News
The BirdLife International Global Council meeting on the 4 December 2018 approved the recommendation that the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation should be upgraded to become the BirdLife Partner for Mauritius. This is a thrilling development!
The Mauritian Wildlife Foundation was invited to join BirdLife in September 2008 and formally entered into discussions with BirdLife in 2011 to join the partnership. Made the BirdLife Affiliate for Mauritius in 2013, MWF has since worked to become a full partner. However, links between the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP, later renamed ‘BirdLife International’) and Mauritius goes back to the late 1960’s/early 1970’s, and ICBP was one the founder organisations of the Mauritian Wildlife Appeal Fund (later renamed ‘Mauritian Wildlife Foundation’) in 1984. Although the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation was not a member of BirdLife until 2013, there have been close links to BirdLife for decades. For example, BirdLife is the organisation that conducts the red-listing of bird species globally for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation has provided data for Mauritius and Rodrigues for the red-listing of our birds, as well as the designation of ‘Important Bird Areas’ for the Republic of Mauritius. There are also several ex-MWF staff and volunteers, who are now occupying senior positions in the BirdLife secretariat in Cambridge, UK, or in the Pacific Ocean secretariat.
BirdLife International is a global partnership of conservation organisations (NGOs) that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources. There are 121 BirdLife Partners worldwide – one per country or territory – and growing. BirdLife was set up in 1922 and is now the largest nature conservation partnership. BirdLife is driven by the belief that local people, working for nature in their own places but connected nationally and internationally through the global Partnership, are the key to sustaining all life on this planet. This unique local-to-global approach delivers high impact and long-term conservation for the benefit of nature and people.
BirdLife is widely recognised as the world leader in bird conservation. Rigorous science by practical feedback from projects on the ground in important sites and habitats enables BirdLife to implement successful conservation programmes for birds and all nature. BirdLife actions are providing both practical and sustainable solutions significantly benefiting nature and people. Each BirdLife Partner is an independent environmental or wildlife not-for-profit, non-governmental organisation (NGO). Most Partners are best known outside of the Partnership by their organisation’s name (eg Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK), Audubon (USA), Nature Seychelles). This allows each Partner to maintain its individual national identity within the Global Partnership. BirdLife Partners work together in a collaborative, coordinated fashion across national boundaries to build a global Partnership of national conservation organisations.
Why has it taken so many years for the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation to become a full Partner of BirdLife?
The answer lies in the fact that BirdLife would typically have a single NGO as Partner in a country, applies a very stringent selection process based on a long list of factors (science, policy, action, community involvement, education, gender equality, fundraising capacity, governance etc), and has a two-stage process (which until recently was three stages). The application is assessed through a series of questionnaires, site visits in country by assessors, meeting with collaborators, and the application has to go through a series of internal BirdLife stages and be voted by BirdLife Africa partners in our case. Where the organisation does not meet BirdLife standards, there are discussions about ways to address these.
What does this partnership bring to MWF?
It brings international recognition and reputation to us; access to a network of bird specialists worldwide and development opportunities; keeps us abreast with the latest trends in global conservation and policy, in particular relating to birds; opportunity to share experience with other countries; to engage with people; and advocacy. BirdLife is at the forefront of designating Key Biodiversity Areas, investigating effects of climate change on biodiversity (with birds being good indicators), involvement of communities in conservation, protection of bird migratory flyways, addressing invasive alien species, promoting business and biodiversity linkages, amongst others.
The Mauritian Wildlife is also a member of key international conservation alliances: IUCN, Botanical Gardens Conservation International, and Alliance for Zero Extinction.
