SEABIRD CONSERVATION PROGRAMME
The Seabird Conservation team participated in an internal strategy and team-building session, spending the morning in the office before going on a hike and birding on the slopes of Table Mountain.
LANDSCAPE CONSERVATION PROGRAMME
Roy Robertson, Matthew Orolowitz and Ernst Retief met with Orizon to explore opportunities for collaboration around carbon credits. They discussed the potential for using carbon credits as a mechanism to incentivise farmers to conserve grassland habitats, with Botha’s Lark and other threatened species benefiting as a result. This could provide a sustainable financial incentive for landowners who commit to biodiversity-friendly land management practices.
SPECIES CONSERVATION PROGRAMME
Linda van den Heever presented a talk on lead poisoning in vultures at the Rand Barbet Bird Club’s monthly meeting.
EMPOWERING PEOPLE PROGRAMME
The sustainable livelihoods project at Ntsikeni saw its first mobile auction brought to the community in partnership with Meat Naturally. This is a significant milestone in this project as it not only regulates stocking rates and catalyses the rural economy, but also creates access to markets that communities would otherwise not be able to access. About R500 000 received from this auction will be ploughed back into the communities living in nine villages.
REGIONAL CONSERVATION PROGRAMME
Keenan Meissenheimer completed the Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) identification and delineation training course and passed the KBA practitioner’s exam with flying colours.
SCIENCE & INNOVATION PROGRAMME
David Ehlers Smith, Rion Lerm and Colleen Downs resubmitted two scientific articles, oneto Global Ecology and Conservation, and the other to Global Change Biology. The articles used Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2) data to investigate the effects of drought on the bird community in the Kruger National Park from 2014-2019.
POLICY & ADVOCACY PROGRAMME
Sam Ralston-Paton and Kirsten Day attended a meeting with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and other key stakeholders to discuss key messages in the mining and renewable energy sections of the National Biodiversity Assessment.
HEAD OF CONSERVATION
Hanneline Smit-Robinson attended several external meetings, including the bi-annual Mabula Ground Hornbill Board meeting.
BUSINESS DIVISION
Core staff met with On the Dot to discuss growing African Birdlife magazine’s retail footprint. Mark Anderson met with Ashley and Tracey Smith at OR Tambo International Airport (Ashley is the President of the UK’s Hawk Conservancy). The quarterly BirdLife South Africa Board (BLSA) meeting was held on Wednesday. Mark and Kurt Martin, BLSA’s Communications Manager, met with Ulrico Grech-Cumbo, CEO of Habitat XR, to discuss possible collaborations. Progress was made with the planning of and preparation for the annual Raffle, Photography Competition, and Flock to St Helena Island. Mark took a few days’ leave to join his wife, Tania, with her annual long-term vegetation monitoring work in the Kalahari.