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The Saker Falcon Conservation meeting, which gathered conservationists and saker falcon biologists from around the world, was concluded in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday (7/4/2009). The three-day meeting was hosted by the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD).
The meeting, which was a follow-up of a resolution passed during the Meeting of Parties (MOP) of Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) held in Rome in 2008, was attended by several international non-governmental organisations such as BirdLife International and International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey, in addition to officials from the Convention on Migratory Species and EAD.
The meeting’s participants discussed the conservation status of the Saker Falcon, shared their concerns related to the sustainable use of the Saker Falcon, and proposed a way forward to effectively conserve the species.
After thorough deliberations on various studies and research on the agenda by researchers and conservationists, participants agreed that conserving the Saker Falcon is a high priority. Participants recognized that there are major gaps in the knowledge on the status of the Saker Falcon and the threats faced by the species.
It was also agreed that co-operation between all stakeholders in the Saker range states is required to improve the conservation status of the species, including undertaking conservation activities under the umbrella of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), Birds of Prey MoU and further to encourage all Saker range states to join this MoU.
The meeting has supported initiative by partner countries in the Gulf to develop a regional Action Plan together with BirdLife Middle East involving end users in the GCC region
It was also agreed that BirdLife is to undertake a review of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) status of the Saker via public forum in autumn 2009 and they encouraged all interested parties to participate in this process.
The meeting also recognises the need to educate and inform end-users about the conservation issues of using wild-sourced Sakers, quantify the number of falconers and the number and types of falcons used in the region, and to transmit this information to relevant bodies. Moreover, this could be achieved by encouraging the establishment of falconry associations in Arab falconry nations.
The way multi-lateral environmental agreements (MEA), such as Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), are applied should reflect the realities of the needs for Saker conservation (including the role of legal sustainable use and trade), together with the social, cultural and economic needs of the parties. In turn, MEA’s obligations should be respected by all parties.
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