SOS - Help save species & sustain livelihoods!

With a goal of increasing the population to 300 pairs by 2025, there are good signs numbers of Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea) are approaching stabilisation.

This is according to Baz Hughes, Head of Conservation Action at IUCN Member Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) who explains the decline due to prevailing threats is slowing, from 26% per annum in 2011 to about 9% in 2016.

Such improved prospects are thanks to coordinated conservation interventions by many organisations along the bird’s flyway -from breeding grounds in Chukotka, eastern Russia to wintering grounds in Southeast Asia - led by the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force of the East Asian – Australasian Flyway Partnership.

Results include an increase in the number of juveniles surviving to adulthood thanks to reduced poaching pressure on the wintering grounds, effective head-starting techniques, and enhanced awareness about the plight of these unique, diminutive and charismatic migratory birds, commonly referred to as “Spoonies” - the only bird to hatch with a spatulate bill.

Prospects for survival seemed much bleaker in 2010, when WWT in partnership with Birds Russia and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) worked to bring the birds back from the brink of extinction through an innovative head-starting and captive-breeding effort. Following successful expeditions to Chukotka in 2011 and 2012, conservation teams established a viable captive-breeding population in the UK. In parallel, Russian-based conservationists boosted the numbers of juveniles surviving to adulthood through an in-situ head-starting programme that hand-reared chicks to maturity before releasing them back into the wild.

Over the five years to 2016 the conservation teams reared and released a total of 111 birds, representing an estimated 20% of natural annual productivity. “We fledge, on average, over three chicks from every four egg clutch, with the sandpipers themselves only managing 0.6” explains Baz. “Preliminary analyses suggest the head-started birds are re-sighted at the same rate as wild birds and therefore are surviving as well as their wild counterparts” he elaborates. Over 20% of head-started birds have been re-sighted on migration and at wintering sites – with records from China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Myanmar and Kamchatka, Russia. Crucially, head-started birds have returned to successfully breed at Meinypil’gyno, Russia.

The captive breeding population produced its first batch of eggs in 2016. While none survived, the team are confident for the 2017 captive-breeding season having learned new feeding and lighting techniques to ensure adequate nutrition. Meanwhile work continues toward improving survival prospects along the bird’s 8,000 kilometre flyway engaging in advocacy work about stopover sites, awareness raising and outreach with bird-trappers, Chinese birding enthusiasts and communities by targeting children and their parents.

The future of the species, however, now lies in the hands of the governments along the flyway which need to ensure that the key staging and wintering sites are identified and appropriately protected elaborates Baz.  

“The most important and challenging aspect is maintaining and protecting habitat at key sites, particularly stopover sites in the Yellow Sea” he says. Thus, tracking the birds using leg-flags and satellite tags is essential to better understanding their migration paths in pin-sharp detail. Many key breeding, stopover and wintering sites remain unknown he explains.

While the trajectory for recovery seems positive, there remains much to accomplish and much to learn about Spoonies along the way. What is certain is that the success of this transboundary conservation work targeting a migratory bird species could only have been achieved through coordination, collaboration and innovation.

Links:

• Learn more about saving Spoonies here

What drives a business strategy consultant to spend four years traversing the Caribbean searching for its iconic marine species?

For Vincent Kneefel, the active support of his employer Accenture as he worked to realise his photographic project – the Giants of the Caribbean book – was symbolic of the role global business can play in protecting our world’s natural heritage.

What was the inspiration for Giants of the Caribbean?

“The idea for Giants germinated in April 2010 when the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico took place. I had become interested in conservation as a younger man having witnessed some of the serious threats that endanger ocean life while working as a dive guide and I realised in 2011 it was time to help”.

Can you describe the creative process in creating the book?

“I wanted to find a way to get people to care about the inhabitants of the ocean impacted by the oil spill. So, I decided on photographing nine iconic marine species assessed by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™, embarking on a series of journeys across the Caribbean partnering with local NGOs and guides to find them. To guide my photography I wanted to learn more about the ongoing conservation efforts and the relationships of local communities with these animals in particular. These would be the ambassadors for all Caribbean marine life.

The IUCN Red List indicators appear prominently in the book because I think it is extremely important for people to know and to understand what the Red List is and how they can take action based on it. My hope is that more people will start to take action when they see conservation efforts pay off.

What technical challenges did you encounter photographing underwater wildlife?

When doing an underwater shoot you have to really immerse yourself in the environment and be ready - some encounters are brief as is the case with Hammerhead sharks. Getting close to animals like Humpback whales without intruding can sometimes be a challenge, as you have to wait for the animal to come to you. Using a very wide angle lens such as a fisheye lens helped in certain circumstances. The creativity really comes in the moment as there are so many things that can change so it is difficult to plan something in advance. Tapping into expert species knowledge was a key aspect of the process”.

Conservation and commerce: conflict or complementary?

“The book was sponsored by Accenture. Through our internal portal my photos reached the global Accenture team - more than 350,000 employees. The company also commissioned my book as a gift for the annual Winter Concert in Amsterdam, where we had over 300 clients from senior executive management positions in global companies attending. 

The largest 200 corporations are now greater than the combined economies of nearly 180 countries. These companies employ just a few million people but they can guide governments and have more economic influence than 80% of humanity. The conservation community needs to find ways to leverage this.

How can we connect conservation with commerce?

Too often people don’t make a connection between their daily work and the impact it is having on our planet, simply because they have so little exposure to nature through their daily work. We need to engage employees en-masse to create change.

We have already demonstrated a link between sustainability efforts and long-term profits. There are a lot of examples out there like Unilever, Puma, Interface, The Body Shop and many others.

As such we need the conservation and business communities to become more integrated because the business world’s greatest power is its ability to reach and engage a global customer base. Change does not only happen top down, but also bottom up!”

Links:

• Learn more about IUCN's SOS - Save Our Species here