| Posted
on Oct 11, 2005 |
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IAF
News Bulletin June 2005 IAF STAND FALCONERS' FAIR, SHROPSHIRE, ENGLAND 1st – 2nd May A display of information on IAF, its membership, its work and its aspirations was generously hosted by Honeybrook Farm in the International Falconers’ Tent at the UK Falconers’ Fair, an event that is rapidly becoming the main summer meeting place for international falconers, including many of our own delegates. While a few back copies of Newsletters were sold, the importance of attending this event is not really for fund raising, it is to chat with the falconers who pass through and to explain what is being done on their behalf on the international front. This year President Patrick Morel and Vice-President José-Manuel Rodríguez Villa represented IAF, assisted by Gary Timbrell (Ireland) and Bohumil Straka (Czech Rep.) who manned the stand for most of the two days. IAF’s MEMO OF UNDERSTANDING WITH THE UK HAWK BOARD IAF and the Hawk Board of the United Kingdom have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding, which was signed by both parties at the Falconers’ Fair. In it the IAF is described as “a non-profit non-governmental organisation active in preserving the art of falconry as part of man’s cultural heritage within the wildlife management principle of sustainable use” and the Hawk Board is described as “a non-governmental organisation formed in the United Kingdom as an advisory body recognized as the representative body for all hawk keepers, including falconers, before the UK government for all matters related to falconry, raptor propagation, and national and international law”. Much work has gone into this document which clarifies each party’s role and allows the Hawk Board, while “not a traditional falconry organisation which qualifies for regular membership status within the IAF” to nevertheless apply for membership of IAF as a supporting member organisation. In this document the IAF and the HB agree to cooperate closely on all national and international levels to conserve birds of prey, to safeguard falconry and to promote falconry as an integral part of sustainable use and conservation of wildlife. They will also endeavour to engage active representative individual members within the HB organisation on a decision making level on all issues of mutual interest and within the framework of their respective governing bylaws and constitution. The parties agree to coordinate their representation at the meetings of national and international conservation decision-making bodies with the goal of harmonizing positions on issues and to pool resources and save costs, when possible. Both parties intend that each maintains its own separate identity. FALCONRY HERITAGE TRUST A meeting was held in the International Falconers’ Tent at the Falconers’ Fair to discuss and launch the Falconry Heritage Trust. This is an exiting project, a non-profit charitable company limited by guarantee, registered with the UK Charity Commissioners. One of its primary purposes is to assemble an electronic archive of falconry to be used to make proposals in the UAE in Abu Dhabi in September towards an eventual submission to UNESCO to have falconry recognised as a World Intangible Cultural Heritage. In addition the electronic archive will eventually be accessible to the whole world and will encourage the formation of physical archives (like the Archives of Falconry in America) in various countries, all co-operating. Forms were given out to all those attending who wished to be included as Founder Members and it was explained that all Founder Members had a legal obligation, being guarantors in the event of the trust folding insolvent. The list of Founder Members (over thirty) includes well-known names from the USA, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Germany, the UK, Estonia and Ireland, with a panel of trustees elected at the meeting: Dr. Nick Fox, Mr. Roger Upton, Mr. David Fox (interim), Lieut. Col. Kent Carnie (US), Sñr. José-Manuel Rodríguez Villa Matons. Gary Timbrell was elected as Honorary Secretary. The main form of communication in the FHT will be by email. Letter post is expensive and time consuming and will only be used for legal notifications. Proposals for Patrons were asked for and accepted. HE Mohamed Al Bowardi (UAE) and Il Conte Dott. Umberto Caproni di Taliedo (Italy) had both expressed their willingness to accept. M. Patrick Morel (Belgium), President IAF, was proposed, expressed that he would be honoured and was duly elected along with them. Other important dignitaries in falconry nations are also being contacted. The set-up costs of the Trust were covered by St£1000 generously donated by Dr. Fox from monies earned by him that weekend at the British Falconry Fair. Nick Fox stressed the international nature of this effort and Nick Kester and Nick Fox described how the website (now registered) would work. It is currently under construction and will have a public section open to all, with a system whereby photos can be bought. There will also be a section for students and academics. It was explained to the meeting how charitable donations of falconry items could work. Kent Carnie of the Archives of Falconry in the US offered his extensive experience in this field. The next meeting of the FHT is scheduled for 12th September in Abu Dhabi.
