August 1998 
13 
November 1997. This was most successfully organised 
by Shriti—a veritable baptism by fire in her first month 
with the Society! I have just returned, over the weekend, 
from the second meeting in Zimbabwe, where 1 again 
represented the Society’s Kenya operation. The range 
of discussion at these productive (though extremely 
exhausting!) meetings show that the Partnership is 
developing at remarkable speed right across the 
continent. Fuelling this is the GEF/UNDP-funded 
project ‘African-NGO partnerships for sustainable 
development’, which involves all the BirdLife Partners 
in Africa, and on which I touched briefly in last year’s 
report. Un-knotting the governmental and United 
Nations red tape involved in starting up this project has 
proved a formidable challenge. Nevertheless, we have 
been working since January on a provisional 
arrangement and the last necessary approval, from 
Treasury, has been received within the last few days. 
Paul Matiku and Solomon Mwangi have the challenging 
but exciting task of taking this innovative work forward 
at the national and local levels, respectively. We hope 
that many Society members, especially those living or 
working near Important Bird Areas, will become 
involved in this project. It offers ample scope for those 
concerned about conservation to make a tangible 
contribution The Important Bird Area directory for 
Kenya, to be published by the Society, is in the layout 
stage and we hope will appear later in 1998. 
Earlier this year we also formalised a long-standing 
relationship with the Tropical Biology Association, 
which is involved in training graduate biologists from 
Africa and Europe. Our Memorandum of Agreement 
with TBA will bring the Society a substantial number 
of new members—young biologists from across the 
continent—over the next three years. The Society should 
also start to become the hub of an information network 
for contacts and opportunities in biological research 
and study. Anthony Kuria is the one responsible for 
this work. 
That was a lot to report on administrative and policy 
matters. It leaves me little lime for a detailed account 
of the Society’s other activities over the year—even 
though these may be of more interest to many members! 
Luckily the monthly newsletter should be keeping 
everyone up to date, so this task is largely redundant. 
We have had, as usual, an excellent and varied menu of 
outings, lectures and Elms. As usual, too, the number 
of members partaking has been variable: at times people 
have turned out in droves, more often rather the reverse. 
The Friends of Nairobi Arboretum and Friends of 
City P&rk have continued their fme work. Following on 
from the World Environment Day celebrations in City 
Park last June, FCP organised a successful art 
exhibition, ‘The soul of a tree in the heart of the city’ 
in December 1997.1 was sorry to miss the event itself, 
as the artwork accumulating in the EANHS office 
beforehand was exhilaratingly varied and wacky. Despite 
inclement weather, FONA’s annual outdoor concert 
extravaganza, ‘Wind in the Trees’, was again a very 
enjoyable day out. Sadly, FONA Chairman Dr Peter 
Wass, who is also responsible for the Arboretum Master 
Plan, was taken seriously ill last December and had to 
travel for treatment abroad; I am sure that we all wish 
him a speedy recovery. 
Sueculenta EA continued a remarkably active and 
exciting programme focused on fleshy plants The 
Ornithological Sub-committee and BirdLife Kenya, 
meanwhile, very sensibly decided to merge and form a 
single Bird Committee. As well as having a name that 
is much easier to say and understand, this new 
Committee will carry forward die work of both groups 
in bird research and conservation. The new Committee’s 
first task was to assist with the organisation of World 
Bird watch ‘97, when Kenyan birders again recorded 
the highest national total in the world—777 species over 
the weekend of 4-5 October. Funds raised in sponsorship 
will go towards the production of an introductory bird 
guide for schools. The Wednesday Morning Birdwalks 
continued to attract large numbers of enthusiastic 
participants—rather too many at times, and because of 
a shortage of transport, participation has had to be 
confined more strictly to bona-fide Society members. 
This enthusiasm is also manifested in the bird-watching 
groups affiliated to the Society that are springing up in 
various parts of the country, for example Kakaniega, 
Kinangop, Lewa Downs. Naivasha and Tsavo. This fits 
in nicely with the enthusiasm for regional! sat ion evident 
among our non-Nairobi members, and where 
appropriate these groups will be encouraged to develop 
as site-support groups for Important Bird Areas. A 
special Conservation Group membership category is 
proposed in the new Constitution to build on this 
encouraging development, and link to group members 
more closely to the EANHS. 
The Kipepeo Project continued its excellent work 
and is receiving’ever-increasing international 
recognition. The importance to local people of the 
butterfly farming around Arabuko-Sokoke Forest was a 
key factor in the successful campaign, in which the 
EANHS was closely involved, to prevent (yet again) 
the threatened de-gazettement of the Kararacha- 
Mpendakula area. This issue, involving one of the most 
important biodiversity sites in the country, has 
unfortunately not gone away and the Society must remain 
vigilant. 
The EANHS (Uganda) continues to flourish, and 1 
will leave it to Achilles Byaruhanga to report on their 
progress shortly. Constitutional discussions have made 
it clear that the Uganda section wishes to formalise its 
status as an autonomous branch of the Society (it is 
presently, formally, a ‘sub-committee’). The revised 
constitution makes appropriate provision for this. 
The Executive Committee last year approved a set 
of guidelines that will help to clarify the working of the 
Society’s present ‘sub-committees’ (such as the Bird 
Committee and Sueculenta) and ‘projects’ (such as 
Friends of the Arboretum and City Park). These are 
really action groups of interested members, and almost 
all are now working on producing their own terms of 
reference to guide their operations. The exception is 
the Kenya Wetlands Working Group, which has been 
inactive since suffering severe internal convulsions in 
