Wings & Waves Newsletter October 2015

 

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From 17 to 19 September 2015 in Gland, Switzerland, MAVA Foundation organised the second workshop to develop its strategy for the Mediterranean Basin for the period of 2016–‐2022.
Participants from research groups, NGOs, and funding organisations attended. Assad Serhal, the Director General of SPNL represented the organization.

 

 

SPNL participates in MAVA’s Strategic Planning Workshop for the Mediterranean Basin Programme

Following the definition of the conservation targets and in addition to criteria proposed by the MAVA team, workshop participants proposed more criteria to narrow down where to intervene on each target within the Mediterranean Basin.

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On July 17, 2015, the Naameh landfill was finally shut down, 15 years after its initial closing date. The Government of Lebanon had no contingency prepared to deal with waste management, and trash quickly began to overflow from the streets and riverbanks of Beirut and Mount Lebanon in what can now be considered Lebanon’s worst trash crisis in history.

 

 

Lebanese government grants municipalities a leading role in treating local waste

On September 9, 2015 Lebanon’s government agreed on a plan to resolve the trash crisis, hoping to end a dispute that has caused piles of rubbish to fester on Beirut’s streets and has set off a huge wave of protests. The plan, approved during an emergency cabinet meeting, gives municipalities a leading role in treating local waste.

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It takes the dexterity of a lacemaker to remove the tiny bird caught in nets strung between pine trees on Poland’s Baltic coast, a veritable paradise for dozens of migratory species.

 

 

Climate change clips wings of migratory birds in Poland

Migratory birds face a myriad of other man-made threats. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, end up on dinner plates around the Mediterranean basin.
Snipes, with their long, slender bill, are considered a delicacy from Cyprus to France, even though they provide precious little meat.

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A further eighteen birds of prey species have been listed at an international meeting of government representatives and experts this week in Trondheim, Norway. Seven of these species under threat are critically endangered according to the IUCN Red List.

 

 

Nations List 12 Vulture Species to Tackle Population Decline in Africa

The 2nd Meeting of the Signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey (Raptors MOU) was held 5 – 8 October in Trondheim at the invitation of the Government of Norway. The Raptors MOU was concluded under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals as a special instrument to address threats to these species.

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Private sector investments are shifting to address the challenges posed by climate change, and this trend could accelerate if governments and policy-makers take further actions to increase the demand for low-carbon, climate resilient investment, according to a report released today by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team.

 

 

Financial Markets Shifting to Address Climate Change: New Report

The new report, “Trends in Private Sector Climate Finance,” found that the private sector had made significant strides in response to the challenge posed by climate change since the 2014 Climate Summit in New York, where a range of finance sector including leaders from banks, pension funds, insurers and asset managers announced a series of high-profile commitments and targets to increase climate finance.

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As the European summer turns into autumn, millions of birds will head to Africa using the world’s second most-used flyway of soaring birds across the Red Sea and the Rift Valley, over the Middle East and East Africa.

 

 

Migrating through the energy maze

Poisoning of agricultural pests, destruction of habitats, illegal killing, and waste disposal all pose threats to the migrants. It might be more surprising to learn that increasingly, energy production also endangers them.

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Wetlands for our Future: Sustainable Livelihoods is the theme for World Wetlands Day in 2016. This theme is selected to demonstrate the vital role of wetlands for the future of humanity and specifically their relevance towards achieving the new Sustainable Development Goals.

 

 

World Wetlands Day 2016: send your stories!

World Wetlands Day is celebrated every year on 2 February. This day marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea. Since 1997, the Ramsar Secretariat provides outreach materials to help raise public awareness about the importance and value of wetlands.

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Applications for the 2016 Conservation Leadership Programme (CLP) Conservation Team Awards are now open! CLP aims to advance biodiversity conservation globally by building the leadership capabilities of early-career conservation professionals working in high-priority places with limited capacity to address conservation issues.

 

 

2016 Conservation Leadership Programme Team Awards: Call for Applications

This partnership initiative, including BirdLife International, Fauna & Flora International and the Wildlife Conservation Society, has been helping young conservationists across the world achieve their goals for 30 years.

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The second Eye on Earth Summit opened in Abu Dhabi today, with leaders of the Summit Alliance partner organisations highlighting the critical role the movement is playing in promoting dialogue and driving international action to help overcome the challenges associated with data to support informed decision-making for sustainable development.

 

 

Eye on Earth Set to Overcome Sustainable Development Data Challenges at a Critical Time For Decision Makers

Global agreement this year on major intergovernmental commitments on sustainable development has brought into sharp focus the need for transparent, timely and accurate data and information on the state of the world’s resources.

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It’s a question everyone involved with environmental conservation must wrestle with. How to convince the world of the benefits of a protected environment? We may feel that they are obvious, but decision-makers and the general pubic may need more persuasion, particularly in terms of the benefits to people as well as wildlife.

 

 

Rehabilitating disused old mines into havens of nature

This is where TESSA (Toolkit for Ecosystem Service Site-based Assessment) comes in. Developed by BirdLife International and others, it is a relatively simple tool to help users determine the value of ecosystem services (benefits that people receive from nature, such as clean drinking water, or recreational opportunities) provided by a site and who benefits from them

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Thirty Macedonians converged on Prespa in the Republic of Macedonia from 2 to 4 October to celebrate Euro Birdwatch 2015 with 32.000 others from 41 European and Central Asian countries.

 

 

From casual birdwatching to bird monitoring and conservation

The Euro Birdwatch event in Macedonia was organised by the Macedonian Ecological Society (MES, BirdLife in Macedonia) and brought together Local Conservation Groups (LCGs) and volunteers to observe the beginning of the autumn migration (five million birds were recorded over Europe and Central Asia).

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Good news for seabird conservation in Portugal, as the country’s government approves the designation of two new Special Protection Areas (SPAs).

 

 

New protected areas announced for seabirds in Portugal

The decision was based on seabird monitoring data, collected along the Portuguese coast over the past ten years. BirdLife’s Portuguese Partner SPEA, the Portuguese Society for the Study of Birds

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News in Photos

A heron holds its prey

A heron holds its prey in its beak as it flies over the Mulde river in Golzern, eastern Germany, on October 9, 2015.

 

AFP PHOTO / DPA / JAN WOITAS
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News in Photos

The Cranes Journey

Cranes fly on October 11, 2015 over Linum, Germany.

 

AFP PHOTO / DPA / RALF HIRSCHBERGER.
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News in Photos

Hima Anjar

Hima Aanjar was announced in 2008, it constitutes of wetlands, agricultural/forest lands, and the Western Anti-Lebanon Mountains.

 

This area has a variety of important globally threatened species such as Syrian Serin bird, turtles, Common Otter, and swamp cats; in addition to its distinctive flora.
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With the Support of MAVA foundation

 

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Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon – SPNL
Email: news@spnl.org
Web: http://www.spnl.org
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