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UAE Taking Steps to Conserve Saker Falcons

ABU DHABI - Loss of habitat, preying, trapping and illegal trade, electrocution, hybridisation and even poisoning are the major threats to the Saker falcon, observed a three-day meeting on its conservation, organised by the Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi (EAD).

“We decided to concentrate on the Saker because it is at a critical crossroad and can become severely endangered,” Abdulnasser Al Shamsi, director of Biodiversity Management — Terrestrial Environment Sector at EAD — told Khaleej Times.

“At a previous meeting in Rome, some countries suggested we should upgrade the saker’s endangered status from Appendix 2 to Appendix 1, but that is not the solution,” said Al Shamsi.

The CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) Appendix 2 refers to species that are not necessarily now threatened with extinction but that may become so unless trade is closely controlled, while the Appendix 1 lists species that are the most endangered, on the verge of 
extinction and whose international trade is prohibited.

Mohammed Ahmed Al Bowardi, Secretary General of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, and Managing Director of EAD, said the UAE has long been protecting wild falcons. “EAD has consistently supported research programmes and artificial nesting programmes in as far away as Mongolia and other parts of Central Asia.”

One of the most significant projects is the Zayed Falcon Release Programme, which trained and released back into the wild 1,121 falcons since 1995. “Understanding the conservation status of the saker is essential for us to develop a clear action plan to save it,” he said. Nick Fox, director of International Wildlife Consultancy in UK, has been working closely with EAD for the preservation of Saker. He said that the Saker has been a sustainable resource for Arabian Gulf communities for 5,000 years, as a means of hunting food and trading.

Fox detailed the grim situation of Asian Saker, used by Arabian falconers, and suggested that the problem starts with the loss of habitat, caused by unsustainable human population growth. Trappers and traders, most of whom are illegal, keep the birds in very poor conditions, opening doors to diseases, including avian influenza, which are transmissible to people.

“Abu Dhabi has a training programme for the falcon trappers, most of whom come from Pakistan or Syria, in the management and welfare of these birds, but some of them are so poor that the medicine we give them for the 
falcons, they use for their own children,” said Fox.

At present, trading on wild saker is still legal, but only under the strict regulations and with the permission of CITES. “Banning the trade, as suggested, is not the solution”, said Fox. “If we fail to maintain legal suppliers, we will only fuel the illegal ones.”

silvia@khaleejtimes.com