People behind AEWA - Hichem Azafzaf

Bonn, 2 November 2015 - Hichem Azafzaf is from Tunisia and he is the Chair of the Association "Les Amis des Oiseaux" (AAO), the Tunisian BirdLife partner. Following a stint as the North-African regional representative on the AEWA Technical Committee, he currently serves as the Committee’s Vice-Chair.

Hichem highlights that ensuring the conservation of entire populations of birds is not an easy task, but that AEWA has made it possible by getting the support of so many stakeholders from Range States to NGOs.

"Happy birthday and wishing a continued long life for AEWA for a better future of our waterbirds!”

Acquainted with the Agreement since 1998, Hichem’s first closer interactions with AEWA were in 2003 when the Secretariat provided funding for a campaign to search for the Slender-billed Curlew in Tunisia, which was implemented by AAO. Not only did many Tunisian birdwatchers participate in the project but also Algerian and Libyan colleagues as well as several European ornithologists. Even though no Slender-billed Curlew was found, the support from AEWA launched an important dynamic amongst the North-African countries for the monitoring and conservation of migratory waterbirds.

This support from AEWA contributed to filling the data gap on waterbirds wintering in Libya: several census expeditions took place between 2005 and 2011 and an atlas on the waterbirds of Libya was subsequently published. In addition, the first identification guide for migratory waterbirds in North Africa was published in Arabic and the MedWaterbirds network in North Africa was launched. Current developments include the initiation of a regional data analysis of wintering migratory waterbirds in North Africa, which will be published very soon.

Although Hichem is fond of all waterbirds, the Marbled Teal, the White-headed Duck, the Greater  Flamingo and the Eurasian Spoonbill are his particular favorites.

Last updated on 03 November 2015

Type: 
News item
Species group: 
Birds