Preventing the Extinction of Penguins

The Foundation worked with Bird Life on a project for the prevention of penguin’s extinctions, occurring over a period of 18 months and within several key regions of the Southern Hemisphere from South Africa to Antarctica via the Falklands and New Zealand. The project focused on three main objectives: improve the amount of information available on penguin populations tracking and monitoring for researchers and environmentalists, identify sites which are crucial for the protection of the species, and create the basis for increasing the global constituency of support for this cause.

The results have been more than conclusive. Nearly 150,000 bird group placements have been added to international databases. 12 new IBAs (Important Bird and Biodiversity Conservation Areas) were also identified. For the two most threatened sub-species, the Cape penguin and the antipode penguin, the project has even participated in the restoration of penguin habitat as well as the expansion of protected zones, including a site on the Sandwich Islands which saw a protected area extended by nearly 30 kms, but also the seasonal closure of the site for krill fisheries extending by two months per year.

In the end, a real dynamic was created thanks to the project, which allowed the laying of a solid foundation for the protection of penguins on an international scale, but managed to capitalize on the International Penguin Conference of August 2019. All this has laid new constructive grounds to generate other adapted and effective actions but also a better participation and collaboration for a sustainable protection of these emperors of the South Pole.