Collaboration
Cooperations
Overview
The project partners, consisting of the coordinating beneficiary, the associated beneficiaries and the associated partner, are dependant on the support of cooperation partners to implement the project.
Collaboration partners
There are special cooperation agreements with the AEWA (African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement) and the UEX (University of Extremadura) that confirm collaboration within the flyway network.
AEWA
The Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) is an intergovernmental treaty dedicated to the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitats across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, Greenland, and the Canadian Archipelago.
Developed under the framework of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), AEWA brings together countries and the wider international conservation community in an effort to establish coordinated conservation and management of migratory waterbirds throughout their entire migratory range.
Therefore, the AEWA bureau is an important partner within the network of collaboration and partnership of the LIFE Godwit Flyway project.
UEX
To expand the cooperation and the network of stakeholders on the Iberian Peninsula, it is foreseen to include the University of Extremadura (UEX) in the Godwit Flyway network. The UEX team is skilled and experienced in studying Black-tailed Godwit migration, connectivity, habitat selection, responses to environmental changes, and also works on the function of agroecosystems as staging areas for migratory birds.
UEX will contribute to the project targets in engaging rice farmers in Spain to improve water management in rice fields. The team will also investigate the impacts of developing best practice methods in rice field management for Black-tailed Godwits in Spain. This collaboration will be led by the University of Aveiro (UA), as scientific research (from fundamental to more applied) of UEX and UA has been developed in synergy for more than a decade.
Cooperation partners
Cooperation partners have a special position in the project. They work independently, and are therefore not being paid by the project. Still, they contribute to the success of the project by working together with us to achieve common goals.
LIFE IP GrassBirdHabitats
The protection of grassland birds, such as Black-tailed Godwits, Lapwings and Curlews, and their habitats are the focus of this project, also funded by the European Union under the LIFE programme. The aim is to create and connect optimal breeding and non-breeding areas along the East Atlantic Flyway. To this end, land use must be extensified and water levels optimised.
To network activities more closely in the future and to coordinate measures for successful meadow bird conservation, Strategic Conservation Plans for meadow bird habitats in Western Europe and in West Africa are being developed.
Meadow bird-friendly measures are being implemented in 27 project areas in Lower Saxony and in one large project area in the Dutch province of Fryslân.
A business model will be created and implemented to establish bird-friedly farming in wet grassland areas in Lower Saxony.
As a leverage project, the GrassBirdHabitats project has the important task of capacity building. Available public funding is to be acquired and utilised for the protection of meadow birds. The LIFE Godwit Flyway project originates directly from this successful approach.
The project runs from November 2020 until October 2030. Its total budget is around 27 million euros, including a 12 million share from the State of Lower Saxony.
As the coordinating beneficiary, the Lower Saxony Ministry for the Environment has commissioned the State Agency for Bird Conservation in the Lower Saxony Water Management, Coastal and Nature Protection Agency (NLWKN) to implement the project.
Partners in Lower Saxony are the Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Administration and the planning office BIO-CONSULT OS. Project partners in The Netherlands are the Province of Fryslân, the University of Groningen, the agricultural collective Collectief Súdwestkust, and the nature conservation association Bond Friese VogelWachten.
Farmers and agriculture
Meadow birds depend on wet to moist, very extensively used meadows and pastures as breeding habitats. Specifically, they need:
- High water tables with temporarily flat-flooded sites
- Low or intermediate trophic level of soil
- Mowing and grazing compliant to nesting distribution
- Sufficient farming intensity for optimal vegetation structures
On the one hand, these factors are not attractive for farmers, as they mean significantly lower yields, and therefore less money. On the other hand, conventional agriculture with high fertiliser rates, dense homogeneous plant stands and frequent mowing does not go well with meadow bird conservation.
That is why farmers, as managers of the meadows, are important partners in meadow bird conservation. We work together with tenants and farmers' associations to manage meadows and pastures in a way that is profitable for both birds and farmers. It is an important task within the LIFE IP GrassBirdHabitats to develop of a sustainable business model that can also be applied beyond the borders of our project areas.
West Africa
Cooperations with stakeholders in West Africa are currently being developed. The cooperations will include working with civil society actors, academic institutions, statutory agencies and public bodies.
The Gambian Ministry of Environment, Climate Change & Natural Resources (MECCNAR) and its Department of Parks and Wildlife Management (DPWM) will take the lead on all activities related to conservation measures in the newly established Niumi Biosphere Reserve within The Gambia and beyond. This will include exchange visits to future cooperative activities and the dissemination of knowledge with Senegal and Guinea-Bissau.
Research
The LIFE Godwit Flyway project is primarily intended to implement measures that improve the habitats of the focus species in Natura 2000 areas. Accompanying scientific studies determine whether the measures have achieved the desired success.
Black-tailed Godwits equipped with GPS transmitters (as part of long-term research projects or currently via the LIFE IP GrassBirdHabitats) support the location of unknown wintering areas in hardly explored regions of West Africa. This will help to select sites to implement measures for habitat improvement in the framework of this project.
Further scientific investigations or studies must be financed outside of this LIFE project.
