EANHS Butmn. Vf *ma ». *Wr«»r ?. Omcmmtm' 200 0 
27 
2. 'Biodiversity priori ties 
identified and documented' 
A mapir wcp forward »j» 
ihr publication — ar last — 
ol the Important Bird 
Arrtt directory tor Kenya, 
which wit launched with 
tome Unfare at the end of 
April 2000. Several 
hundred tnpiet ate being 
distributed lo krv 
institution*. and there arc 
indications that ii it 
having an itnpai t It w« 
pleasing r« hear, lor 
instance, that the Kamtar r.onvenrnin 
secretariat ha* already u»ed it to 
entourage the Kenya Government to 
designate additional Ramsar site* 
Setting up <• momroring system lor the 
IBA* is on important part ol our 
strategy, and muih headway w« made 
toward* this at a workshop w« In Id in 
November 1 999. involving a wide rang* 
of interested parties tor what are 
lashionably called 'stakeholders'* This 
meeting agreed on monitoring 
guidelines and protocol* lor actually 
doing the work mi different habitat* In 
May 1999. we truinrd numbers of the 
friends of Kinangop Plateau in 
surveying and monitoring grasslands: 
lorrst protocols art hring tried out in 
Arabuko Sokokc b* the guides’ 
association, under Colin Jackson's 
supervision, and the annual waicrbird 
counts continue, at a record nuitilirr ol 
site* this year.Snople guidelines lor 
how to send in general information on 
no, rtnKihnutOKlBlufe& 
IHAs have also been finalised, and an 
bring circulated to members In thr 
meantime, much information hat hrrn 
gal lie red lor both the paper and 
i ompuirr 111 A databases, and members 
■ rc encouraged rn make use ol this 
resource 
A challenge now is to identify 
important sites lor thus, organisms that 
don't have leathers The IBA network 
will already take care of many of these 
Ibui i here are bound to be gaps 
Committees for mammals, insects and 
plants arc in the stages of revitalisation 
consolidation and conception, 
respectively. The hope of course is that 
rhesr new Committee* will soon become 
us well established as the one lor birds, 
and bring together aclivr group* ol 
enthusiast* who can deal with other 
lava 
