1. 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

2. 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

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

4. BirdLife’s assessments of European birds
BiE
( )
BiE
( )
BiEU

5. Principle outcomes: data inventories and SPEC assessments

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

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

8. 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

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

13. 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

14. Synchrony between planned cycles for Article 12 reporting and Birds in Europe 3
Decade
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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

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

20. 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)

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

22. 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

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

24. 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

25. 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)

26. 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

27. …pending the outcome of tender bid and 2013 round
Beyond 2013: the potential for further cooperation – if this model works well…
Decade
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