The FHT is linking closely with an IAF/CIC Working Group been formed to pull groups together to start amassing information and preparing it ready to go into the format required by UNESCO. The list of members of this WG includes non-IAF/CIC experts and academics. Professor Baudouin van den Abeele (Belgium), Lieu. Col. Kent Carnie (USA), Dr. Javier Ceballos (Spain), Dr. Satish Pande (India) Dr. Helen Macdonald (UK), Frau Dr. Mag. Monika E. Rieterer (Germany), Frau Dr Habil Sigrid Schwenk (Austria), Dr. Jevgeni Shergalin (Estonia), Dr. Janusz Sielicki (Poland), Gary Timbrell (Ireland), Roger Upton (UK), Dr. Ye Xiaodi (China) It is non-definitive and is likely to be much larger. A Conference entitled “Falconry – a World heritage” is planned for Abu Dhabi 12th-15th September. It will be held at the same time as the Arab Hunting and Equestrian Exhibition and will be the main forum for discussions and pulling things together towards the UNESCO submission. 21ST MEETING OF THE CITES ANIMALS COMMITTEE: 20-25 MAY 2005 The 21st meeting of the Animals Committee (AC-21) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) convened from 20-25 May 2005, in Geneva, Switzerland. The Animals Committee (AC) discussed 23 agenda items on issues including the review of trade in animal species included in the Appendices and significant trade in Appendix II species. The following extract is relevant to falconry: REVIEW OF SIGNIFICANT TRADE IN APPENDIX II SPECIES The Secretariat updated participants on the status of species selected for review at past meetings. Relevant to us in IAF is the Saker falcon (Falco cherrug). The Secretariat stressed that the deadline for range States to comply with recommendations is September 2005. They considered the situation of countries that had not replied and whose trade data were insufficient and agreed on a list of countries and species to be included in the next stage of the process. The Chairman presented recommendations to: · request countries categorized as "of urgent concern" to impose a zero quota for Falco cherrug (Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan); · request those of "possible concern" that have not replied, to provide trade statistics and details on captive breeding facilities; and · exclude countries of "least concern" from the review. The Secretariat cautioned about requesting information on breeding facilities in order to track the origin of falcons within the RST process, since this process does not deal with illegal trade. Europe and the United Arab Emirates stressed the need for the AC to have information on breeding facilities in order to conduct a well-informed review. The AC adopted these recommendations with a minor amendment, and decided to communicate concern on wild specimens being exported as captive bred to the CITES Falcons Enforcement Task Force. On country replies regarding species subject to review, Chair Althaus conveyed the group's concern about the lack of replies by many countries and presented a list of species and countries that would be included in the next stages. He noted that countries that had not provided the required information were not excluded from the RST. The 22nd MEETING OF THE CITES ANIMALS COMMITTEE will be held between July and September 2006, at a venue to be confirmed. For more information, http://www.cites.org/ IAF MAIN ANNUAL NEWSLETTER If you would like a copy of our main glossy "IAF Newsletter 2005" please email your postal address to Janusz Sielicki at jsielicki@gfk.pl This includes existing delegates as we need to update our list of postal addresses anyway. If you have changed your address since last year please send the new one. Also if you are if you would like an extra copy or two for your organisation /please send all postal addresses with number of copies. Finally if you would like us to post the Newsletter to someone special in your country send their address to him. Gary
Timbrell Public
Relations Officer for International Association for Falconry and
Conservation of Birds of Prey Kilnagnady,
Upton, Co.Cork, Ireland. Tel:
00 353 21 7330298 or 00 87 6650619 Email: gary1timbrell@eircom.net or iaf.informationbureau@dublin.com |