The Migratory Birds for People (MBP) programme is about 30 wetland visitor centres across Europe and West Africa in a network that follows the flight path of many migratory wetland birds species.
These centres are working together to share best practice and develop new approaches to delivering wetland messages to their visitors. We have an MBP strategic plan and the MBP Mission visual update 2018 that will help you understand what the programme aims to do.
The lead group for the project consists of the Dutch Staatsbosbeheer, WLI, and Wetlands International West Africa. We also work with partners across Europe and Africa. Please see the contacts list for details.
MBP Africa has a webpage with news specifically for wetlands educators and communicators in West Africa.
Optics for Africa
Where possible, MBP visitor centres in Europe collect binoculars and telescopes and share them with members in West Africa. So far we have collected more than 80 binoculars and telescopes.
We invite any member centre to participate! Find out how.
Social media guidelines
Together with partners Eurosite we produced an introductory guide to using social media at wetland visitor centres and nature reserves. In 2021 we produced these more advanced guidelines.
Educational Map
Discover the East Atlantic Flyway through games! The MBP flyway map is an educational resource developed by MBP members, a fabric map of 2 x 1.5 metres. It is rugged so you can bring it to schools or out to the wetland to illustrate migration and how wetland centres are networking to help migratory birds. Members, please contact us for a copy.
You can also download a free guidebook of activities, compiled by the network, to make use of the map.
Connecting Birds & Schools
We arrange video conferences between schools for World Migratory Bird Day. Pupils love it! Previous events have been in across three languages and two flyways.
Flyway Youth Forum
Since 2021 we have co-organised the East Atlantic Flyway Youth Forum. Along with the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat and Youth Engaged in Wetlands, we bring young people together virtually to expand their skills as wetland conservationists in the Flyway.
Map of the Migratory Birds for People network
Our poster (on the left, with version for Naturum Getterön, Sweden) that can be tailored to your own centres – we can provide the design file for you to add your own logo, pictures and examples, for display at your centre. Just contact Chris Rostron to arrange for us to send it to you.
Twinning programme
In 2023 we are developing a twinning programme. The Terms of Reference are in draft form, ahead of the first exchange at EVOA around the 2023 Annual Meeting.
Video for centre screens
We have a promotional video for visitor centre screens. MBP volunteers produced and translated it in Arabic, Basque, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Luxembourgish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish. You can view it on YouTube and we can send it to you as a PowerPoint or mp4 video file, as suits your technical setup.
Flyway expeditions
We are supporting two expeditions on the East Atlantic Flyway.
For Conservation Without Borders' Flight of the Osprey we have developed educational materials. With insight from multiple MBP members and the Trust for Sustainable Living (TSL), we have made a PowerPoint, factsheets, and activity guides. You can download them to use in your centre and with schools. You can access them from the TSL app, where you will also see updates on the expedition, as well as this download pack.
For the Sounding Wild Exploration, we are connecting MBP members with the Drioli brothers to create 3D audio and immersive image magic with local people at MBP member wetland centres.
Newsletter, films, coordination and meetings
Regular newsletters are produced by Isabelle Zwick and Audrey Cadou. They give updates on meetings, project development, and partner news. To subscribe, contact any of the core group. We also have a Facebook and Instagram page.
Please also check out the archive of more than a decde of newsletters produced by MBP co-founder Roelof Heringa.
Annual meetings
2023
2023's meeting is hosted by EVOA, in Portugal. We want as many members as possible to join digitally, via a large number of Zoom sessions.
Register for the Zoom meetings.
Join us from 8.30 UTC+1 on 2 October! Download the schedule of Zoom sessions and join in.
Attending in person? Here's your full programme!
2022
Our first ever annual meeting in Africa was an opportunity for a regional capacity-building workshop. The detailed report, voluntarily compiled by consultant Tim Dodman, is a rich resource for anyone working in the flyway. It includes summaries of regional needs and expectations, approaches, and case studies. There are plenty of photos! See also the 2022/23 workplan.
2021
Our 2021 annual meeting was online, in the afternoons of October 11 and 12. We had our usual review of the past year and planning for the next, as well as presentations from MBP members and inspirational external groups.
This meeting had full simultaneous interpretation between French and English.
Read the meeting report, including our work plan for 2021/2.
2020
In 2020 we held our first virtual Annual Meeting. On 12 November we met, as usual, to review the past year, and plan for the next one, but we even managed some online birding!
The meeting report summarises the presentations from members and guests, and links to recordings and PowerPoints from the meeting
2019
Twenty MBP colleagues gathered at WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre, in October 2019 to review the past year and plan for the next. Here’s the summary, with some photos, or read the full meeting report here.
2018
This meeting took place at the Maison du Lac de Grand Lieu, near Nantes, France from the 24th to the 27th of September 2018. To see the summary report of the meeting, please click here. For some feedback from some of the participants here’s what said they would be taking home to their wetlands centres and organisations.
MBP News
MBP Annual Meeting at EVOA 2023!
EVOA and Companhia das Lezírias hosted the meeting superbly at the start of October. As in other Europe-based meetings, participants struggled to get visas, however two African members were present: Bose Kosemani of Lekki Conservation Centre in Nigeria, and Emmanuel Taye of the University of Accra. We took part in a hide assessment…
Apply for Flyway Youth Forum 2023!
Two-day online training for young people on conservation storytelling. Apply before 31 July. This year’s East Atlantic Flyway Youth Forum will present two days of online training in storytelling for conservation, to people aged 18 – 30 in the flyway. The workshop will be open to young people aged 18 – 30 from coastal countries…
MBP Annual Meeting ’23 – Programme & last minute registration
October first to fifth 2023, the East Atlantic Flyway network of wetland educators and visitor centres will meet. EVOA in the Tagus Estuary in Portugal is generously hosting the annual meeting for Migratory Birds for People (MBP). Download the latest programme. As of late August, there is still capacity for some self-funded participants, so if…
Staff twinning in the East Atlantic Flyway
Wetland centre staff love exchange programmes, so we are working to bring one to the East Atlantic Flyway. The Migratory Birds for People network suggested such a scheme at the Annual Meeting in Saloum, Senegal, last year. Thanks to EVOA, there are at least two spaces for twinning around the 2023 Annual Meeting; there have…
Birds and Schools for World Migratory Bird Day 2023
The WLI team worked with partners to host webinars between schools and wetland centres in two flyways in May 2023. To celebrate World Migratory Bird Day, we again activated our Connecting Birds and Schools programme. Ibrahim Hama led a call in French with Biodiversum Remerschen and two schools in Senegal. Connor Walsh connected WWT Castle…
MBP survey: exchanges & communicating science
Calling all members of Migratory Birds for People! Please help us plan two of our activities for 2023: how to communicate science at wetland visitor centres creating exchanges or twinning between MBP members These two initiatives emerged from multiple sources at out 2022 Annual Meeting. Now we want to clarify what you need and how…
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