Honey Buzzards are the Most Common Migratory Raptor Observed in Batumi. ©Otto Plantema

This project works to realize community-based conservation of migratory birds in Ajaria, at Georgia´s eastern Black Sea Coast; one of the world’s main bottlenecks for migratory birds of prey. Hunting and trapping of migrating birds forms the main conservation conflict in the area, killing up to 5% of several species each year. Though illegal, these practices are considered part of traditional rural life and are driven almost entirely by poverty and unemployment which lead villagers to shoot birds for meat as well as for recreational purposes. The current project is part of a larger conservation scheme that aims to minimize hunting pressure by bottom-up approaches that improve both the intrinsic and economic valuation that regional people place on migratory birds.

The project is implemented at Batumi Raptor Count, a nature conservation project working for the study and protection of migrating birds in Georgia since 2008. BRC has monitored the autumn migration of birds of prey in Georgia with international volunteers since 2008 and this scientific monitoring scheme serves as an important venue where to host education and outreach activities. Furthermore, migration monitoring and daily online reports of field observations are making Batumi known internationally as a major attraction for ecotourism. By implementing educational work and developing a sustainable model for resource use (i.e. ecotourism) with far-reaching involvement of local communities and regional conservation stakeholders BRC holds a successful recipe for improving the protection of migratory birds in the region. During this project we will use the support of RSGF to further consolidate ongoing monitoring and conservation activities.

In autumn 2013, an important focus will be to increase the involvement of regional conservationists through, for example, field trainings together with international volunteers. Our project will make use of the vast expertise and knowledge available among our international volunteering migration counters by facilitating the transmission of their knowledge to regional youths, students and others with an interest in nature conservation. BRC serves as an excellent platform where people from different countries in Europe and the Caucasus can establish contacts with their international peers and share best practices in conservation related work. All participants will have the opportunity to develop skills that will benefit nature conservation in general, not in the least by improving the appreciation for cultural diversity and traditional values among nature conservationists and the implications of this for establishing effective transboundary conservation measures.