BirdLife Pacific Funding Needs

The BirdLife Pacific Partnership aims to bring birds and people closer together. Zoom In

The BirdLife International Pacific Partnership Secretariat has developed a ‘project catalogue’ for 2010 with projects in the Pacific region that urgently need funding. Some of the projects that are included in the catalogue are described below. For more information about the catalogue, about the projects mentioned here, and/or about how you can support BirdLife's work in the Pacific, please contact maaike@birdlifepacific.org.fj

Selected projects that urgently need funding (more are available on request) are:

Environmental education in the Pacific

The differences between the countries that are included in the BirdLife Pacific Partnership are immense - varying from small island states such as the Cook Islands, to the complete continent of Australia. Nevertheless, the BirdLife Partners share the same, overall concern: many of their land- and seabird species are under serious threat through, among other things, loss of habitat and introduction of alien species. The Pacific Partnership also recognises that there is a critical, outstanding and shared challenge across the region: to raise awareness throughout the Pacific of key environmental issues, and to actively engage people, old and young, in saving the region’s birds and biodiversity. Some Partners have already initiated innovative environmental education programmes to engage a wide range of audiences; others still have to take their first steps in the this work area. They could learn invaluable lessons from their more experienced colleagues, while the latter would benefit from gaining more insight into the extent of shared problems and shared solutions across the Pacific. The core of the proposed project, developed by the Partnership in 2009, is therefore the extensive sharing of knowledge within the BirdLife Pacific Partnership, through staff exchanges, internships, training and the provision of small grants for education and awareness purposes, in order to build a larger conservation constituency in the Pacific. This will ultimately result in greater pressure on, and accountability of, governments and businesses to ensure that they improve their environmental track record and take appropriate steps (action, provision of funds and enhanced practical and policy safeguards) to improve the status and protection of native biodiversity across the region. Please contact maaike@birdlifepacific.org.fj to learn more about this unique South-South capacity building programme.

The Birds Australia Discovery Center

The Birds Australia Discovery Centre, established in 2008, aims to (re)connect Australians with their birds. Run by Birds Australia, BirdLife in Australia, the Centre requires funding for the employment of Environmental Education Professionals, the development of interpretive displays and education course materials. Funding is also required to maintain and support the network of volunteers who will deliver the education courses. Everybody who makes a major donation will be acknowledged in a variety of ways through the Centre itself and more broadly through Birds Australia’s national communications network. For more information about the Centre, click here. Please contact g.hamilton@birdsaustralia.com.au if you wish to support the Centre.

Conservation Research New Caledonia Kagu are highly vulnerable to predators. Zoom In

Help the Kagu in New Caledonia

The national bird of New Caledonia is the Kagu Rhynochetos jubatus: a flightless endemic bird that depends on forests for food and shelter. However, despite being a national ‘celebrity’, Kagu numbers are steadily decreasing because of deforestation, predation by introduced mammals (particularly dogs) and bird collecting. As a result, the Kagu is now listed as Endangered. These very ‘naive’ ground birds show no fear of humans; they may even jump on cars to admire their reflection in the windscreen and challenge this strange bird they see opposite themselves. Charming as this may be, this fearless behaviour has greatly contributed to their downfall as they do not have the 'instinct' to flee from introduced predators. The Société Calédonienne d'Ornithologie (SCO), the BirdLife Affiliate in New Caledonia, has initiated a conservation programme to conserve these birds and is desperately seeking funds to publish and disseminate their Kagu Recovery Plan. Please contact SophieRouys on plancagou@sco.asso.nc if you can help the Kagu!

The BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme

The BirdLife International Partnership is renowned for saving bird species from extinction, but until now, limited resources have forced us to concentrate on just a handful of the world’s most threatened birds. While we have been saving these birds one species at a time, the pressures that lead to extinction have been building relentlessly. In an attempt to save all 192 Critically Endangered bird species from extinction, BirdLife International has launched the Preventing Extinctions Programme. Click here to find out more. The programme has launched two new communities:

BirdLife Species Guardians – these are the people and organisations that are best placed to carry out the conservation work necessary to prevent the extinction of Critically Endangered species.

BirdLife Species Champions – these are individuals, institutions and companies who are financially supporting the conservation action of the Species Guardians.

The Pacific Region, including Hawaii, Australia and New Zealand, holds 42 Critically Endangered bird species. Five of these already have a Species Guardian: in French Polynesia SOP-MANU (BirdLife in French Polynesia) has become the Species Guardian for Polynesian Ground-dove Gallicolumba erythroptera, Tahiti Monarch Pomarea nigra, Fatuhiva Monarch Pomarea whitneyi and Tuamotu Kingfisher Todiramphus gambieri. In Fiji, NatureFiji-MareqetiViti is the Species Guardian for Fiji Petrel Pseudobulweria macgillivrayi.

If you would like to know more about how you, your company or institution, could become a Species Guardian for one (or more) of these wonderful birds, please email species.champions@birdlife.org or click here.

In addition to the five priority bird species already mentioned, top priorities for the region are to establish Species Guardians and Species Champions for species that require support to run or initiate species recovery programmes. These include: 

• In New Caledonia: Crow Honeyeater Gymnomyza aubryana, Kagu Rhynochetos jubatus (see also above)
• In the Federated States of Micronesia: Faichuk White-eye Rukia ruki

Funds are also urgently needed to look for some of the Pacific's "lost species" (species with no known population):

• In Fiji: Red-throated Lorikeet Charmosyna amabilis
• In New Caledonia: New Caledonian Owlet-nightjar Aegotheles savesi

Please contact mark@birdlifepacific.org.fj for more details.

Institutional Fundraising for Conservation Projects Zoom In

Institutional fundraising for conservation projects - resource book

This step-by-step guide is designed to improve your success rate at institutional fundraising, by showing how to plan high-quality projects, how to translate them into excellent funding proposals, how to develop constructive, enduring donor relationships, and how to draft short and long-term fundraising plans and strategies. Based on two fundraising workshops in Fiji, facilitated by the two authors, this book provides a mixture of theoretical tools, practical examples and insightful tips based on years of fundraising experience. Please order your copy from Caroline Pridham (in the UK) or Maaike Manten (in Fiji)!