Overall objective / activities to be implemented under the grant:
However, statistics and scientific reports show that the vulture population in the world is experiencing an unprecedented decline and the survival of eleven of the sixteen species of vultures in Africa, Asia and Europe requires special attention and effective moves. Given the importance of this group of birds, authorities around the world are working to improve the current situation and further protect vultures. Qeshm Island is undoubtedly one of the best places in the region to watch and perhaps the world to see Egyptian vultures and the species can play an effective role in encouraging tourists to visit the island, as a new tourist attraction.
Using local knowledge, the project will try not only to present the Egyptian vulture as one of the attractions of Qeshm Island, but also use the species as the driving force of an economic-conservation move to boost tourism and create a scientific, specialized, and participatory program to protect the species on the island by gathering information, empowering some local enthusiasts, establishing links with some business practitioners of the island and also consulting and exchange views with government officials and decision-makers.
The project objectives include introducing the Egyptian vulture at a national level as a tourism symbol of Qeshm Island, creating a database and collecting information on the species using public reports (locals, tourists, and enthusiasts), informing and empowering local people with several nature tour guides of Qeshm Island, laying the groundwork for a more prosperous tourism centered on Egyptian vultures, reviewing and analyzing data in collaboration with the Qeshm Free Zone Organization?s Department of Environment and finally drafting systematic guidelines with a participatory approach in order to protect the species.