1994
Project name: Project Halmahera
Birds that benefit: Standardwing Bird-of-paradise Semioptera wallacii
Amount raised: £41,000 In 1994, Halmahera was the largest Indonesian island not to possess any National Parks or other protected areas. Focusing on this little-known tropical paradise raised much-needed awareness. Birdfair funded research to pinpoint priority areas for protection. Sadly, civil unrest in the area disrupted the process, but BirdLife clung on, and the first National Park was declared in 2004.
Year: 1995
Project name: Moroccan Wetlands Project
Birds that benefit: Slender-billed Curlew Numenius tenuirostris (CR), Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris (VU), Audouin’s Gull Larus audouinii (NT)
Amount raised: £45,000 Sandwiched between sea and desert, the wetlands along the Moroccan coast are a lifeline for migrating waterbirds. But they are also under pressure from human use. Birdfair funded the better management of key sites along this route, including school and community engagement programmes.
Year: 1996
Project name: Ke Go Forest Project
Birds that benefit: Edwards’s Pheasant Lophura edwardsi (CR), Crested Argus Rheinardia ocellata (NT), Red-collared Woodpecker Picus rabieri (NT)
Amount raised: £50,000 Ke Go is the last remaining block of lowland forest in central Vietnam. In 1996, with the publicity and financial backing of Birdfair, the site was declared a nature reserve. BirdLife continues to work in this area to combat the ever-present threat of illegal logging.
Year: 1997
Project name: Mindo Important Bird Area Project
Birds that benefit: Black-breasted Puffleg Eriocnemis nigrivestis (CR), Andean Cock-of-the-rock Rupicola peruvianus
Amount raised: £60,000 In 1997, with the help of Birdfair, Ecuador’s incredibly species-rich Mindo cloud-forest was declared the first IBA in the whole of South America, launching BirdLife’s IBA programme in that continent. BirdLife worked with the local community, developing ecotourism as an alternative livelihood to destructive agriculture.
Year: 1998
Project name: BirdLife International Threatened Birds Programme
Birds that benefit: Blue-throated Macaw Ara glaucogularis (CR), Spoon-billed Sandpiper Calidris pygmaea (CR), Whooping Crane Grus americana (EN)
Amount raised: £120,000 With one in eight bird species threatened with extinction, Birdfair funded research to gather up-to-date information on their populations, creating the landmark book Threatened Birds of the World. This sparked public and political awareness and established BirdLife as the avian authority for the IUCN Red List.
Year: 1999
Project name: Rescuing Brazil’s Atlantic Forests
Birds that benefit: Seven-coloured Tanager Tangara fastuosa (VU), Alagoas Antwren Myrmotherula snowi (CR), Bahia Tyrannulet Phylloscartes beckeri (EN)
Amount raised: £130,000 43 of Brazil’s 103 threatened bird species depend on its dwindling Atlantic forests. The 1999 Birdfair project aimed to preserve them. Successes included Murici Forest being declared an Ecological Station. BirdLife’s activity in this country eventually led to the formation of the NGO SAVE Brazil, now a BirdLife partner.
Year: 2000
Project name: Save the Albatross Campaign – Keeping the World’s Seabirds off the Hook
Birds that benefit: Seabirds including the Wandering Albatross Diomeda exulans (VU)
Amount raised: £122,000 Albatrosses are the most threatened group of seabird, and one of the biggest threats is death on the baited hooks of long-line fisheries. Birdfair funded the launch of the Global Seabird Programme, which paved the way for BirdLife’s highly successful Albatross Task Force.
Year: 2001
Project name: Eastern Cuba – Saving a Unique Caribbean Wilderness
Birds that benefit: Ivory-billed Woodpecker Campephilus principalis (CR – possibly still present in Cuba), Bee Hummingbird Mellisuga helenae (NT)
Amount raised: £135,000 Cuba hosts 350 bird species, including the world’s smallest bird, the Bee Hummingbird (weighing only 2 grams). Birdfair funded vital research, providing field equipment and setting up Cuba’s IBA network, which went on to attract conservation funding for the whole Caribbean.
Year: 2002
Project name: Saving the Last Lowland Rainforests in Sumatra
Birds that benefit: Red-naped Trogon Harpactes kasumba (NT)
Amount raised: £147,000 Birdfair funded the then newly formed BirdLife partner Burung Indonesia to identify priority areas of Sumatra’s dwindling lowland rainforest for protection. After intense lobbying, the government issued the very first forest restoration licence to preserve one such forest from logging and monoculture. This paved the way for BirdLife’s Harapan (‘hope’) Rainforest Project.
Year: 2003
Project name: Saving Madagascar’s Fragile Wetlands
Birds that benefit: Madagascar Fish-eagle Haliaeetus vociferoides (CR), Sakalava Rail Zapornia olivieri (EN), Madagascar Heron Ardea humbloti (EN)
Amount raised: £157,000 The plight of Madagascar’s forests is well publicised, but its wetlands are also of huge conservation importance. This project engaged local people who use the wetlands, working with governments, communities and businesses to draw up legal agreements. These have now expanded into two Protected Areas.
Year: 2004
Project name: Saving Northern Peru’s Dry Forests
Birds that benefit: White-winged Guan Penelope albipennis (CR), Marvelous Spatuletail Loddigesia mirabilis (EN), Long-whiskered Owlet Xenoglaux loweryi (EN)
Sandwiched between the Andes, the Sechura Desert and the Pacific Ocean, this isolated, enigmatic region is one of the top ten most biologically unique areas of the planet. Sadly, only 5% of its original range survives. Birdfair funded several successful, locally targeted community-based conservation projects.
Year: 2005
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