Quantifying socio-economic and biological services of African vultures

The problem: Vulture numbers are falling across the globe, and the current African vulture crisis has emerged on the tail of recent events in Asia, which saw the near-total collapse of wild vulture populations due to use of... [ view full abstract ]

The problem: Vulture numbers are falling across the globe, and the current African vulture crisis has emerged on the tail of recent events in Asia, which saw the near-total collapse of wild vulture populations due to use of the veterinary drug Diclofenac. African vultures are now at risk of a similar crash as they suffer from unrelenting purposeful and unintentional poisonings; e.g. as unintended victims of mammalian carnivore persecution via livestock carcass poisoning, or targeted by poachers poisoning carcasses to prevent vulture facilitation of poaching site detection by wildlife authorities or anti-poaching patrols. These and other forms of persecution have caused African vulture populations to drop by up to 85% in some areas, leaving important ecological roles vacant.

Vultures are thought to provide important services to ecosystems and humans, but little evidence currently exists to quantify vulture value to humans on either economic or social scales. The ecosystem services vultures provide relate to their rapid removal of decomposing carrion from the environment. However, the lack of a detailed understanding of their ecological role in an African context makes prediction of the exact scale and consequences of vulture loss extremely difficult to predict or avert. Filling this knowledge gap is therefore identified as one of 17 essential actions for successful implementation of the “Multi-species action plan to conserve African and Eurasian vultures”, published by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals in 2017.

Methods: This project seeks to provide reliable evidence of the ecosystem services provided by Africa’s vultures, and to quantify their socio-economic value. In collaboration with the CMS MsAP and IUCN Vulture Specialist Group coordinators, we will follow a two-pronged approach:

1. A meta-analysis of the scientific literature and existing datasets will provide an overview of current knowledge, and of what evidence from the study of vultures in Eurasia and the Americas is also relevant in an African context. We will study the methods used so far and gain insights from the vulture and conservation experts with whom we collaborate, to plan our own field research so that we might overcome the barriers which have hindered previous research attempts.
2. Our field work will produce the additional data needed to evaluate the ecosystem services that vultures perform, and to demonstrate via modelling or empirical testing the consequences of losing these birds to humans and to African ecosystems.

Preliminary results: This project is in its initial planning stage. Endorsement and support has been secured from key organisations such as the CMS Raptors MoU, IUCN VSG, and we are in discussion with potential collaborators from BirdLife International, The Peregrine Fund and other researchers in range states. Through Pathways 2018 attendance, we plan to expand our collaborative network and seek expert feedback on proposed methodology.

Conclusion: The findings of this project will be utilised in the development of future research and conservation initiatives, and incorporated into on-going programmes aiming to incentivising support and action for vulture conservation at national and international levels, across the African continent.