SABAP2 launch - Cape Town, 28 June 2007

Vernon Head, Chairman of the Cape Bird Club, acted as Master of Ceremonies for the evening and highlighted the role that ordinary birders, or "citizen scientists", can play in collecting large scale information for SABAP2 and act as important contributors to bird conservation in South Africa.

Dr Phoebe Barnard from the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), and head of the Birds and Environmental Change Partnership, opened proceedings and highlighted the role that SANBI will play in SABAP2. She emphasised that SANBI is mandated by National Government to report on biodiversity and environmental changes and that the findings of SABAP2 will be a vital in synergising the information collected for Biodiversity Planning and Conservation at the national level.

Mr Neil Smith, from BirdLife South Africa, and publicity, outreach and training coordinator for SABAP2, then spoke on the role that BirdLife South Africa will play in ensuring that the SABAP2 message will be relayed to as many people as possible and that training will play a crucial role in rolling out the atlas protocol to participants.

Animal Demography Unit director and project leader for SABAP2, Prof. Les Underhill, concluded the introductory talks by explaining the importance of monitoring change in bird distributions and how birds can be used as good indicators of landscape and/or climate change over relatively short periods of time. He further highlighted the role that the media can play in promoting the project, especially in making landowners (particularly farmers) aware of this initiative.

Guest speaker for the evening was Mr James Harrison, who was the project coordinator for SABAP1.

James, who is affectionately known as "Mr Atlas", took us through a journey of the in's and out's of SABAP1 followed by the how's and why's of SABAP2, and the reasons behind the changes to to SABAP2.

Guests were then invited to a gourmet Mediterranean-style finger dinner, enjoyed with a glass of wine.

All smiles (and some relief) for the Project Team! With the launches now over the team can now turn their attention to rolling out the project to the public throughout South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.

From l to r: Mr Michael Brooks (IT and data coordinator), Mrs Sue Kuyper (Contract Manager), Mr Doug Harebottle (Project Manager), Dr Phoebe Barnard (Chair: Steering Committee), Prof. Les Underhill (Project Leader) and Mr Neil Smith (Outreach, Publicity and Training Coordinator).