ACAP Latest News

Read about recent developments and findings in procellariiform science and conservation relevant to the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels in ACAP Latest News.

Contact the ACAP Communications Advisor if you wish to have your news featured.

It’s World Migratory Bird Day this weekend

Noting that all albatrosses and petrels listed by ACAP are migratory species, the following text is taken from the World Migratory Bird Day website for information purposes.

“In times of ever-increasing global demand for energy, developing new and expanding existing renewable energy technologies are key when striving towards a low carbon future. Yet energy cannot be truly sustainable and nature-friendly unless it fully takes biodiversity and, more specifically, migratory birds into consideration.  With the theme “Energy – make it bird-friendly!”, World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) 2015 aims to highlight the importance of deploying energy technologies in a way that prevents, minimizes and mitigates impacts on migratory birds and their habitats.

Every year, millions of migratory birds struggle with the massive expansion of various means of generating and distributing energy: collisions and electrocution due to power lines as well as barrier effects from energy infrastructure are causing mortality and displacement.  In addition, the birds suffer effects from habitat loss and degradation and other disturbances from the deployment of hydropower, bio-energy, ocean, solar, wind and geothermal energy technologies.  Sustainable renewable energy production is expected to have positive effects on migratory birds by mitigating climate change and its impacts.  However, if certain energy technologies are deployed without proper planning, design and risk assessment, they can pose a grave threat to migratory bird species.

When expanding energy production, transition to wildlife-friendly methods is a key step to protect life on the Earth.  The conservation of migratory birds needs to be considered in all phases of energy development at multiple levels - locally, nationally and internationally. Therefore, concerted conservation actions by governments, nature conservation organizations, scientists and the energy sector as well as the general public are necessary.  This way the benefits of sustainable energy can be realized without the risk of harming migratory birds and their habitat."

 

Laysan and Black-footed Albatrosses - migratory species of the North Pacific, photograph by Eric Vanderwerf

"Launched in 2006 World Migratory Bird Day is an awareness-raising campaign which is celebrated annually and aims to inspire the worldwide conservation of both migratory birds and their habitats.  This campaign is organized by two international wildlife treaties administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) - the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA).

You can learn more about World Migratory Bird Day, register your event and order posters, stickers and postcards on the WMBD website as well as share your activities with the growing community behind WMBD across the globe.”

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 May 2015

ACAP’s Meeting of Parties in Spain ends with a standing ovation

The Fifth Session (MoP5) of the Meeting of the Parties of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) - the decision-making body of the Agreement – came to an end yesterday in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.

The day was spent discussing and adopting the meeting’s report prepared by the Secretariat.  Notably, MoP5 will be the last meeting of the Agreement conducted under the guidance of its current Executive Secretary, Warren Papworth, who retires at the end of the year.  The meeting warmly thanked him with a standing ovation for his service over the last decade, wishing him all the best for his well-earned retirement.  In reply, he thanked all his colleagues within the ACAP community for their help and friendship.  The Spanish hosts were also thanked for arranging a productive and enjoyable Session.

MoP5 gets down to adopting text on its last day - on the big screen 

MOP5's head table: Marco Favero, Warren Papworth and Ricardo Losa Giménez 

ACAP's Advisory Committee has had only three Chief Officers:

Marco Favero (Current Chair), John Cooper (past Vice-Chair)and Mark Tasker (past Chair and current Vice-Chair)

Mark Tasker thanks Warren Papworth with a gift at the Session's close

Photographs by John Cooper

All the MoP5 attendees signal for the camera, photograph by Mark Tasker

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 May 2015

A grand day out: ACAP goes to sea off Tenerife

Yesterday, attendees at ACAP's Fifth Session of its Meeting of Parties (MoP5) being held this week in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands took the day off from their deliberations for a field trip out to sea. The ACAP Information Officer participated and took some photographs of the day's events.

