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Between the 29th November and the 3rd December 2021 IAF attended the Bern Convention to make representations on behalf of falconers and science-based bird of prey conservation.
The Bern Convention (the Council of Europe's Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats 1979) is a binding international legal instrument in nature conservation, covering most of the natural heritage of the European continent extending to surrounding countries. Its aims are to conserve wild flora and fauna and their habitats and promote European co-operation in that field. The Convention places particular importance on the need to protect endangered natural habitats and endangered vulnerable species, including migratory species.
All countries that have signed the Bern Convention must take action to:
- promote national policies for conservation of wild flora and fauna, and their natural habitats;
- have regard to the conservation of wild flora and fauna in their planning and development policies, and in measures against pollution;
- promote education and disseminate general information on the need to conserve species of wild flora and fauna and their habitats;
- encourage and co-ordinate research related to the purposes of the Convention.
- co-operate to enhance the effectiveness of these measures through co-ordination of efforts to protect migratory species;
- undertake exchanges of information and share experience and expertise.
IAF has been actively involved with the Habitats and Birds Directives since before the Bern Convention was ratified in 1979 and was granted observer status to the Convention in 1986. In addition to attending yearly meetings of its Standing Committee, IAF is also a member of three Bern Convention Working Groups including:
- Expert Group Network of Special Focal Points on illegal Killing of Birds
- Expert Group on Invasive Alien Species
- Working Group for developing a Vision and Strategic Plan
It is of key importance for falconers’ voices to be represented in deliberations: the insertion of small words in convention texts has a major effect in expanding or restricting legislation in which birds of prey are protected and falconry may be practiced.
From a falconry point of view, highlights of this year’s attendance included the addition of a positive remark from the Bern Secretariat Report acknowledging falconers as key stakeholders in the deliberative process regarding Invasive Alien Species, “Further, the Standing Committee thanked the European Federation for hunting and conservation (FACE) and the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (IAF) for their report on the implementation of the code of Conduct on Hunting and IAS”. Extensive work went into preparing this report and this is another positive example of close collaboration between IAF and FACE which has deepened since the signing of the joint Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) 2009 to support each other. Close collaboration with sustainable-use groups at international conventions and conferences has allowed IAF to magnify falconers voices in deliberations and to foresee and ward off threats to falconry at the international level before they impact falconers at the national level.
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