A second field mission
Last October, Timothée Schwartz, our scientific director, and Charlotte Leon, our nature manager at Les Courmettes, carried out a field mission lasting nearly 10 days in Ghana. They were accompanied by Andrew Newton, an ornithologist and friend of A Rocha France for over 20 years.
This mission is part of the project Conservation and Sustainable Management of the Keta Lagoon Ramsar Site for Climate Resilience of Birds and Communities, funded by the French Committee of the IUCN as part of the Program to Support Civil Society Organizations Active in Biodiversity in Developing Countries (ProBioDev). This project has been run in partnership between A Rocha France and A Rocha Ghana since fall 2024 for a period of two years.
The project focuses on the conservation of bird species and their habitats within the Keta Lagoon site. Another aspect is education on the importance of wetlands for biodiversity and ecosystem services, and on the restoration and sustainable management of mangrove forests. The site plays a crucial role as an essential habitat for migratory birds and as a nesting site for endangered sea turtle species. Planned actions include:
- producing habitat maps and bird species lists,
- developing local capacity for bird identification and monitoring,
- and creating ecotourism opportunities for the benefit of local communities.
The project also supports training for communities, particularly women and young people, in the sustainable management and restoration of degraded mangrove forests.
The work accomplished
Last February, we had already carried out an initial field mission to inventory the bird species present in the site’s various habitats. This second field mission aimed not only to complete the inventories, but also and above all to train local teams in bird identification and monitoring. To this end, Timothée and Andrew, who hold a permit to capture birds for scientific research purposes, led four training sessions on bird banding with the help of Charlotte. The sessions were attended by teams from A Rocha Ghana as well as local partners: rangers from the Wildlife Division responsible for managing the Ramsar site, and rangers from the Avu Lagoon site, a protected area located within the Ramsar site and adjacent to the bird banding training site.
In addition, Timothée led two training sessions on waterbird counting and identification, as well as data entry and analysis, with the Wildlife Division teams. The local Wildlife Division teams conduct monthly waterbird counts, but until now they did not have a dedicated database and did not perform any analysis, reducing the value of this monitoring effort for site management.
Finally, a day was dedicated to celebrating World Migratory Bird Day at a school in one of the towns on the site. The event brought together more than 150 children, with the mayor and representatives of the local congressman in attendance. A competition on the theme of migratory birds, with prizes awarded, was organized by A Rocha Ghana. Timothée gave a speech, while Charlotte and the A Rocha Ghana team presented the concept of bird migration, the threats facing migratory birds, and solutions for taking action, using posters. Finally, a field trip to discover water birds was organized on the lagoon located a few steps from the school.
A subject for rejoicing
This experience was particularly rewarding on a human level. For Charlotte and Andrew, it was a memorable first trip to Africa, where they discovered spectacular bird species. For Timothée, this third trip to Ghana with A Rocha was an opportunity to further strengthen his ties with this extraordinary country. Over the course of these 10 days, it was with great joy that we saw our partners’ passion for birds grow alongside their skills in identifying, unraveling, and banding birds. The children we met during the celebration day were particularly receptive to the importance of caring for birds and their habitats. A Rocha Ghana is doing truly remarkable work in raising awareness among local communities and developing partnerships with local agencies such as the Wildlife Division and the Forestry Commission.
The next steps in the project will be to finalize the analysis of the data collected, produce habitat maps of the site, and install observatories along the lagoon. These observatories will not only contribute to the monitoring of waterbirds on the lagoon, but also develop eco-tourism activities around the site’s exceptional birdlife, an economic contribution that could help promote the conservation of the site for migratory birds.
