Cooperation with Birds in Europe 3, and Pan-European and EU27 Red List of Birds Ian Burfield European Science & Data Manager, BirdLife International Article 12 reporting kick-off meeting Brussels, 13 October 2011

Talk structure BirdLife’s assessments of European birds Impacts of BiE1 and BiE2 on conservation Wider impacts via the scientific literature The EU’s 2020 biodiversity target for birds The potential for cooperation with BiE3 How such cooperation may be facilitated Good examples of successful cooperation Conclusions about 2013 and a look ahead

BirdLife’s European Partnership 42 Partners, Partners Designate and Affiliates > 2,000,000 members > 4,000 staff

BirdLife’s assessments of European birds BiE1 - 1994 (1970-1990) BiE2 - 2004 (1990-2000) BiEU - 2004

Principle outcomes: data inventories and SPEC assessments

‘Winners’ between BiE1 and BiE2 Status of 14 species improved during 1990s Several seabirds, raptors and waterbirds recovered from earlier declines/persecution

‘Losers’ between BiE1 and BiE2 Status of 45 species deteriorated during 1990s Many farmland birds, waders & raptors declined Many long-distance migrants declined rapidly

Impacts on conservation in Europe Global Red List status of many species uplisted or downlisted Species Action Plans developed for most threatened species Management Plans developed for some huntable species Most threatened species treated as priorities for LIFE funding Conservation status of many species improved as a result

“Future assessments will require the setting of quantitative objectives, and an increase in the availability of data from monitoring schemes.”

Habitats Directive Article 17 Birds Directive Article 12 Data required for Article 12 reporting and Birds in Europe/Red Lists are very similar Parameters and assessments Habitats Directive Article 17 Birds Directive Article 12 BiE1 (Tucker & Heath 1994) BiE2 + BiEU (BirdLife 2004) BiE3 (2014) Range Yes No Population Habitat for species Future prospects National/biogeog. status assessment EU/European status assessment

Synchrony between planned cycles for Article 12 reporting and Birds in Europe 3 Decade 2001-2010 2011-2020 Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Article 12 report   Birds in Europe Conclusion: if possible to take advantage of synchrony and data overlap by cooperating, both processes should benefit

Some advantages of cooperation Eliminate wasteful/costly duplication of effort Minimise risk of conflicting data sets emerging Maximise consensus on resulting data submitted Add value to EU data by placing them in wider contexts (pan-European, flyway, global) Build and strengthen collaborations between statutory bodies and data holders (inc. NGOs) Provide one common, agreed, unchallenged EU data set – for various uses over next six years

Facilitating cooperation and support May 2011: EC issued call for tender to support Article 12 reporting process 3 objectives: Produce European Red List for birds, following IUCN criteria/guidelines, at pan-European and EU27 scales Provide technical assistance to EU Member States for first reporting round under new Article 12 system Provide technical support to the EC, the EEA and the ETC-BD for the EU level assessment (composite report) of data provided by Member States

Bid submitted by consortium in June 2011 BirdLife International (BLI) European Bird Census Council (EBCC) Wetlands International (WI) International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology (SOVON) British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Czech Society for Ornithology (CSO) Stichting BirdLife Europe (SBE) BirdLife Europe

Examples of consortium proposals Encouraging all relevant data holders to engage in process and cooperate to reach consensus Planning pan-European kick-off meeting (2012) to ensure comparable approach taken outside EU Establishing a ‘help desk’ to offer MS support on all aspects of reporting and build FAQ repository Developing guidance documents as needed, e.g. best practice on estimating population sizes Ensuring that the quality of national data sets are assessed comparably, with clear audit trails

Statistics Netherlands Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS) www.ebcc.info/pecbm Statistics Netherlands Indicators adopted at many levels Number of countries and species covered increases every year Best practice guide published

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species BirdLife is the official Red List Authority for birds for IUCN First applied regional Red List guidelines in BiE2 and BiEU Developed Red List Index (RLI)

Important Bird Area (IBA) Programme Started in Europe in direct response to Birds Directive Special focus on wetlands of international importance Successful global programme

European Bird Database (EBD) Initiated by EBCC in 1980s for European Atlas Merged with BiE1 efforts by BirdLife in 1990s Published jointly in by BirdLife/EBCC in 2000

Breeding waders in Europe in 1990s Data sharing between BirdLife and Wader Study Group minimised any discrepancies Links with other IUCN/WI Specialist Groups

Collaborations with other stakeholders Sustainable Hunting Initiative led BirdLife and FACE to sign joint agreement in 2004 Works well and has even led to some national equivalents Currently partners on an EC-funded project on SAPs/MPs

Collaborations with the corporate sector ACE – risk assessment to identify set of forest bird species capable of indicating changes in the quality of forest habitats HeidelbergCement – new partnership to improve the protection of biodiversity at quarry sites in Europe, at various scales IBAT – innovative tool to facilitate access to accurate and up-to-date biodiversity information to support critical business decisions (including BirdLife’s data sets)

Conclusions Synchrony and similar data requirements of Article 12 reporting and BiE3 would reward cooperation Such cooperation offers many potential advantages both at national level and EU/European scales The direct and indirect outcomes of previous BiE assessments demonstrate the benefits of this work A strong consortium of experienced international organisations is ready to support MS and the EC Collaborations between consortium members and with others confirm the value of cooperation

…pending the outcome of tender bid and 2013 round Beyond 2013: the potential for further cooperation – if this model works well… Decade 2001-2010 2011-2020 Year 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Article 12 report   Birds in Europe ? …pending the outcome of tender bid and 2013 round