IAF February 2020 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

Important note to delegates, to club representatives and to translators: please don't forget to forward this eBulletin to your club members and all the falconer you know, especially the many language versions, even if it is by a "share" on social media - you will magnify the falconer's voice!

5th International Festival of Falconry, 2021

The 5th International Festival of Falconry is postponed, due to the very high flight and hotel costs during the period of the International Expo in UAE.
Instead of January 2021, the Festival will now be held in December 2021. Anyone who has already applied for a sponsored place will still be considered for the new dates. The themes for this 5th International Falconry Festival will be: "Young falconers who are making a difference in the falconry community" and "Encouraging young women to become falconers". 

There is a limit to the number of funded flights and funded hotel rooms and therefore the EFC and the IAF have decided that, to be funded, a young falconer has to be between ages of 16 to 30. Under and over that age group there will not be any funded flights and hotels. Priority will be given to young falconers that have not been to one of the previous festivals, to young female falconers and to young falconers who have been working hard for IAF in working groups and have not been funded to a previous festival. 

Falconers, young and old, who wish to come without applying for funding will be able to avail of special hotel rates, but please do not book your flight yet, the dates may change slightly. You can travel to Dubai or to Abu Dhabi airport, the venue is the same distance. The hotels with special rates for the IFF will become known at the end of this year. 

During the first part of the festival, in the desert, we offer a variety of practical workshops: hood making, hood savers, painting on leather, lure work, oriental falconry equipment, trapping in the USA, photography, glove making, bell-making, braiding leashes and jesses, art workshops, imping, workshops with experts on falconry with large falcons, small falcons, eagles, goshawks, sparrowhawks and buteos, discussions on many topics. Please suggest what you would like to learn and we will find you an expert. 

Everyone is very welcome to take part in the festival, to learn, to teach, to receive and pass on the knowledge of millennia. You can apply with the link below:

https://www.123formbuilder.com/form-4910250/online-application-form-iff-2021 .

For other festival enquiries please email festival@iaf.org. 

New Museum - sculpture display

The IAF head-office is, as many of you know, in a beautiful heritage building in Brussels, dating back to the time of Spanish rule of the Duke of Alba in the 16th century. Plans have been approved and funding secured for conversion of the ground-floor into a museum, which will include an eclectic mix of inexpensive objects (gifts from different countries), a salon-style art exhibition and modern interactive screen displays. Acknowledging the huge contributions to Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey made by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed, and his late father, the museum will show falconry's spread around the globe over the centuries, its diplomatic links between the nations and the modern bringing together of falconers from 90 nations through the UNESCO recognition and the Falconry Festivals.

One of the exhibits will be life-size sculptures of the main birds used in falconry, seven or eight. We are hoping to share the work among falconry artists from across the globe, who will be able to showcase their work here. Inexpensive materials and life-like painted surfaces would be the order. They should look like mounted specimens as far as possible. They would be on typical perches or on gloved fists.

The museum is a finished plan, the building is a strange size and shape, so it does not invite suggestions for changes. Anyone who contacts us through info@iaf.org will be given the plan and asked for their ideas and a quotation. Please forward this to the sculptor friends that you have all suggested.

Ideally, we will try to split the work for this exhibit between artists from different regions, for example the Harris Hawk and American Kestrel will be done by someone from the New World; the goshawk and sparrowhawk a sculptor from Asia; the peregrine, Europe; the saker MENA, etc. We will try to keep strictly to falconer artists, since the display should be more natural than impressionistic. There is a very nice antique screen-perch in the window, which would lend itself very well to a life-size, eye-catching white gyr, it’s back to the window, showing an exquisite feather pattern, one foot up in a resting pose, it’s hooded head settled into its shoulders. Just an idea!

Anyway, the whole exhibit is intended to be something that will stick in the memories of the non-falconry public and the falconer alike.

Finally, please consider visiting us in Brussels, it is a good city for a tourist weekend

More biodiversity in agricultural landscape

IAF is re-accredited by UNESCO ICH

This is the official letter from UNESCO ICH secretariat that confirms IAF's accreditation and advisory status. The UNESCO ICH committee reviews NGOs every 4 years and kicks out about a third, those that are not good enough. They always require us to fill a detailed form with an overview of activities that must be provided within a deadline, completed with great competence by Dr. Bohumil Straka. We have already received re-accreditation twice since 2009, when IAF became recognized under number NGO-90006 (it means 6th in order) and we remain one of very few genuine international NGOs.

So far, this file has been the largest multinational nomination in the ICH Convention history. The high number of 18 States participated: United Arab Emirates, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Mongolia, Pakistan, Portugal, Qatar, Syrian Arab Republic, Republic of Korea and Czechia. It is hoped that more states will join.

2020 IAF Council of Delegates Meeting, Kearney, Nebraska, USA, 22-27 November

It is the honor and pleasure of the North American Falconers Association (NAFA) to invite all members, guests, subscribers, and interested fellows to the joint NAFA field meet/IAF Annual General Meeting (AGM) to be held in Kearney, Nebraska November 22nd (evening) through to November 27th (evening).

