject to social media pressure from the very same animal rights activists that attack falconry.

Please share this.

IAF School Links Programme: The Next Chapter

The School Links Progamme was established in 2011 as part of a public awareness campaign for the Mongolian Artificial Nest Project. Over the past few years this programme has grown internationally with the help of dedicated falconers to reach over 5,000 students.

In spring this year, the IAF set up the Education Working Group (EWG) to bring together IAF projects concerned with falconry education and communication, which subsequently created the IAF Falconry Education Program (IFEP)

The IAF School Links Programme (ISLP) is now part of this unique IAF project, forming part of a global strategy to educate those interested in practicing falconry and providing active falconers with additional falconry knowledge. The program has three entities that is specifically aimed at young people

1. The ISLP : Providing falconry and raptor conservation education in schools as an introduction to falconry as world cultural heritage and offering assistance to link with a school, nationally or internationally.
2. The IAF Young falconers Group: Providing an online community for young falconers to connect nationally and internationally, exchanging falconry techniques and experiences.
3. The IAF Youth Exchange Project : A youth exchange project which seeks to facilitate the exchange of falconry knowledge and experiences in different cultural contexts by linking young falconers with individual falconers and falconry centres of excellence as their hosts.

As we are now part of a bigger project, this means that falconers wishing to contribute to falconry education can now visit schools as part of the IAF Falconry Education Program and only offer participation in the ISLP if schools are interested and have time. We hope this will encourage more IAF falconers and clubs to visit schools with their birds of prey and help educate our next generation without the necessity of joining the ISLP.

The IAF Falconry Education Program website is in preparation.  Once online, the present ISLP website will cease to be operational and content migrating to the IFEP website.  The EWG team is in the process of merging Facebook pages to enable all ISLP posts to display on IFEP Facebook page.

The ISLP has a new three-year plan with the aim of encouraging more schools and falconers to become involved. New objectives have been set which include;

1. To raise awareness of falconry heritage
2. To promote awareness of raptor conservation
3. To highlights threats to environment and habitats and encourage future conservationists
4. To encourage young people to become sustainable falconers of the future
5. To embed United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into the ISLP

The three-year plan incorporates a change of structure and organization to streamline the programme. There are two major changes

1. Schools can only join if they have an associate attached to their school. The associate can be a falconer, a member of a falconry club or organization, a bird of prey rehabilitation centre or raptor conservation group. The associate can be an individual or a group. To learn more about becoming an associate click here (download information for falconers, falconry clubs etc.)
2. Each school must provide a named person at the school to be known as the School Links Coordinator (SLC) It is the responsibility of the SLC to communicate with the link school and the associate. To learn more click here (download information for schools and teachers)

We would like to thank everyone who have been part of this international programme over the last eight years; To the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi, Emirates Falconers Club and International Association of Falconry for their financial support and encouragement; To the students who have connected through letter and email, who have exchanged culture and become friends; To the falconers who have given their time and visited schools with their hawks and falcons; To the teachers who have embedded the programme into the school curriculum, helped their students to create videos and PowerPoint’s and raise money for their linked schools. We would like to give a personal and heart warming thank you to Tula Stapert, Craig Hendee and Bob Dalton, falconers who have supported the School Links Programme from the very beginning, visiting schools many times and establishing links across the globe. Thank you for your hard work and consistent support.

Nicola Dixon: ISLP Project Manager

Nicola@efcuae.com

Link for falconers and clubs information: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14CbOGkGtcBTqi8n8n-q9g09-4ccn8Wpm/view?usp=sharing

Information for teachers and schools: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hdnW2MbC87o4ZzhKkiX_kOWKoFlRXDWi/view?usp=sharing

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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