Workshop on “Technical Training Curriculum for Power Lines Threats to Birds and Appropriate Mitigation Measures”

Organized by Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN).

Conclusion of the regional workshop for training on the curriculum of the Threats of power lines on birds.

Amman – Ajloun

The Royal society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) in cooperation with BirdLife International through the GEF/UNDP BirdLife International “Migratory Soaring Birds Project” and the MAVA-funded “Safe Flyways: Reducing energy infrastructure-related bird mortality in the Mediterranean” project and the EU-funded "Egyptian Vulture New LIFE" project, completed the regional training workshop on “Technical Training Curriculum for Power Lines Threats to Birds and Appropriate Mitigation Measures”.

The workshop was held at the Royal Academy for the Conservation of Nature in the Ajloun Reserve, and it attracted many participants from across the region.

Dr. Mohammed Shobrak, a specialist trainer in birds from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, also provided training, and there were representatives from several relevant institutions in attendance.

The curriculum makes sure that local and regional government agencies and electricity distribution companies are more effective in protecting migratory birds from dangers, particularly those that are exposed to collisions with or electric shocks from electricity distribution and transmission lines and towers.

Birdlife International Middle East regional director, Mr. Ibrahim Khader, praised the workshop as being innovative and of high quality, particularly given that it deals with a sensitive subject. He added that the curriculum is pioneering regional pilot initiative in protecting birds, particularly from the dangers of electrification, which have become one of the biggest challenges for migratory birds.

The workshop covered the Curriculum and its objectives, the issues of birds and power lines, the need to develop training programs and migration routes, the significance of birds and the protection of their routes, the reasons for their decline, the repercussions of this, and their relationship to maintaining migration routes, according to Mr. Tareq Qaneer, the Director of the Birds Projects Unit at the (RSCN).