Building Capacity for Sustainable Hunting of Migratory Birds in the Mediterranean countries of North Africa and the Middle East

The problem

Hunters kill an estimated 500 million birds as they migrate through the Mediterranean each year, a significant proportion of which are shot or trapped in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East that border the Mediterranean. Most are from species and populations that breed in Europe and winter in Africa and many of those killed are internationally threatened species or listed on Annex 1 of the European Union’s ‘Birds Directive’. However, hunting is an important socio-economic activity in the region, particularly in rural areas, involving hundreds of thousands of people and hectares, and supporting a variety of groups and the interests of these groups must be considered if conservation measures to address the plight of migratory birds are to succeed. Management of bird hunting in the region is inadequate with often poor legal regulation and law enforcement, lack of resources and capacity among relevant government institutions and NGOs, poor public and hunter awareness of the impact of hunting, a lack of regional agreement on action to better protect migratory birds, and past conflicts between hunters and conservationists.

The Project

In response to the above, BirdLife International, in partnership with AAO in Tunisia, SPNL in Lebanon and AEWA, with additional financial support from the European Union’s LIFE Third Countries fund, VBN and UNDP-GEF recently completed a 3-year initiative (2004-2007) to tackle these issues in the region. The LIFE Third Countries in the southern and eastern Mediterranean are: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria. The overall goal was to "strengthen the management of bird hunting in selected North African and Middle Eastern countries of the Mediterranean region to reduce excessive, indiscriminate and illegal hunting of migratory birds, promote more sustainable hunting practices and enhance the compliance of international and regional agreements on the conservation of migratory birds".

Project activities

The Project achieved these through a series of regional initiatives and ‘model’ collaborative projects between government, hunting and conservation groups and other stakeholders in Tunisia and Lebanon. These countries acted as a focus or ‘hub’ for projects that can be replicated in other countries in their region (French-speaking North Africa and the Arabic Middle East, respectively). The project ran from November 2004 to October 2007. Activities include:

A Black-winged Kite in Cairo Bird Market

1. Review of information on hunting of migratory birds

The Project reviewed current bird hunting, its management and impact, socio-economic and cultural importance, potential alternatives, and ‘best practice’ for hunting of migratory birds in region and published a series of synthesis reviews that will act as a resource for national governments and other interested stakeholders.

National Hunting Report - Algeria (PDF 1.7MB)
National Hunting Report - Egypt (PDF 239KB)
National Hunting Report - Jordan (PDF 304KB)
National Hunting Report - Lebanon (PDF 114KB)
National Hunting Report - Morocco (PDF 2.2MB)
National Hunting Report - Palestine (PDF 123KB)
National Hunting Report - Syria (PDF 83KB)
National Hunting Report - Tunisia Part 1 (PDF 1.1MB) Part 2 (PDF 3.7MB) Part 3 (PDF 2.1MB)
Bird Hunting Practices (PDF 408KB)
Bird Hunting Practices - Arabic (PDF 3.4MB)
Bird Hunting Policy and Legislation (PDF 382KB)
Bird Hunting Policy and Legislation - Arabic (PDF 3.5MB)
Bird Hunting Management (PDF 294KB)
Bird Hunting Management - Arabic (PDF 2.6MB)
Religious Cultural & Socioeconomic importance (PDF 426KB)
Religious Cultural & Socioeconomic importance - Arabic (PDF 4.3MB)
Alternative Economic Models (PDF 372KB)
Alternative Economic Models - Arabic (PDF 3.4MB)

2. Guidelines for Sustainable Hunting of Migratory Birds

The Project developed a ‘model‘ for a more responsible, sustainable approach to the hunting of migratory birds in the southern and eastern Mediterranean in a partnership between government institutions and conservation and national hunting groups and included joint development of a ‘Code of Practice’ and recommended accreditation system for hunters.

Guidelines (PDF 729KB)
Guidelines - Arabic (PDF 2.7MB)
Code of Practice (PDF 157KB)
Code of Practice - Arabic (PDF 478KB)

3. Promotion of sustainable hunting behaviour

The Project sought to make hunters and national and local government staff more aware of the impact of hunting on migratory bird populations, legal rights and responsibilities and promote good hunting practices and ‘stewardship’ of natural resources to reduce indiscriminate and unnecessary killing in Tunisia and Lebanon.

4. Improving public awareness

The Project developed educational materials and programmes on bird conservation and sustainable hunting practices for specific target audiences, such as local governments and teenage males (the next generation of hunters) as well as the general public in Tunisia and Lebanon.

5. Development and enforcement of hunting legislation

The Project addressed some of the inadequacies of hunting legislation and enforcement in Lebanon and Tunisia through a review of current legislation, design of hunting permit systems, in a partnership between government, conservation and hunting groups. The project also developed a database of priority species and sites in need of legal protection and held ‘awareness days’ on hunting legislation and identification of protected bird species for law enforcement officials.

6. Resolving conflict and building partnerships

The Project worked to improve communication and understanding between government, conservation and hunting groups through a series of training workshops on conflict-resolution, consensus building, advocacy and networking for national and local governments and selected NGOs.

Lebanon Conflict Resolution Network (Part One 3.5MB; Part Two 4.4MB; Part Three 1.4MB)

7. Strengthening co-operation and compliance with international agreements

The Project sought to generate greater political awareness and create the enabling environment for increased membership of international agreements through review of the key agreements with the governments in the region. The project also held a meeting to demonstrate alternatives to the use of lead shot for hunting.

Conventions (PDF 1.7MB)
Lead Shot (PDF 578KB)

8. Project Sustainability

The Project identified essential follow up activities through the development of a Regional Action Plan for Sustainable Hunting and Conservation of Migratory Birds in the Mediterranean countries of North Africa and the Middle East for the period 2008-2013.