Download - SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May
SABAP2 – Progress in 2014 to Voting Day, 7 May
Les Underhill & Michael Brooks
SABAP2 is a partnership between the Animal Demography Unit at the University of Cape Town, the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and BirdLife South Africa
Data volumes are up on last year• We are 127 days into
2014• We have maintained an
average of 51.4 checklists per day so far this year (last year we averaged 47.4)
• SABAP2014 has 438 observers (370 this time last year for SABAP2013)
• 2608 pentads visited so far this year (2327 last year)
Antony Paton: BirdPix 7798
Province/country
Coverage 7 May 2014
Pentads visited
Pentads to visit
Coverage end of 2013
Gauteng 100% 270 270 100%KwaZulu-Natal 99.1% 1283 1294 99.1%Mapumalanga 98.1% 996 1015 97.8%Free State 89.3% 1661 1861 88.6%Western Cape 85.9% 1243 1578 85.4%
Limpopo 83.4% 1348 1616 77.0%North West 76.3% 1131 1482 76.2%Swaziland 72.2% 148 205 72.2%Eastern Cape 62.4% 1408 2256 60.4%Northern Cape 35.6% 1812 5087 34.5%
Lesotho 26.0% 108 416 24.0%Total 66.8% 11408 17080 66.0%
Coverage in the original SABAP2 region
Coverage in original SABAP2 region• True coverage in the South Africa, Lesotho and
Swaziland is 66.8%, a shade over two-thirds• Magnificent progress in Limpopo from 77.0%
to 83.4%; well done especially to BirdLife Polokwane
• Seven of the 11 regions are over 75% coverage• Northern Cape (35.6% coverage, 3275 pentads
to be visited) is top priority• Eastern Cape (62.4% coverage, 848 pentads
remain) is next priority• Lesotho (26.0%, 308 pentads remain) needs a
champion• 11 pentads remain in KwaZulu-Natal and 19 in
Mpumalanga – these are tough challengesDavid Kennedy BirdPix 7785
Priorities for 2014, as set at start of the year
Gaps 1, 2 and 3, and the southern part of Gap 12 have largely been filled
R1R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
R7
Green
O2
O3
O1
Revised priorities for 2014, set one-third of the way through the year
R1R2
R3
R4R5
R6
R7
Green
O2
O3
O1
Seven RED priorities: R1 Western end of North West; R2 Askham to Union’s End; R3 is the N14 axis from about Kuruman to the coast; R4 southern part of the Northern Cape, R5 Greater Prieska district; R6 is the interior of the Eastern Cape, including the former Transkei; R7 Lesotho
Robert Tibbit-Eggleton BirdPix 7753
Three ORANGE priorities – with “mopping up operations” needed: northern Limpopo, central Free State and western Swaziland.And one big GREEN priority. Please aim to deepen coverage across the northern provinces. Let us GREEN the coverage map! Please aim for a minimum of four checklists per pentad!
R1R2
R3
R4R5
R6
R7
Green
O2
O3
O1
David Kennedy BirdPix 7739
The importance of SABAP2• Without up-to-date distribution
maps, and a knowledge of how distributions are changing, conservation is hit-and-miss
• SABAP2 (together with SABAP1) is making the critical difference for setting the priorities for bird conservation in the second decade of the 21st century
• SABAP2 is therefore the most important bird conservation activity on the go in the region
• Every birder can help to make a difference
Johan Heyns BirdPix 7610
Everyone needs to contribute their piece of data to the big jigsaw puzzle of biodiversity we are building together. If you don’t contribute your piece, the picture remains incomplete.Please become a citizen scientist, and do your bit
In a nutshell, the diagram shows how the Animal Demography Unit works. The vast amounts of "Data" that our citizen scientists collect has little "Influence" unless it is used. If data simply sits in a database, it is essentially worthless. The ADU sees its task as pushing the data up the hill of influence. This is pushing against gravity; it is hard work. First of all, we to turn the massive volumes of "Data" into "Information," in other words maps and tables and other summaries. And then the "Information" needs to explained as "Narrative." By this we mean
especially books, papers, brochures, presentations at conferences, articles in the media, talks on radio, and a lot of other activities. And we have real "Influence" when the "Narrative" gets included in "Policy." The four published atlases, for birds, frogs, butterflies and now reptiles, have been excellent examples of this. The recommendations that have flowed out of these products have influenced government policy and changed conservation management. We are working hard at having "Influence" in the realm of "Education." So, when you are invited to contribute your data into a database, you need to ask the questions: "What happens to the data? Does it just sit in an ever growing database? Do these people have the skills and technology to push your data up the hill of influence?" The ADU has been doing this for more than two decades, and has a proven track record.