The "Asian vulture crisis" saw India spend an additional $34 billion US dollars on healthcare between 1993 and 2006, all thanks to the loss of these key scavengers. In one study published in 2015, in Conservation Letters, the authors found that eight of Africa’s 11 vulture species declined by 62% in the last three generations. The reasons for the African vulture crisis are vastly different. This video gives a great overview of vulture crises around the world, especially the African Vulture Crisis. Global merchandise trade could shrink by 13-32% this year, which will hit Africa hard.

Poisoning and traditional medicine pose a substantial threat to the survival of these ecologically essential birds. There are 11 different species of vulture in Africa and they clean up 70% of Africa’s’ carrion but sadly, most are now endangered. African vulture species function as a scavenging guild with each species providing unique adaptations necessary to find and dispose of carrion collectively. It said many of the stakeholders do not have historical knowledge about the African vulture crisis. Conservation Threats. The African vulture crisis: western Africa Ralph Buij Animal Ecology Team, Alterra, Wageningen University, Netherlands . The African vulture is now threatened with extinction. There are, however, two important distinctions between the Asian and African vulture crises. African Vulture Crisis. The white-backed vulture is one of eight African vulture species that is on the decline. Poisoning and traditional medicine pose a substantial threat to the survival of these ecologically essential birds. In the Maasai Mara, for instance, the birds have declined by 50 per cent in the last 30 years. However the study’s authors highlight two important distinctions between the Asian vulture crisis and that in Africa. Africa is experiencing a vulture crisis. It needs a solution to its debt problems that doesn't cripple countries.

Just as in Asia, African vultures are in crisis, their populations declining at a rate which, in at least six cases, meets or exceeds the threshold for species qualifying as Critically Endangered. 2008), and also the main reservoir of diseases such as rabies (Sudarshan et al.

Poisoning is the main threat our vultures face, and the majority of vulture deaths seem to be indiscriminate – a by-product of people trying to poison predators and inadvertently attracting vultures to the carcass.-Masumi Gudka, BirdLife Africa's Vulture Conservation Manager. To put this into perspective, West Africa has lost 90% of its white-backed vultures! Photograph by Charlie Hamilton James, National Geographic The Vulture Multi-species Action Plan (Vulture MsAP), approved recently in the conference of the parties of the Convention for Migratory Species - a global strategic blueprint identifying priorities and actions to conserve 15 species of old world vultures – says it clearly: (illegal) poison with poisoned baits (often against predators of livestock) is the main threat to vultures worldwide.

These unsung heroes face mass poisonings, catastrophic and unprecedented population declines, and negative perceptions – when in fact they are nature's sanitary workers, worthy of celebration.

The White-backed Vulture is one of eight African vulture species that is on the decline. Written and photographed by Pippa Orpen (Wildlife ACT)Africa is experiencing a vulture crisis. African Vulture SAFE Species.

2007). The African vulture trade involves the poaching, trafficking, and illegal sale of vultures and vulture parts for bushmeat and for belief use, like traditional medicines, in Sub-Saharan Africa.This illegal trade of vultures and vulture parts is contributing to a population crisis on the continent. Africa is facing a profound crisis that could set its development back a generation. African vultures, like the Ruppell’s Griffon vulture above, are threatened by poaching, poisoning, and urban development. Its population has declined by up to 98 per cent. Despite the vulture crisis, diclofenac remains available in other countries including many in Europe. The situation in Africa is just as grim – “another continental vulture crisis”, as one group of researchers described it earlier this year. The Vulture Crisis It's too important not to put this in perspective : across Asia, Africa and Europe, vultures are in serious trouble. First, to date, the rates of decline evident in Africa have been substantially lower than in Asia, affording African governments a window of opportunity in which to head off the environmental consequences of a collapse in this functionally important group. The region’s economy is set to contract by 1.6% in 2020, its worst performance on record.