This GEF-financed project implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has achieved successful and transformational results in mainstreaming migratory soaring bird (MSB) safeguards into the five key sectors directly affecting MSBs along the Rift Valley/Red Sea flyway: hunting, energy, tourism, agriculture, and waste management. The project has generated numerous global environmental benefits through the establishment of governmental and private sector policies and practices across the five sectors. Initiated by BirdLife International and its partners, the project also developed sector-specific guidance to share across the flyway countries in order to increase MSB conservation awareness and build the capacity of local partner organizations.
The Rift Valley/Red Sea flyway is the second most important MSB flyway in the world. Each year, over 1.5 million birds of at least 37 species, including five globally threatened species, use this corridor between their breeding grounds in Europe and West Asia and wintering areas in Africa. The project builds on success achieved in Tranche I of the project in GEF-3, which includes establishment of the Regional Flyway Facility (RFF). Under Tranche II, the project aims to mainstream MSB considerations into the productive sectors along the flyway that pose the greatest risk to the safe migration of these birds.