BirdLife has launched a new three-year sustainable hunting initiative that will ensure a safer flight path for migrating birds as they move through North Africa and the Middle East.

Hunters kill millions of birds annually as they migrate through the Mediterranean region each year. Many of these are killed in southern Europe, but a significant proportion are shot or trapped in North Africa and the Middle East, particularly in Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. The killing is often indiscriminate. Most victims are species that breed in Europe and winter in Africa. Many are listed as threatened species on Annex 1 of the European Union’s Birds Directive.

Hunting (which includes shooting, trapping using nets, snares, lime sticks, traps, decoys and poisoning) is an important socio-economic activity in the region, involving hundreds of thousands of people and large areas of land. It supports a variety of groups, including subsistence hunters and trappers, weapon and ammunition manufacturers, bird-trap makers, caged bird sellers and restaurant owners. Lebanon alone has 20,000 officially registered shooters, but the true number is thought to be far higher – well above 10% of the Lebanese population (compared with 2.6% in France).

"We aim to promote more sustainable hunting practices, and make local people aware of the dangers facing the fragile stream of migrating birds which passes spectacularly through their skies each year." —David Thomas, Head of Site Action Unit, BirdLife

Bird hunting in the region is often characterised by poor legal regulation and law enforcement. As a result of poor awareness of the impact of hunting and past conflicts between hunters and conservationists, there is a need for fresh dialogue between all groups concerned.

This new project aims to strengthen the way in which bird hunting is managed and to reduce excessive, indiscriminate and illegal hunting in the region. It will help to improve the prospects for migrating birds as they pass through Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia and Syria.

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