Support our Partners in Ukraine
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on 24th February 2022, the BirdLife Partnership has been working together with Polish Partner OTOP, to help the staff of our Ukrainian Partner, USPB.
The first priority was to secure their safety, find shelter, and then to secure their employment whether in Ukraine or in Poland with our Partner, OTOP. Many Ukrainians have been directly and indirectly supported in this way and this was made possible by donations from this page.
“Hopefully these nightmares and daymares will end very soon and we will watch sky not awaiting bombs and rockets, but only watching migrating birds.”Oleg Dudkin, CEO – Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds (USPB), our Ukrainian BirdLife partner.
What has been made possible with your donations so far
Prior to the invasion, we had been working with USPB to develop a major steppe restoration project on the coast of the Black Sea to benefit species such as Demoiselle Cranes, Great Bustards and Saiga Antelope. Now, it is a war zone. Yet with support, it has enabled our Partners to be able to continue their mission when the fighting ends, and even continue some conservation actions right now.
In the western Transcarpathian region of Ukraine, USPB, together with our German Partner NABU, have continued implementing a project to support the growth of the barn owl population, which is considered one of the least numerous species of owls in Ukraine. The main task is creating new bird nesting places and to protect those existing nests.
Currently, the project is implemented in Zakarpattia Oblast, on the territories of Berehiv, Mukachiv, Irshav and Vynohradiv districts, but there are plans to extend in the next two years to the regions of Lviv, Volyn, Odessa and Kherson
Also being implemented in Ukraine is the project “Restoring the bison herd viability in Elanetskyi steppe nature reserve”. This project is repairing the nature reserve enclosures damaged by the hostilities, building a ranger post and increasing the herd gene pool diversity by purchasing and bringing in two new males. More photos can be found on USPB’s Facebook.
In both Poland and Ukraine, USPB staff have been organising birdwatching tours, walks and workshops for refugees, displaced people or those affected by the war. Taking place in cities and in parks near Krakow, Warsaw and Kyiv. In Poland, such activities were provided and organised with the International Office for Migration (IOM) in Poland and OTOP – and with the financial support of CEB Migrant and Refugee Fund and the US Government. Over 30 refugees, of whom many are children and teenagers, have participated. OTOP also held a Polish-Ukrainian webinar for the Protected Areas of Ukraine attended by over 70 people.
While the Russian aggression continues, it remains difficult to comprehensively assess the scale of the damage to nature but it is clearly considerable. Yet, the BirdLife Partnership remains determined to support those affected by the war and to do what we can, when the time is right, to aid national rehabilitation, demining, reconstruction and restoration efforts in Ukraine.
Where will my donation go?
• directly to our partners on the ground helping the staff of USPB to keep safe and continue conservation where they can
• to our Partner organisations in countries surrounding Ukraine who are supporting the staff safety and their jobs
• stay with BirdLife International to provide for the future re-building of conservation infrastructure in Ukraine
Help today
You can support our Ukrainian partners in USPB by contributing directly to BirdLife’s emergency appeal above. Alternatively, you can donate to an appeal of one of our national partners listed below.
Our German partner NABU has an appeal in German here and our Bulgarian partner BSPB has an appeal here to support their partners in the Tuzlovski Lagoon National Nature Park in Ukraine.