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% Overall 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

R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Green O2 O3 O1 Revised priorities for 2014, set one- third of the way through the year

R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Green O2 O3 O1 Seven RED priorities: R1 Western end of North West; R2 Askham to Unions 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! R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 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 dont 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.