Implementation period: April 2015 to September 2018

Implementation area: European Union countries and African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement member states

Target Vulture species: Cinereous Vulture, Bearded Vulture

The LIFE Euro SAP aims to develop new Species Action Plans (SAPs) and to review and update existing SAPs for a total of 16 species.

The Species Action Plans provide the status, ecology and threats of bird species and are used by the European Commission to undertake the key actions required to improve their conservation status in Europe. SAPS also conditions for effective coordination among the European Commission, EU Member States, the international conventions and non-governmental organizations involved in international bird conservation efforts.

This revision is more than urgent as several species benefiting from SAPs have seen their conservation status deteriorate lately, and/or have very old SAPs - the latter is the case of the bearded vulture, which is covered by a SAP from the end of the 90s, that does not include some of the more recent threats and populations dynamics, including the results from the several reintroduction projects that the VCF is coordinating.

By early 2018, the finalized plans will be ready to be adopted by the European Commission, the AEWA (African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement) and participating Member States. In order to promote and monitor SAP implementation across Europe, Africa and Asia, a web-based platform collecting and sharing relevant information was created.

BirdLife International (leading partner), Naturschutzbund Deutschland e. V. [NABU], Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), Sveriges Ornitologiska Forening – BirdLife Sweden (SOF), Vereniging tot de Bescherming van Vogels (VBN), Sociedad Española de Ornitología (SEO/BirdLife), Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF), Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves (SPEA), Lithuanian Ornithological Society (LOD), Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO), Hellenic Ornithological Society (HOS), Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation of the EU (FACE)

• Evaluation of the Implementation of the Action Plans of the Cinereous Vulture and Bearded Vulture;
• Update of the Status Report  of the Cinereous Vulture and Bearded Vulture;
• Elaboration of the species status reports and consultation with stakeholders;
• Workshop with experts and stakeholders from the relevant flyway countries for the Bearded Vulture.

For more information, visit the EuroSAP website