JC Eames The Endangered White-eared Night-heron has been discovered breeding in Vietnam Zoom In

News in Brief

29-07-2009

Stories in this News in Brief: White-eared Night-heron breeding in Vietnam; BirdLife Africa staff awarded; Mozambique embarks on national biodiversity conservation programme; Pacific eradication gets an additional boost

White-eared Night-heron breeding in Vietnam - The Endangered White-eared Night-heron Gorsachius magnificus has been confirmed breeding in Vietnam for the first time. A team from BirdLife International in Indochina, Vietnam Birdwatching Club and Vietnam Birding made the discovery, when two adults, and two fledged juveniles were found roosting near a nest in Ba Be National Park, Bac Kan Province. This Endangered species has a very small, fragmented population, limited to southern China and north-eastern Vietnam. BirdLife believes that global population of White-eared Night-heron to be between 250 and 999 birds. The species was believed to be possibly extinct in Vietnam until members of an earlier BirdLife survey team observed a bird in 2001 in Bac Kan Province.

BirdLife Africa staff awarded - NatureUganda (BirdLife in Uganda) recently presented BirdLife Africa Secretariat staff in Nairobi (Kenya) a conservation award entitled ‘100 Years for Nature’. “We are humbled and very delighted by the award and not least much encouraged to continue working in partnership with NatureUganda, and indeed all BirdLife Partners”, said Dr Hazell Shokellu Thompson – BirdLife’s Regional Director for Africa. “Gestures like this keep us going, and the award now has pride of place in BirdLife’s Nairobi office". The award was presented at NatureUganda’s gala dinner organised to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the East African Natural History Society. Read more.

Mozambique embarks on national biodiversity conservation programme - Following the discovery of what is thought to be the largest extent of medium-altitude moist forest in southern Africa, at Mount Mabu in Mozambique, the Mozambican government is to establish a National Programme for the Conservation of Montane Ecosystems, Coastal Forests and other habitats. Jonathan Timberlake, Scientific Coordinator of the UK government‘s Darwin Initiative-funded South-east Africa Montane Biodiversity project, explained: “The Minister of Science and Technology, Venâncio Massingue, has invited our Mozambican partner in the project, Instituto de Investigação Agrária de Moçambique (IIAM), to develop and lead a conservation strategy for these mountains and the country’s coastal forests, so that they receive greater recognition and protection.”

Other partners in the Darwin project include BirdLife, and the Mount Mulanje Conservation Trust from neighbouring Malawi. A project workshop in Mozambique’s capital, Maputo, hosted by IIAM, and attended by members of the country’s governing Council of Ministers, concluded that conservation policy should be rethought at a national level, to establish a legal basis for recognising areas for biodiversity conservation. However, despite some recent press reports, there was no decision on the formal protection of Mt Mabu. “The legislation that would cover any such decision is still under discussion, and I hope the workshop has contributed significantly to that debate”, Timberlake said.

Pacific eradication gets an additional boost - The BirdLife Pacific Partnership is involved in a programme of invasive species eradications to address this increasingly serious threat to marine birds in the Pacific. Already they have successfully eradicated introduced rats from the important seabird island of Vatu-i-Ra in Fiji, and since then conducted operations to remove rodents from a further 16 islands in four Pacific countries. With renewed support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation the Partnership will now extend the restoration programme to an additional 19 important seabird islands in Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, the Cook Islands, and Palau. 

Over the next two years the Partnership will plan for and eradicate rats and cats from these islands; monitor seabird and biological responses to the removal of predators; and work with local communities and government agencies towards the long-term security of restored seabird islands. “Most importantly, this project will lead to the restoration of breeding habitats for 30 seabird species and five Globally Threatened landbirds”, said Steve Cranwell – BirdLife’s Pacific Seabird Programme Manager. The programme will be implemented by BirdLife Partners in French Polynesia Société d'Ornithologie de Polynésie; New Caledonia The Société Calédonienne d'Ornithologie; The Cook Islands Taporoporoanga Ipukarea Society; and Palau The Palau Conservation Society. For more information, click here.