The Swiss species recovery programme for birds was launched in 2003 by BirdLife Switzerland, the Swiss Ornithological Institute and the Federal Office for the Environment BAFU. The aim is to go beyond habitat and area protection and implement measures for 36 selected bird species in order to improve the status of the populations. To this end, factors jeopardising populations are identified and support measures are developed and implemented with the help of various stakeholders.
Priority species for recovery projects are derived from the list of national priority bird species (National Prioritäre Vogelarten, new edition 2023), which in turn are based on the Red List of Swiss breeding birds (Rote Liste der Brutvögel der Schweiz, 2021 (in German)).