Often unloved, sometimes feared, vultures are nonetheless crucial elements of many ecosystems across the world. In particular, their ability to clean up a carcass in record time is key to preventing the spread of harmful bacteria, thus protecting the health of humans and other animals in surrounding areas.

The number of vultures has dramatically declined over the past 40 years. Nowhere is this more evident than in Africa, which is currently experiencing a vulture crisis. With financial support from the Bio-Bridge Initiative (BBI), the South African organization Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) has partnered up with BirdLife Zimbabwe, BirdLife Botswana, and Raptors Botswana to address this by laying down the groundwork to establish the first transboundary vulture-safe zone in southern Africa.

Working in conservation for over 45 years, Endangered Wildlife Trust has determined that poisoning is the primary threat to Africa’s vultures, with southern Africa (Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa) at the epicenter for large-scale vulture poisoning. The reasons are many. The birds may be targeted directly for illegal wildlife trade or be poisoned deliberately by poachers, as they act as sentinels giving away the location of poached carcasses to rangers. They also succumb as the unintended victims to poison baits left out for carnivores, scavengers, and large herbivores posing a threat to human settlements. They may also be poisoned indirectly by lead that is consumed from the flesh of carcasses shot using leaded ammunition.

In the framework of this project, Endangered Wildlife Trust and its partners are engaging with landowners (farmers, game breeders and private reserves), national park officials, and other stakeholders at the intersection of South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, with a view to forming a network of parties willing to commit to reduce threats to vultures and manage land in a vulture-safe manner.

In addition to reaching out to key stakeholders on the ground, the cooperation work consists in conducting a systematic survey at key properties in an effort to determine the presence and extent of threats to vultures on properties and land across the proposed vulture-safe zone. Mapping and understanding the threat landscape will then inform the next phase of work to effectively establish a vulture-safe zone across the three countries.

The project team also conducts theoretical and practical training in poisoning response protocols at key sites throughout the proposed vulture-safe zone. As a result of this training and the distribution of Wildlife Poisoning Response Kits, rangers, law enforcement officials and other key stakeholders (police officials, anti-poaching units, veterinarians, and landowners) will be able to effectively respond to and handle wildlife poisoning incidents, thus reducing their impact on species and the environment. The training will also help identify poisoning hotspots and improve the prosecution rates of poachers.

Once the network of stakeholders for each country has been established, the project will continue to implement its long-term conservation vision for this vulture-rich landscape. Over the next ten years, the team and its partners will work with committed landowners and communities to coordinate the active mitigation and removal of the key threats to vultures on each property. From safe-proofing unsafe powerlines, phasing out the use of leaded ammunition for hunting and culling, to addressing the major threat of wildlife poisoning, the project aims to ultimately establish large tracts of land where vultures, and a diversity of other wildlife, can once again thrive.

First conceptualized and applied in Asia, where vulture numbers were decimated by the veterinary drug diclofenac, vulture-safe zones now cover vast stretches of land that are managed in ways that are conducive to vulture survival. In Africa, the establishment of vulture-safe zones is a conservation intervention recommended by the Convention for Migratory Species (CMS) Multi-species Action Plan for African-Eurasian Vultures (Action 11.4.4.) It is being adopted on a large scale by the Endangered Wildlife Trust and its partners and implemented by key conservation organizations across southern Africa, under the auspices of the Vulture-Safe Zone Alliance, to address the unique and multi-faceted challenges the continent’s vultures face.