Within the framework of the EV NewLIFE project, and to combat illegal killing of birds (IKB) primarily, the anti-poaching unit (APU) of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Lebanon (SPNL) handed over with various equipment to be utilized in their field activities. As such, 5 digital cameras were delivered to the APU director Ms. Shirine Bou Raffoul. These cameras will be an added value to better document IKBs cases and to support the internal security forces (ISF) to apprehend these poachers. In addition, the APU were provided with 14 binoculars to be used for bird watching as an alternative activity for sustainable hunters and to be utilized for spotting illegal actions by poachers along the flyway and blackspots in Lebanon. Such support come at much needed time where the 2021-2022 hunting season was not permitted to open by the government; therefore, poaching, and illegal hunting was present throughout the country.
To save an endangered species, the Egyptian Vulture, institutions and organisations from 14 countries spanning the Balkans, Middle East and Africa have joined forces proving that political borders do not exist in these efforts. All of them have united under the project “Urgent Actions to Strengthen the Balkan Population of the Egyptian Vulture and Secure Its Flyway” (LIFE16 NAT/BG/000874), abbreviated to Egyptian Vulture New LIFE Project, launched in July 2017 with financial support from the EU’s LIFE Programme and the co-financing of the AG Leventis Foundation and the MAVA Foundation.
The Egyptian Vulture is a globally threatened species and over the last 30 years its population in the Balkans has declined by more than 80%, with no more than 70 pairs remaining. The reasons for this can be found not only on its breeding grounds on the peninsula, but also along its flyway. Among the four vulture species breeding in western Palearctic, the Egyptian Vulture is the only regular long-distant migrant. Every autumn, individual birds fly over 8,000 km to their wintering grounds in Africa, and return back to the Balkans in the following spring.
Vultures, help to keep ecosystems healthy as they act as natural carcass recyclers, thus they are better known as nature’s cleanup crew, do the dirty work of cleaning up after death. They provide critically important ecosystem services and socio-economic benefits. Hence, reducing the need to incinerate thousands of tons of animal remains every year. However, Egyptian Vultures are still declining in some regions and are considered globally endangered. As Europe’s only long-distance migratory vulture, not only does it face threats in its breeding grounds, but also across its flyway from Europe to Africa. Egyptian Vultures, specifically have cultural ties dated back to thousands of years, within the Egyptian culture and Hieroglyphic letters.