 

Was that a gull or a dove?  Mark Tasker, Øystein Størkersen, Ken Morgan and Rob Crawford consult their bird books before embarking

 

We saw Short-finned Pilot Whales Globicephala macrorhynchus and Common Bottle-nosed Dolphins Tursiops truncatus close up from the Nashira Uno out of the marina of Los Gigantes 

Blue sky, blue water and the 500-m black cliffs Acantilados de Los Gigantes near the western-most point of Tenerife

Fish Whisperer!  Marcelo Garcia of Chile catches a Flathead Grey Mullet Mugil cephalus in the marina with his bare hands (and a tomato roll)

After the boat cruise Marcelo Garcia and Mark Tasker forego an ice cream for the ATM queue

Up, up and up in our shiny red bus...

 

 ...to be rewarded with a stunning view of Mount Teide, at 3718 m Tenerife's (and Spain's) highest point and a volcano that last erupted in 1909.  It forms the centre of the Parque Nacional del Teide, a World Heritage Site inscribed in 2007. 

With grateful thanks to the session's Spanish hosts for arranging the day's events that were enjoyed by all.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 May 2015 

 

Welcome to the Pink-footed Shearwater: ACAP gets its 31st species in Tenerife

The Fifth Session of ACAP’s Meeting of Parties (MoP5) meeting in Tenerife, Spain, yesterday adopted an amendment to Annex 1 of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels that includes the Pink-footed Shearwater Puffinus creatopus in the list of species covered.

The proposal was made by Chile, the sole breeding range state for the species, with support from Australia.  Several Parties then spoke in support of the species’ nomination, including range state Ecuador, as well as two other range states, Canada and the USA, who are attending MoP5 as observers.  The successful nomination follows a process initiated by ACAP’s Advisory Committee.

The Pink-footed Shearwater is included in Appendix I of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and has a global category of threat of Vulnerable.

Pink-footed Shearwater, photograph by Peter Hodum

 

Range states express their delight at the inclusion of the Pink-footed Shearwater on ACAP's Annex 1.

From left: Marcelo Garcia (Chile), Roxana Galindo (Peru), Caroline Icaza Galarza (Ecuador), Mi Ae Kim & Stephen Wilger (USA) and Ken Morgan (Canada)

Photograph by John Cooper 

Both national and international efforts have been made to address conservation concerns regarding the new ACAP species, as set out in the North American Action Plan for the Conservation of the Pink-footed Shearwater (Puffinus creatopus), the National Plan for the Conservation of the Pink-footed Shearwater in Chile and the Recovery Strategy for the Short-tailed Albatross and the Pink-footed Shearwater in Canada.

Click here to access these documents and other news on how the Pink-footed Shearwater progressed to ACAP listing.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 May 2015

A photo gallery from Tenerife: who's who at ACAP's Meeting of Parties

ACAP’s Fifth Session of its Meeting of Parties in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain continued into its second day yesterday with the agenda filled with house-keeping matters: discussing finances, hearing and considering reports from the Secretariat and Advisory Committee and more.  For today's posting ACAP Latest News brings you a photo gallery of some of the attendees at MoP5.

  Sorted!  Florian Expert of France proudly displays his country's credentials letter

 

ACAP's next Party?  The USA's observer delegation gets serious: Mi Ae Kim and Stephen Wilger

Juan Pablo Seco Pon of the Secretariat's staff signals a welcome break

Warren Papworth (Executive Secretary) and Ian Angus (New Zealand) enjoy freshly-squeezed orange juice...

 ... with cookies

Attendees from southern Africa grin for the camera

  From left: Gcobane Popose (South Africa), Hannes Holtzhausen (Namibia), Johan de Goede, John Cooper, Azwianewi Makhado & Robert Crawford (all South Africa) 

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 May 2015

The Agreement on the
Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels

ACAP is a multilateral agreement which seeks to conserve listed albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters by coordinating international activity to mitigate known threats to their populations.

About ACAP

ACAP Secretariat

119 Macquarie St
Hobart TAS 7000
Australia

Email: secretariat@acap.aq
Tel: +61 3 6165 6674