The Plight of West African Vultures

Vultures are large birds of prey that are well known for primarily feeding on dead or dying animals. For this, they play a critical role in maintaining ecosystem health. Notwithstanding, these birds have experienced catastrophic declines over the last 50 years, with the populations of all African species plummeting by 80-97% (over 92% for five species) mainly due to poisoning (responsible for 61% of recorded vulture deaths across Africa), killing for belief-based use (29%), and electrocution by energy infrastructure (9%).

In West Africa, a total of six species of vulture occur, but all of them are threatened with extinction (see table below). The CMS Multi-species Action Plan to Conserve African-Eurasian Vultures (Vulture MsAP) highlighted that the main threat to these species was intentional poisoning for belief-based use, i.e. use motivated by the misbelief that vulture heads and other body parts have special powers and can bring good luck to users. Such misbelief has driven widespread poisoning of vultures across West Africa, and it now threatens to wipe out stronghold populations. The need for actions to address this imminent threat drove the development of an action plan, the West African Vulture Conservation Action Plan 2023-2043.

 

The West African Vulture Conservation Action Plan 2023-2043

The West African Vulture Conservation Action Plan 2023-2043 (WAVCAP) aims to ensure that, by 2043, the populations of all six species of West African vulture will have achieved sustainable levels; will be protected by effective legal frameworks; and will be living in a healthy environment in harmony with people. To achieve this, the WAVCAP establishes three thematic goals divided into a series of actions that target the 16 West African countries where the six species occur: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo.

 

Development Process

In October 2022, 32 stakeholders from 12 West African States gathered in Abuja, Nigeria for a three-day workshop to kick-off the development of the WAVCAP. Followed by months of consultations and efforts by many individuals and institutions to review the current knowledge on threats to the six vulture species in the subregion, as well as to identify necessary actions to reduce, eliminate or mitigate them, the WAVCAP was finally concluded and published in March 2024.

The development of the WAVCAP was made possible through generous support provided by the European Union to the ‘Egyptian Vulture New Life’ project and by the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) through the Raptors MOU. The Nigerian Conservation Foundation, BirdLife International, and the Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission (IUCN SSC) were partners instrumental to the delivery of the WAVCAP. Funding provided by the IUCN SSC Integral Grants Programme also contributed to the work by enabling the production of a threat analysis that contributed foundational knowledge to the WAVCAP.

 

Key Mandate

The 18th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP18, Geneva, 2019) adopted a set of Decisions aiming to increase the understanding of threats to West African vultures and to identify actions to stop their decline. Later, the 13th Meeting of the CMS Conference of Parties (CMS COP13, Gandhinagar, 2020) also adopted a set of Decisions on the conservation of these species, and this provided a mandate for joint CMS-CITES cooperation. 

Furthermore, the 14th Meeting of the CMS Conference of Parties (CMS COP14, Samarkand, 2024) amended a number of relevant Resolutions and adopted a new set of Decisions on Conservation of African-Eurasian Vultures whose implementation will contribute to the ambition of the WAVCAP. These Decisions also include a request for the CMS Standing Committee to consider and adopt the WAVCAP after consutation with the Scientific Council. 

The West Africa Vulture Conservation Action Plan was  approved by the Scientific Council at its 6th meeting of the Sessional Committee in September 2024. The WAVCAP was endorsed by the Standing Committee at its 56th meeting in March 2025.

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The Action Plan is available in English. Summaries are available in French and Spanish.

         

Rüppell's vulture © André Botha, Hooded vulture © Bernard Dupont, White-headed vulture © André Botha