The Southern African Bird Atlas Project (SABAP2) is a citizen science initiative that provides open-access data on bird distributions and reporting rates, supporting bird conservation and research across southern Africa. Covering South Africa, Lesotho, eSwatini, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique, the project serves as a valuable resource for students, researchers, and consultants. It plays a crucial role in training new scientists, guiding conservation efforts, conducting environmental impact assessments, and advancing research on bird biology and population health.
During 2024, a total of 1,103 citizen scientists actively contributed to the SABAP2, surveying 10,872 pentads and recording an impressive 950 species within the monitored region. Their efforts resulted in 1.6 million individual sightings, submitted across more than 65,000 cards under the project's two survey protocols. This significant contribution brought the overall dataset to over 25 million records across all protocols, reinforcing SABAP2's value as a critical long-term biodiversity monitoring initiative.
The continued success of SABAP2 is largely attributable to the dedication and commitment of its citizen scientists, whose collective efforts amounted to 120,000 hours of field surveys in 2024. Whether expanding geographic coverage into previously unrecorded or underrepresented areas or refining our understanding of local avian populations, their contributions provide essential data for assessing the impact of environmental changes on bird populations across the region.
There were notable changes within the SABAP2 Steering Committee in 2024: Ernst Retief moved to a new role at BirdLife South Africa, and Dr. David Ehlers Smith, an avid atlaser, now supports SABAP2 in his capacity as the Science and Spatial Planning Project Manager at BirdLife South Africa.
In parallel, the African Bird Atlas Project (ABAP) also experienced substantial growth during this period. In 2024, data collection expanded to 24 African countries, culminating in 117,712 records from 3,025 pentads. These contributions were made possible through the dedicated efforts of 282 citizen scientists, further demonstrating the increasing reach and impact of bird monitoring initiatives across the continent. ABAP now has collected data from 52 of Africa’s 54 countries!
Despite these successes, SABAP2 continues to face significant challenges, particularly in securing sustainable funding. Given the project's long-term commitment to continuous data collection, maintaining core operational systems remains a priority. We extend our sincere gratitude to the patrons and supporters whose generosity has sustained the project thus far. Their contributions have been instrumental in ensuring SABAP2’s ongoing growth and success, and continued support will be vital for the project's future. The growing list of publications using SABAP2 data can be found at http://sabap2. birdmap.africa/media/bibliography.
SABAP2 team (Admin)
Dr David Ehlers Smith (Project Coordinator, BirdLife SA)
Tania Anderson (Project Communications SABAP, CWAC and CAR, FIAO)
Michael Brooks (Chief Technical Officer, FIAO)