This is the 4th visit for the IAF to the USA and the 3rd to the Kearney, Nebraska area.  What the USA lacks in falconry history is compensated for with ample game, excellent falconers, falconry friendly habitats, an excellent venue, and friendly mid-western folks.  You will get an opportunity to see here some of the best of US falconry.

Visa:  First and Foremost:  Extremely Time Sensitive, if you need a visa START NOW:

1. If you are from one of the 39 countries which is in the US Government Visa Waiver Program (VWP; https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visa-waiver-program.html  ), gaining entry should be easy.  Visit and follow directions in the VWP by initiating or updating the Electronic System for Travel Authorization   (https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov/esta ).
2. If you are NOT from a VWP country, you must obtain a Nonimmigrant Visa for a Temporary Stay; this can take some time and you are urged to start the process as soon as possible. NAFA and the IAF are here to help by providing invitations and letters of explanation for your application to your nearest US Consulate.  The US Government Dept. of State has been made aware of the upcoming meeting and, hopefully, the process will be straightforward.  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/tourism-visit/visitor.html

Corey Roelke and Frits Kleyn are helping individuals who need counsel with Visas. Corey is at  +1 817 575 7256 and Frits is at +31 6 53 23 86 72 or you can email the IAF blontrock@iaf.org  

Venue:

The venue for the meetings will once again be the Kearney Holiday Inn and the La Quinta Inn.  Both hotels are on the same property separated by less than 50m.  Rooms ca. $99/night with hot breakfast included.

You Must use these numbers for reservations.

Holiday Inn:                 +1 (308) 237-5971

La Quinta Inn:              +1 (308) 237-4400

Identify yourself as a falconer attending the IAF/NAFA meeting to receive the group rate.

Travel:

The Kearney Airport (EAR) is available directly via air (United Airlines) either from Denver (DEN;  2X/day) or Chicago (ORD, 1X/day).

Alaska, American, United, and Delta airlines all fly to Omaha (OMA)  2hr.30min hours by road from Kearney. United and Delta serve Lincoln, Nebraska (LNK)  1hr 45 min by road from Kearney. American Airlines serves Grand Island, NE (GRI)  45 min. by road from Kearney. Almost all major Carriers fly to Denver (DEN).  Some participants in the past have flown directly to DEN, cleared customs there, then carpooled to Kearney 5 hours by road from Denver.

With multiple points and times of arrivals, NAFA will not be able to shuttle participants from airports to the meeting venue.

Hunting:

The highlight of any Nebraska meet is USA game hawking at its best.  While the USA is beginning to see the early effects of the worldwide decline in small game animals; game populations in Nebraska have been good over the last several years.  From year to year it is impossible to predict game numbers until the breeding season has been completed.  We expect adequate game, as always, for a successful meet in Kearney.  We will do our utmost to make sure you get to see the type of US falconry you wish to see.

Registration:

Registration will be available online shortly.  Details are being worked out between the IAF and NAFA.  Please watch this website for updated details on registration. 

Pakistan Workshops

A ground-breaking three-day workshop was held in Islamabad in January. Organized by the Pakistan Falconers' Association in conjunction with the Ministry of Climate Change and with the IAF, it brought together federal officials from the ministry (with whom the IAF has an MoU since 2017),  provincial wildlife departments, UNESCO and a host of academics, raptor specialists, including CMS Raptors MoU, and interested stakeholders, with a view to exploring how the falconers can help in a National Raptor Plan. 

While some of the discussions did become heated, the able chairmanship of Mr. Naeem Ashraf Raja of the Ministry of Climate Change, brought everyone together it all ended amicably with many good things for raptor conservation and for the inclusion of falconry skills and knowledge into the national plan.

We saw that the general reception of the falconry community at federal government and provincial level was very high. It was agreed that the work be ongoing to formulate a first draft of the required work-plan. The presence of CMS Raptor MoU was an appreciated bonus for us and Mr. Lyle Glowka was very positive towards the National Plan including the falconers.

A seminar in Lahore, followed on from this, also attended by IAF: Raptor Conservation "Falconry as Conservation and Biodiversity Tool 2020", organised by Lahore Zoo and Punjab Wildlife and Parks Department at the University of Veterinary and Animal Studies, with a strong presence of representatives of those institutions and of falconers of the Hawking Club of Punjab. This included a visit to the Bengali Vultures Breeding Station in Changa Manga.

It is hoped that this very succesful format for including all the stakeholders in National Raptor Plans can be repeated in other countries, where the skills of the falconers have been ignored

Video from Carmona

Bern Convention report 2019

Please follow the link to the Bern Convention Report. While there is little of direct interest to falconers in this 2019 report, it is a very important convention for us to monitor and in which to make our presence felt. Discussions held in Bern have repercussions in all the other international conventions. We have successfully staved off attacks by opponents by being present during discussions in Strasbourg and elsewhere.

Our IAF participation in specialist workshops against illegal trade has been particularly important in explaining the differences between legal falconry and illegal activities and in showing our opposition to them and willingness to work towards zero tolerance and eventual cessation of those activities

 https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15117-2019-INIT/en/pdf

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 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 can all make donations to the specific projects in which IAF is directly involved: for general purposes, Dods, Saker Falcons, Preventing Electrocutions, Pedix Portal, Schools Links Project and Vultures

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