Strengthening national capacities to fight wildlife poisoning and raise awareness about the problem across seven Balkan countries (LIFE19 GIE/NL/001016)
Objective: Build capacities to improve management of poisoning incidents and reduce mortality of vultures and wildlife from the illegal use of poison baits.
Main actions:
- Cooperation with the relevant local authorities for the preparation and implementation of Local Action Plans to combat the illegal use of poison baits in important areas for scavengers.
- Development of operational protocols for the proper management of poisoning incidents.
- Investigation of the origin of toxic substances used in poison baits.
- Establishment of national database containing all wildlife poisoning incidents in Balkan countries.
- Specialised training seminars both in Spain and Greece on the management of poisoning incidents with the assistance of academic and public institutions of the country and abroad.
- Awareness raising seminars for public prosecutors and judges on the practice of illegal use of poison baits and its impact on wildlife.
- Establishment of a Balkan network for transborder cooperation regarding the investigation of wildlife poisoning incidents, enabling the exchange of experience.
- Communication activities with institutions and schools to inform and raise awareness.
Duration of the Project: 5 years (2020 – 2025)
Partners: Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF) (coordinating beneficiary), Hellenic Ornithological Society, Croatian Ornithological Society (BIOM), Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS), Macedonian Ecological Society (MES), Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia, Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania (PPNEA), Ornithological Society Nase Ptice (ODNP) and Fund for Wild Flora and Fauna (FWFF).
The LIFE BalkanDetox project comes as a continuation of the intensive work that Hellenic Ornithological Society has done in recent years concerning the problem of illegal use of poison baits and is based on a smaller project run by the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF) in the Balkans for the period 2018-2019, with funding from MAVA Foundation, the Balkan Anti Poisoning Project (BAPP). This project demonstrated the need for a larger and longer lasting programme, targeting the various issues that the Balkan countries have to deal with the problem of poison baits more effectively.
LIFE BalkanDetox has the particularity of being a LIFE Governance Project and thus its actions include policy, communication and education activities at national level and not conservation activities for species or a specific area.
We hope that this project will significantly strengthen the efforts that Hellenic Ornithological Society is making to better address the problem by the competent authorities.
Read more on the international website of the Project:
