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Emergency action to halt threats to Critically Endangered birds of São Tomé

Final Project Report to the

REPORT PERIOD

January to December 2012

Dwarf Olive Ibis (Bostrychia bocagei)

Sao Tome Fiscal (Lanius newtoni)

Sao Tome Grossbeak (Neospiza concolor)

Prepared by

Kwesi Anderson


CONTENTS

1. Part 1: Executive Summary ............................................................................................... 3

2. Project background ........................................................................................................... 4

3. Project Goal ....................................................................................................................... 5

4. Overview of conservation achievements and impact of the project during its lifetime .. 5

5. Part 2: Project Results ....................................................................................................... 6

6. Overall project achievements and impact ...................................................................... 12

7. Additional impact beyond project objectives..................................................................16

8. Problems Encountered .................................................................................................... 16

9. Long term sustainability and next steps ......................................................................... 16

10. Lessons learnt and closing remarks ................................................................................ 17


Part 1: Executive Summary

São Tome and Príncipe, constitutes one of the most important countries for biodiversity in the world. It has a high level of endemism of many taxonomic groups. The islands host 95 bird species of which 27 species are endemic to the islands. Thirteen of the endemic species are declining in numbers and are hence listed as globally threatened on the IUCN Redlist, with four at the level of Critically Endangered. The main threats are habitat loss and hunting. Land privatisation, rapid human population growth and new palm oil concessions are driving agricultural encroachment and large scale clearance of trees. Hunting for food is also widespread and in June 2011, the finding of Critically Endangered birds among the hunters catches in Monte Carmo area, a known stronghold for the species confirmed the worst fears on the importance of this threat.

Three of the four Critically Endangered species: Dwarf olive Ibis (Bostrychia bocagei); São Tomé fiscal (Lanius newtoni); São Tomé Grosbeak (Neospiza concolor), which are confined to the south-west of São Tomé Island in the primary and secondary forests, were selected for conservation under the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme. In 2006, BirdLife appointed the Associação de Biólogos Saotomenses (ABS), a local conservation NGO as the ‘Guardian’ for these species. BirdLife has since been channeling support for their conservation through ABS.

This project, with funding from the Aage V. Jensen Charity Foundation and additional support from A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute, the Royal Society for the Conservation of Birds (BirdLife in UK) and SPEA (BirdLife in Portugal), was set up to take emergency action to halt escalating habitat destruction and hunting pressure which, if unchecked, are likely to drive the Critically Endangered species to extinction in Sao Tome.

To achieve the aims of the project, two visits were undertaken by BirdLife staff with its supporting Partners, RSPB and SPEA, to São Tomé, first to join ABS in meeting with relevant stakeholders including key government officials, investors in palm oil plantations and local community members to stimulate conservation action and understand better the species‘ distribution and the threats they face. The second visit was aimed at evaluating latest developments and assessing priority needs for action to save the CR species. BirdLife also facilitated field surveys and coordinated the development of an international species action plan for the three CR species. Furthermore, BirdLife supported ABS to undertake local community awareness raising campaigns in six communities and to develop an international advocacy and communication plan, which will guide activity beyond the life of this project, and in campaigning to safeguard Obo Natural Park from encroachment by Agripalma’s Palm oil plantations.

The uncertain political situation during the year, which culminated in the resignation of the Prime Minister and his government, hampered the progress of international advocacy work aimed at the government. The immediate threats from the proposed expansion of palm oil plantations have, however, been temporarily halted, but they have not gone away. More substantial funding is being sought to implement the activities that were scaled down due to budget constraints, to ensure that the hunting laws come into force, and to implement aspects of the species action plan and the community livelihood projects. This will be facilitated by the improved understanding, contacts, plans and commitment amongst local and international stakeholders generated through this AVJCF funded project.


1. Project background

The island of São Tomé is one of Africa’s major centres of wildlife endemism. The island holds three Critically Endangered bird species - the São Tomé Fiscal (Lanius newtoni), the São Tomé Grosbeak (Neospiza concolor), and the Dwarf Olive Ibis (Bostrychia bocagei) - which are found nowhere else on earth. All three species occur in the lowland forests in the south-west of the island. These forests have been classified as the second most important forests for bird conservation in Africa. In 2006, most of these São Tomé forests received legal protection with the establishment of the Obô Natural Park, which became the most important refuge for these species. The park and its buffer zone covers almost one third of the island (Fig 1) and the habitat of the three Critically Endangered bird species occurs almost exclusively within the Park. The Monte Carmo area of the Park is one of the few places where all the endemic bird species of São Tomé are known to occur (Fig.1). In particular, the Monte Carmo area is regarded as a major stronghold for the Dwarf Olive Ibis.

Figure 1. Map showing the relative positions of the Monte Carmo forests (circle in dark red), the approximate boundaries of the old Palm Oil plantation EMOLVE (red irregular shape); and the Obô Natural Park (dark green outline) with its buffer zone (light green)

In late 2009, BirdLife became aware of an investment by foreign and São Tomé investors to recover and expand Palm Oil plantations (5,000 ha) close to the Monte Carmo forests of the Obô Natural Park and overlapping with the Natural Park’s buffer zone. This development, owned by Agripalma, a subsidiary of STP Invest (based in Belgium) with links to and managed by Socfinco (a French/Belgian Group), poses a serious threat to the park because the palm plantations there will open up access to the forest and thus exacerbate the hunting and extractive pressures that the forest birds and biodiversity are facing.


2. Project Goal

This project was aimed at taking emergency action to halt the escalating habitat destruction and the pressure from hunting which threatened to drive three Critically Endangered (CR) bird species to extinction in Sao Tome. Specifically, the purpose of the project was to improve the conservation status of Critically Endangered bird species in the Monte Carmo Forests by reducing threats from hunting and habitat degradation posed by the Palm Oil Plantations.

3. Overview of conservation achievements and impact of the project during its lifetime This project was set up to alleviate urgent threats to three CR bird species and the wider biodiversity in their forest habitat. This goal was acheived – thanks to the project activities, palm oil developments have not encroached on the Obo Natural Park yet. Furthermore, hunters in the most critical areas for the CR birds now recognise the threatened birds and the rationale for not hunting them. A law is now in process to provide guidance and a deterrent to hunting practices, which explicitly protects these species. Lastly, the necessary activities to protect the CR species have been articulated in an international species action plan and the capacity for safeguarding their habitats has been built within a local NGO. This forms a solid basis for future scaled up activities to ensure sustainable conservation action.

Main achievements of the project are summarised in Box 1 below:

Box 1

The project successfully:

1. Brought to the fore, and increased understanding of, the seriousness of the threat posed by habitat loss and hunting on the three CR species, especially among key government stakeholders and palm oil plantation owners.

2. Developed an International species action plan for the three CR bird species on Sao Tome and a fourth species, the Principe Thrush.

3. Secured a commitment from Socfinco that oil palm plantation activities will not compromise/threaten biodiversity and habitats within the Monte Carmo area.

4. Increased awareness, engagement and the support of local communities in halting threats and seeking viable, appropriate and feasible alternatives to environmentally-destructive practices.

5. Improved available data on distribution, density and habitat selection of CR species as a result of the project.

6. Enhanced capacity at Associação dos Biólogos Santomenses (ABS) to deal with the threat posed by the Agripalma Palm Oil Plantation Development.

7. Contributed to the establishment of a law for regulating hunting in the country (the first ever to be published), which is currently awaiting discussion at government level, and which specifically cites the three CR species as being legally protected.


Co-funding secured as a result of the project

Organization Amount Amount €

A.P. Leventis Ornithological Research Institute (support the mission to Sao Tome in January, 2012)

4,450 USD 3,571

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds small grant to ABS for field survey

3,500 GBP 4,301

SPEA - Sociedade Portuguesa para o Estudo das Aves (as staff time contribution to the overall project)

8,100 EUR 8,100

Total 15,972

Part 2: Project Results

4. Project results January to December 2012

The original proposal for the interventions in this project estimated the budgetary requirement to be €79,983 of which €27,106 was generously granted by the Aage V. Jensen Charity Foundation. As a result, most of the planned activities in the original proposal submitted to the Foundation were scaled down to accommodate the reduced budget. The table below provides details on the progress made in implementing the project.

Table 1: Results Against Project Objectives

Output Activities Results

1. Improved understanding of the current situation in São Tomé with regard to the threat posed by the Agripalma Palm Oil Plantation Development and the response measures required

The majority of these activities were co-financed by other donors 1. Undertake international

expert mission to Sao Tome (BirdLife/RSPB/SPEA) to link up with ABS and review current situation

2. Meet various stakeholders in Sao Tome with a view to getting a consensus on what the issues and potential solutions are and roles of each stakeholder

3. Gather further information on the current status of hunting (including legality), communities involved and potential alternatives; extent of clearing of forests and the expansion

Birdlife international sent a mission to São Tomé e Príncipe (BirdLife/RSPB/SPEA) in January 2012, to evaluate developments on Agripalma concessions, evaluate the work carried out by Associação de Biólogos São Tomenses (ABS – BirdLife’s contact organisation in STP) and to meet with Agripalma, the government and other stakeholders to draw an accurate picture of the situation on the ground and future opportunities and prospects. The mission was extremely productive. The team met everyone with any relevant responsibility or knowledge in the conservation sector, including the Minister of Public



of the palm oil plantations; overlap of clearing with bird species distributions etc; locate, copy and circulate key documents (if appropriate)(e.g. management plans).

4. Develop a long-term sustainable follow-up plan for taking issues forward thereafter

Works and Natural Resources, and with competences in nature conservation and a few additional stakeholders that were not in the original plans. The team also visited the Monte Carmo area, home to the three CR species in São Tomé, and next to the Agripalma Palm Oil concession, and saw at least seven dwarf olive ibis (population estimate max. 250). See Annex 1 for the January mission report. The mission also noted that data on distribution, density and habitat selection of CR species were not yet compiled and available for conservation purposes. A Species Action Plan workshop was therefore organized, to agree a long-term plan, to provide relevant bird data on the three CR species and also inform the future plans for forest cutting and evaluate their likely impact.



2. Enhanced capacity at Associação dos Biólogos Santomenses (ABS) to deal with the threat posed by the Agripalma Palm Oil Plantation Development

Activities 2.1, 2.2 were scaled down in line with the reduced budget. 1. Meet ABS and undertake

an initial capacity assessment and prioritization of needs for capacity building for advocacy

2. Liaise with ABS to finalise appointment/selection of an Officer from ABS being made responsible to handle the Agripalma situation. This person will have a clear list of duties and deadlines to achieve, and will be supervised by someone from BirdLife in order to face any difficulties that will surely appear

3. Establish a mentoring framework link between ABS and BirdLife

4. Undertake rapid capacity building session/s of ABS for the required to counter the immediate threats to the forests and the CR species of Sao Tome

5. Develop a long term plan for ABS for dealing with the threats to Sao Tome’s forests

6. Undertake a BirdLife “Health Check” of ABS

7. Develop a long-term partner development plan for ABS

The BirdLife mission team met with staff and some members of ABS during the visit to undertake a capacity assessment as part of the project implementation and the advocacy work on the three CR species. (See January mission report in Annex 1.) Hugulay Maia was assigned by ABS to coordinate implementation of the project, and undertake research and field monitoring. Alzira Rodrigues was assigned to lead on advocacy and awareness raising.

3. Increased engagement with Govt policy makers and Investors to seek ways of addressing threats amicably

1. Hold a meeting involving key stakeholders to consult on the way forward

2. Send Letter from BirdLife to Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Environment, with copy to

During the mission visit in January and the species action plan validation workshop in October, several key stakeholders joined the BirdLife team including the Minister of Public Works and



Socfinco, with suggestions/considerations to mitigate or nullify threats posed to the forests by the plantation.

3. Arrange meetings with targeted government officials (Directorate of Nature Conservation, warden of Parque Natural d’Obo de São Tomé, etc) and Agripalma to express concern, develop and seek support in implementing potential solutions (including Enhanced Protection of Parque Natural d’Obo de São Tomé)

4. Build on a preliminary dialogue between ABS, the Directorate of Nature Conservation and the management authority of the Parque Natural d’Obo de São Tomé with Agripalma to develop mutually beneficial conservation initiatives.

5. Arrange meetings with executives at European offices of Socfinco/ Agripalma

Natural Resources, who is responsible for nature conservation. They all welcomed BirdLife’s activities in Sao Tome and gave a commitment to collaborate in seeking alternative solutions to forest loss. Lobbying action was undertaken by BirdLife and its collaborators regarding the establishment of the new law regulating hunting in the country (the first ever to be published) and led to the specific inclusion of the three CR bird species within the draft of the law which hitherto was not specific in terms of species to be protected. A letter was prepared for the Prime Minister of Sao Tome after the October visit, unfortunately, however, the political crisis in Sao Tome which lead to the resignation of the Prime Minister and his team, made it impossible to follow through this action. However, with a new government in place, letters will be sent to the Prime Minister. Two attempts were made to develop projects for scaling up conservation activities in Sao Tome and submitted to the Darwin Initiative and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Unfortunately, both proposals were unsuccessful. Further funding will be sought in 2013. A letter was written by the BirdLife Chief Executive to the Managing Director of Socfinco



(the company providing technical advice to Agripalma) raising concerns about encroachment into the Obo Natural Park and the threat posed by hunters who are exploiting the newly opened forest to undertake their activities inside the Park. Feedback was positive and a commitment to provide support was made.

4. Increased public attention and support for efforts to halt current threats to species and habitats in São Tomé

Most of these activities were scaled down in line with the reduced budget. 1. Prepare a national and

international media plan 2. Implement the media plan.

In the first instance, prepare and disseminate local and international media articles highlighting the issues of threats facing the species and forest habitat in Sao Tome and calling for interventions.

3. Solicit letters from the international community written to the Ministry of Agriculture, Directorate of the Environment, Director of Nature Conservation and the warden of Parque Natural d’Obo de São Tomé, raising the issue of threats facing the species in Sao Tome and calling for interventions.

4. Coordinate interventions from BirdLife partners in Europe and Africa to express concern and to support efforts for nullifying threats to the CR species of Sao Tome

5. Bring international pressure to bear on the

The proposed media plan could not be actioned as a result of the reduced budget; however, updates on project activities were provided through the BirdLife Africa Newsletter and BirdLife’s website. An international advocacy and communications plan was developed, which guided the advocacy work. A letter was prepared by BirdLife to the Prime Minister of Sao Tome after an evaluation of the situation in Sao Tome following the two visits by BirdLife and partners. However, the recent political crisis in the country, culminating in the resignation of the Prime Minister, did not enable us to send the letter to him. Other letters that BirdLife had solicited from its Partners were also put on hold pending the resolution of the political crisis.



Socfinco-Agripalma investors to modity their developments in Sao Tome in an environmentally- friendly direction

5.Increased awareness, engagement and support of local communities for halting threats and for seeking alternatives to environmentally destructive practices

The number of awareness meetings was reduced under the revised budget. 1. Build on national and local

community sensitization campaigns led by ABS to enhance awareness of threats facing the species in Sao Tome and calling for interventions.

2. Conduct meetings to raise awareness of threats and the legal measures preventing hunting

3. Develop long-term plans for alternative livelihood projects targeting the communities engaging in hunting, for example eco-tourism with hunters acting as guides.

A targeted community awareness campaign on the threats facing the three CR species was undertaken. A detailed report of the activities, including the materials produced, can be found in Annex 2 attached to this report. Key achievements in this regard include:

Identification and targeting of hunters with information about the importance of not killing the CR species.

Development and dissemination of clear and attractive awareness-raising materials in appropriate languages to promote species conservation.

The long-term plans for alternative livelihood projects targeting the hunting communities could not be carried out due to the reduced budget. However, funding will be sought to implement this aspect of the project and build on the foundations laid by this AVJCF-funded project.

6. Enhanced Sustainability of the conservation programme to save Critically Endangered bird species of Sao Tome

Most of these activities were scaled down to accommodate the reduced budget. 1. Establish and maintain a

national and international coordination mechanism for conservation in Sao Tome

A species action plan workshop was held from 22nd to 24th October in São Tomé as a follow-up from the January 2012 mission visit and was aimed at consolidating best- available knowledge on distribution, held by a handful



2. Develop a long-term funding plan for bird conservation in Sao Tome and identify donors for supporting PA management, capacity development and other longer term measures of the plan

3. Undertake web appeal for bird conservation in Sao Tome

4. Explore possible payment of opportunity costs by Agripalma/Socfinco for funding community conservation

of researchers, and also develop detailed species action plans for bird conservation to guide future activity and help to secure long-term funding.

5. Overall project achievements and impact

i. Successfully brought to the fore issues of threat and habitat loss to the three CR species, especially among key government stakeholders through the visits.

Birdlife international sent a mission to São Tomé e Príncipe from 13th – 19th January, 2012, with three main objectives to:

evaluate the latest developments on the Agripalma oil palm concession and meet with Agripalma, the government and other stakeholders to draw exact picture of the situation on the ground and future opportunities-prospects.

evaluate work done so far by Associação de Biólogos Santo menses (ABS BirdLife’s contact organisation in STP) and plan future priorities and operations

prepare and discuss three concrete funding opportunities that were on the horizon (EU budget line on civil society in STP, Darwin Funding and Alliance for Zero Extinction - World Bank-GEF), as well as to discuss this planned AVJCF funded project for 2012

After the BirdLife team had visited the Monte Carmo area where the three CR species are found, they met with relevant stakeholders in the conservation sector in Sao Tome, including the Minister of Public Works and Natural Resources, the Director of Nature Conservation, and the Director of Obo National Park. See annex 1 for full report.


Figure 2 ABS field staff leading the team to Monte Carmo (c) Kwesi Anderson

Figure 3 an ibis sighted in Mote Carmo (c) Jose Tavares

It became evident after our meeting that relevant government departments were becoming more aware of the situation and what was at stake. They seemed to be addressing the conservation issues and operations. The directorate of nature conservation now asks for prior evaluation and approval of future forest clearance by Agripalma (they still plan - and are legally entitled - to cut down up to about 5,000 ha of São Tomé forest in the next few years).

ii. Commitment of Agripalma to ensure that biodiversity in the Monte Carmo area remains intact through reduced habitat loss

The manager of Agripalma in Sao Tome welcomed BirdLife involvement and the concerns raised and indicated their preparedness to collaborate with BirdLife and ABS in the future. He indicated their readiness to seek alternative solutions if indeed any of their concessions (2,000 ha) are crucially important for the three CR species: dwarf olive ibis, São Tomé grosbeak and São Tomé fiscal. According to verbal information from both the government and Agripalma, the company had given up their 1,200 ha concession in Principe (home to the Principe thrush) because the Principe regional government and a key South African entrepreneur intended to turn the island into a model for sustainable development and eco-tourism.

According to feedback from Socfinco to the BirdLife Chief Executive, Agripalma was commited to protecting Sao Tome’s biodiversity and pledged to work with BirdLife and interested stakeholders in conservation efforts.

iii. International species action plan developed for the three CR species and a fourth species, the Principe thrush

As a recommendation from the January visit, a workshop was held from 22 to 24th October in São Tomé, to develop the Species Action Plans (SAPs) for the four Critically Endangered (CR) species occurring in the country (São Tomé dwarf ibis, São Tomé grosbeak, São Tomé fiscal, and Principe thrush). This was preceded by a technical workshop in Lisbon, July 2012, gathering mostly Portuguese and other international researchers that had data-experience with the four CR species, to prepare a draft species action plan.


The two-day workshop brought together thirty-three (33) relevant stakeholders in Sao Tome and Principe, including; hunting groups, local community groups and government departments and agencies to agree on how to protect the CR species. Also present were the Director of the Obo Nature Park of Principe, the Director of Nature Conservation, and the Director of Forestry among others. The resulting species action plan will thus help coordinate future activities relating to the species and their habitats and will be incorporated into the revised National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP). See Annex 3 for a detailed report of the workshop.

Figure 4 From L to R Kwesi Anderson (BLI), Alzira Rodrigues (ABS), Arlindo Carvalho (STP) and Luis Costa (SPEA) during the opening of the SAP workshop (c) Jose Tavares

Figure 5 Faustino Oliveira (Director General of Forests) making a presentation during the SAP workshop (c) Kwesi Anderson

iv. Increased awareness, engagement and support of local communities for halting threats and for seeking alternatives to environmentally destructive practices.

Association of Biologists of São Tomé and Príncipe (ABS) used part of the AVJCF funds, to undertake a public awareness campaign on threats to the CR species and their habitats and to seek support from local communities to halt these threats. The main output expected was to enhance awareness of threats facing the species and calling for interventions.

Figure 6 Members of ABS and local communitiy groups after one of the community awareness campaigns (c) ABS


The campaign was targeted at hunters and community groups within the six communities surrounding the Monte Carmo area where the ibis are located (Angolares, Io-Grande, Dona Augusta, Emolve, Monte Mário and Malanza). A total of 120 people participated in the local community awareness raising meetings including 90 hunters (20 people per community); they also met with mayors of each community they visited. As a result of these meetings, local commmunity groups were willing to collaborate with BirdLife and ABS in the protection of the CR species, this was demonstrated in their active participation during the species action plan workshop. In addition, hunters offered to act as guides for future eco-tourism projects in the area. See Annex 3 for further details.

v. Improved data on distribution, density and habitat selection of CR species as a result of the project

Much work has been developed for improving data on the four CR species in Sao Tome and Principe. Data on the CR species which used to be dispersed among a handful of researchers, and/or needed to be analysed/collected, has been streamlined as a result of the species action planning process. All the researchers, birdwatchers and visitors to the areas were asked to provide their sightings of the CR species with geo-referenced data. The data were analysed through GIS and MaxEnt statistics by RSPB science staff, which enabled the potential distribution range of the species to be determined, see figures below.

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Figure 7 Modelling potential distribution of CR species on Sao Tome (c) Graeme Buchanan

This confirms the extremely restricted range of the species and the need for further monitoring, especially for the fiscal and the grosbeak. Furthermore, a monitoring plan was set up in order to confirm the data from the statistical model; this was started in the 2nd half of 2012 and will go on until mid-2013, at least, through support from the RSPB.


vi. Contribution to the establishment of a law for regulating hunting in the country (the first ever to be published)

The draft hunting law has now been approved by the Council of Ministers and sent to Parliament for approval. It is now waiting to be included in the Parliament’s agenda for discussion and approval in the plenary. According to Arlindo Carvalho, the Director, Environment Directorate-General (DGA), all the CR species are listed as strictly protected in the law, including the ibis.

6. Additional Impact beyond the project objectives

Significant information was also obtained during the mission visit regarding the seabirds breeding on Sao Tome and Principe and the threats they face. These issues are now being addressed through BirdLife’s Global Seabird Group and the Fisheries Directorate-General in Sao Tome and Principe. The Tinhosas and the Sete Pedras islets off the main islands of the archipelago are thought to hold significant populations of seabirds and the information gathered during the mission is now being followed up by BirdLife’s Global Seabird Programme. 7. Problems Encountered

This project, like any other, had its share of challenges during implementation and efforts were made to ensure that such challenges were overcome to realise the planned objectives. The following is a short summary of the problems encountered;

ABS has limited staff capacity, making field survey and data collection a challenge – this was overcome by liaising with external researchers with a knowledge of the CR species in Sao Tome to undertake the survey. Through such collaborations, the capacity of ABS field staff was enhanced regarding data collection on the species.

The inability of ABS to recruit an advocacy manager, owing to limited availability of funding, made it difficult to fully roll out the advocacy programme.

Planned field work was beset with problems as a result of bad weather, leading to the

late start of the field work and challenges within the field team.

Increased engagement with the government became more of a challenge following the resignation of the entire government and the appointment of a new Prime Minister. However, with a new Prime Minister and government in place, attempts will be made to re-engage with government stakeholders through the contacts established during this project.

8. Long term sustainability and next steps

This project has provided skills and mechanisms that allow ABS to tackle any similar threats that arise in the future. The BirdLife Partnership is deeply committed to bringing on board São Tomé & Principe into the BirdLife network. The capacity and momentum built through this project will be sustained through the Partnership as a result.

The development of the international species action plan for the CR species will help greatly in future fund raising efforts for their conservation in Sao Tome.


Support from BirdLife Partners, RSPB and SPEA, in collaboration with ABS, will enable the recruitment of a field staff member to undertake a survey, between January and June 2013, in the Monte Carmo forest. The data collected will contribute towards refining the draft Dwarf Olive Ibis, the Sao Tome fiscal and the Sao Tome grosbeak Species Action Plans, based on the information that will have been derived from the continued species studies. 9. Lessons learnt and closing remarks

With dedication and innovation, restricted resources can be stretched to help address a major conservation issue. Through careful targeting of the financial support granted to the project, we were able to temporarily halt the loss of key biodiversity in Sao Tome.

It is very important to have local knowledge. During the political uncertainty, many actions that were critical of government programmes were politicised and their sponsors labelled as political saboteurs. ABS was able to successfully guide this project through these difficulties to avoid falling foul of this situation.

Advocacy involving multinational private sector organisations requires the engagement of a wide range of stakeholders. Some of the most effective approaches are through the business partners, and through personal contact with the stakeholders.

The stage is now set for a new and much larger project to build on the momentum, knowledge and goodwill created through this initiative.

It remains critical for conservation in Sao Tome that the corporate structure of Socfinco and Agripalma is well understood and that Socfinco takes on an active role in promoting sustainability standards in oil palm production. In this regard, BirdLife is requesting to use the small amount of funds remaining from the project budget to arrange a meeting with Socfinco in Europe – as was originally planned but not implemented during the project period. (See note 2 in the Financial Report below)

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