South Africa

Rallidae camera trap study at Middelpunt and Ingula Wetlands

Ethiopia

Development of a Community-based Project at Berga Wetland

Over the past 17 years, as a means of gaining the support of the local community at Berga wetland for the conservation of the White-winged Flufftail and its habitat, the Middelpunt Wetland Trust has provided financial support for the building of a primary school for 700 pupils at Berga, through the support of Rockjumper Birding Tours. In return, the site support group patrols the wetland during the breeding season to prevent grazing and grass cutting.

Colyn et al. 2020 (“Restricted breeding habitat of the Critically Endangered White-winged Flufftail in Ethiopia and its conservation implications”, Ostrich), published the first quantified estimate of breeding habitat availability and population size for this species in the three known wetland catchments in Ethiopia. The authors confirmed c. 95% of the three sites, known to support the species, have been transformed.  Through ongoing land degradation, especially grazing pressure and draining for agricultural intensification, and these factors being exacerbated by the poverty and increased growth of the Ethiopian population (about 3% annually), two of the three catchments are no longer suitable to the species.

Implementation of the African Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) Strategic Plan and AEWA Plan of Action for Africa relates to the development and effective implementation of AEWA ISSAPs. At the third meeting of the AEWA International Working Group for White-winged Flufftail that took place in South Africa in 2019, as part of the development of the 2020 – 2022 Implementation Plan for the ISSAP by the AEWA Secretariat, the South African and Ethiopian Department of Environments and other stakeholders, it was agreed that the formalisation of an approved community-based project at the Upper Berga catchment should be prioritised. This project will promote the engagement of local communities in seeking local solutions to habitat destruction through community-based habitat conservation initiatives for the conservation of the White-winged Flufftail. A similar project will be investigated by the South African government (Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries), with focus on Ntsikeni Nature Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, also declared as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

BirdLife South Africa is assisting the AEWA Secretariat (Sergey Dereliev, Head of the AEWA Secretariat’s Science, Implementation and Compliance Unit), with the overseeing of the steps required for the development of an approved project plan for the Berga community-based project. As part of this process, a private international consultant has undertaken a stakeholder analysis, including spatial analyses overlaying layers of available information such as administrative delineation, ownership, economic and other land uses, ecological information and White-winged Flufftail extent of occurrence. The Berga community-based conservation plan also include a community needs and conservation problem analysis, through the cooperation of local experts and organisations, including Mengistu Wondrafrash (Ethiopian Wildlife and Natural History Society) and Dr Bruktawit Abdu Mahamued (Edge EDGE of Existence Fellow, the Zoological Society of London), who assisted with the interviewing of local communities and authorities. A multi-stakeholder workshop is planned to take place in Ethiopia in 2022, to outline the approved involvement and roles of the local populations at Berga wetland in promoting the sustainable use of the wetland. In addition, the Ethiopian Wildlife and Conservation Authority, is supported through the AEWA Secretariat to secure the Upper Berga catchment under formal protection.

Dr Hanneline Smit-Robinson

BirdLife South Africa

Head of Conservation

Notes From Ethiopia

Surveys and some awareness raising activities were conducted in Ethiopia from 2017 till 2019 as part of the EDGE Fellowship Award received to work on the White-winged Flufftail.

Three sites were selected for the surveys as they have been recently known to harbour the species. Two of the sites (Berga and Weserbi) in Ethiopia are Important Bird Areas (IBAs) but do not have legal protection. Bilacha is another site where the species was found.

Weserbi had become quite degraded over recent years and did not seem to be a suitable habitat unless the grazing pressure is greatly reduced. And during the surveys no signs of the species were found.

Bilacha is a relatively small area located not very far from Berga. It is mostly communal grazing land with some fenced off private grazing areas. At Bilacha a couple of pairs and one nest was found in 2017 and 2018 while conducting surveys. However, in 2019 we were not able to find a single individual or any signs of breeding. The area was grazed very low and disturbed as compared to the other years.

Thus, we decided to focus more on the Berga site for majority of the work. At Berga, some 400 hectares of land is owned by the Holeta agricultural research centre for breeding cattle. The centre does not allow grazing on this land from June till December each year which synchronizes with the species time in Ethiopia and seems to have greatly helped with the survival of the species in the area. The rest of the area is communal and private grazing land. In 2018 the Flufftails were found more in the research centre’s land as there was good protection. This however changed in 2019 as the research centre’s land started becoming illegally grazed. During this time the flufftails seemed to have shifted more to the private grazing areas as they had more protection from trampling.

In 2019 an education program was conducted at Berga. We were able to reach about 350 students across four schools that are surrounding the wetland. During this time an educational poster was printed and distributed to students who attended the education program. Following the education program, four kids and two adults took their own initiatives to protect the nests on their own private grazing area. Awards were given to these individuals by prominent actors in the Flufftail conservation (Malcolm Drummond and Aster Teferra) for protecting nests of the White-winged Flufftail.

We were also able to conduct an awareness workshop with relevant stakeholders from the site as well as from Addis Ababa. During the meeting we were able to present the results of the works during the fellowship. We were also able to start a discussion about what needs to be done in order to improve the conservation status of the species as well the livelihoods of the community.

Bruktawit Abdu Mahamued (PhD)

Kotebe Metropolitan University

EDGE Fellow