Wetlands International, its partners and other stakeholders from all over the world converged for a Climate Resilient Flyway Network Workshop from the 20th to 24thMarch 2016 in Kisumu, Kenya. The workshop aimed to share lessons learned and experiences in the conservation of wetlands that are important to waterbirds and sustainable livelihoods in a changing climate.
This important gathering enabled Wetlands International and its partners to exchange experiences and shared lessons learned in wetlands’ conservation important for waterbirds and sustainable livelihoods in a changing climate.
The team visited the Yala Swamp in Kisumu, Kenya for a mock bird count in celebration of the 50th International Waterbird Census (IWC). Yala Swamp is classified among Kenya’s 60 Important Bird Areas (IBA).This count demonstrated to participants how the bird census works; identifying different bird species, counting and how to derive figures over time which when put together are valuable for the conservation of the wetlands. The birds inhabiting the swamp include the Great egret, Pied Kingfisher, Black-winged stilt, Blue-breasted bee-eater, Papyrus gonolek, Swamp flycatcher and Papyrus canary.
Earlier this year Wetlands International launched a year-long campaign “Let’s make it count” in partnership with its national and International IWC partners, volunteers and governments. With this campaign Wetlands International wants to raise the bar and increase the number of important wetland sites covered by the annual count, and ensure the latest and most up-to-date information about waterbirds is available to support conservation action worldwide. As part of the campaign, ten binoculars were donated by Wetlands International on behalf of Vogelberscherming Nederland (BirdLife Netherlands) to the Kanyibok Youth Group to help them in bird counting. Two spotting scopes were also donated to Kenya’s IWC coordinators. During the workshop issues of climate change, and the socio-economic and environmental impacts on wetlands were discussed with different experts in the fields sharing their African experiences in integrating wetland conservation, livelihood resilience and climate change adaptation.
More focus was given to the Ethiopian and Mali teams who will implement climate resilient flyway projects in the Lake Abijatta-Shalla-Ziway catchment of Ethiopia and the Inner Niger Delta, Mali. The team shared lessons learned through wetland conservation and improving and restoring livelihoods. Action plans for Ethiopia and Mali were also developed.
This project is part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) supports this initiative on the basis of a decision adopted by the German Bundestag.
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