NABCI-Canada Update
The NABCI-Canada Council had a teleconference in May (has it really been three months already?), from which the identification of NABCI-Canada priorities emerged as the major action item. Since then, I’ve been working with the Executive council on selecting national/continental priorities that will provide focus and inform our work plan. NABCI-Canada Council will have another teleconference in mid-October prior to the face-to-face meeting planned for November 2017, during which we will narrow down and cement a final set of priorities and associated targets.
One of the action items for NABCI Trinational that came out of the Trilateral Committee for Wildlife and Ecosystem Conservation and Management meeting, which also took place in May, was the development of an Implementation Plan for the Vision for Bird Conservation for the Next Century. All three NABCI-coordinators have begun exploratory work on short-term (~2 years) and medium-term (~10 years) action plans for each of our countries. Stay tuned for more communications on the Vision as I seek to engage all important players in bird conservation in Canada in this initiative!
News from Partners
The Bird Conservation Regions Database can now be downloaded online through the Government of Canada’s Open Government portal! The data include three datasets: priority bird species assessment; priority bird species population objectives; and priority bird species threats, conservation objectives and conservation actions. This is an invaluable wealth of information that is meant to help direct your bird conservation actions.
U.S. NABCI: In the second week of August, the U.S. NABCI committee had a VERY successful meeting (as their coordinator Jude Scarl put it!) with discussions on keeping bird conservation relevant and strategies for expanding to new and non-traditional partnerships. A summary of the meeting proceedings and a full length report are attached.
Eastern Habitat Joint Venture (EHJV): EHJV partners have been working around the clock to finalize their new 2015-2020 NAWMP Implementation Plan. It shouldn’t be long before you see the brand new publication posted on their website, so stay on the lookout.
Reminder on the upcoming Partners in Flight conference: This year, the Partners in Flight International Conference is being held in conjunction with the XXIst Congress of the Mesoamerican Society for Biology and Conservation (SMBC) in San Jose, Costa Rica from October 30 to November 3, 2017. In line with the NABCI spirit, this conference will go beyond landbirds by including two symposia and a two-day workshop on Waterbirds.