sabap2 progress in 2014 to voting day 7 may

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SABAP2 – Progress in 2014 to Voting Day, 7 May Les Underhill & Michael Brooks

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This slideshare shows progress with the Second Southern African Bird Atlas Project from the beginning of 2014 until 7 May.

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Page 1: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

SABAP2 – Progress in 2014 to Voting Day, 7 May

Les Underhill & Michael Brooks

Page 2: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

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

Page 3: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

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

Page 4: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

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

Page 5: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

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

Page 6: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

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

Page 7: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

R1R2

R3

R4

R5

R6

R7

Green

O2

O3

O1

Revised priorities for 2014, set one-third of the way through the year

Page 8: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

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

Page 9: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

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

Page 10: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

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

Page 11: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

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

Page 12: SABAP2 Progress in 2014 to Voting Day 7 May

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.