Across the species's global range, most of its breeding colonies are inaccessible or in protected areas so it would appear that global declines are due to pressures in wintering grounds or on migration. Radio-tagging of birds in Oman suggested that only about 12% of fledglings survived to the average age of first breeding, and that most of first-year mortality occurred during the first migration or soon after they reached their destination. This low apparent survival of immature birds could result in low recruitment to the breeding population, contributing to population declines (McGrady et al. 2016).However, Aspinall (1996) does note that breeding sites in UAE have been under threat from development and disturbance. Introduced mammals, such as cats, could have an impact and should be removed from breeding sites (Aspinall 1996).;The species has suffered from persecution, and the collection of nestlings for falconry could also contribute impact the remaining population (Aspinall 1996).

A number of threats have been highlighted for outside of UAE, which could have an impact within the country.;Juveniles suffer high mortality from collisions with power lines (Rollan;et al. 2010). Declining prey availability, increasing human disturbance and poaching at nest sites, and agricultural intensification are thought to be key factors in the species's global decline (Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001, Orta;et al.;2016). It was affected by pesticide use in the mid-20^th;century, and since then populations have not recovered to their pre-organochlorine levels, although within the UAE itself this is not thought to be a significant threat.

A number of threats have been highlighted for outside of UAE, which could have an impact on individuals within the country. In Oman, oil exploitation represents a threat to the species (Symes et al. 2015). In the wider Arabian Peninsula, the species suffers from a declining food availability, as its prey is exploited by humans (Symes et al. 2015).;There are records of mortality as a result of electrocution when perching on power lines, but no data to suggest any substantial demographic impact. The development of wind farms in flyways may affect migrating adult eagles, and locally may cause effective habitat loss and lead to collisions and direct mortality (Watson 2010, Katzner;et al. 2012b). In addition, afforestation, long term changes in food supply, including reduced livestock carrion through changing management practices and climate change, may threaten the species in future (Watson 2010).

It is uncertain whether this species is impacted by any specific threats within UAE, although collisions with powerlines are possible. It does face a range of threats across its global range, all of which could impact individuals that visit UAE, and these are described below.Breeding sites are threatened primarily by intensive forestry in the mountains, and by the shortage of large indigenous trees in the lowlands (e.g. illegal tree cutting affected several pairs in Russia [Karyakin et al. 2009a] and Bulgaria).;The species is sensitive to human disturbance, which means its breeding range can be highly restricted by human presence and infrastructural development in Central Europe (and probably elsewhere in its range e.g. Karyakin;2011) (M. Horváth in litt. 2016). Infrastructural and settlement network was the primary cause for the absence of the species at more than 30% of its potential habitats at the Hungarian Plain (Horváth 2009).Other threats are loss and alteration of feeding habitats, shortages of small and medium-sized prey species (particularly ground-squirrels Spermophilus spp.), nest robbing and illegal trade, shooting, poisoning, electrocution by powerlines and collisions with vehicles. An average of c.450 Eastern Imperial Eagles were killed by powerlines during the 2009 breeding season in the Altai region -“ 25% of the total population of the region (Karyakin et al. 2009b). Habitat alterations associated with agricultural expansion threaten historical and potential breeding sites in former range countries. In Central Europe intentional predator poisoning became the first cause of mortality from 2006 onwards affecting more than 80 specimens in 10 years only in Hungary (Horváth et al. 2011, M. Horváth in litt. 2016). Hunting, poisoning, prey depletion and other mortality factors are also likely to pose threats along migration routes and in some wintering areas. Competition for nest sites with Greater Spotted Eagle Aquila clanga has been reported in the Altai region, Russia (Karyakin et al. 2009c).

Within the UAE, development and habitat degradation may be having an impact on the species. The potentially temporary nature of some artificial sites, could impact upon this species too. A reduction in the amount of carrion left out could mean reduced food supplies for this species.The following threats are relevant at the global level, and as such likely impact individuals that pass-through/overwinter in UAE, even if the threats only occur outside of the country. The species has declined in the west of its breeding range, including extirpation from Romania, Moldova and Ukraine, as a result of the conversion of steppes to agricultural land combined with direct persecution (Ferguson-Lees and Christie 2001, Meyburg and Boesman 2013).;It is also adversely affected by power lines and is very highly vulnerable to the impacts of potential wind energy developments (STRIX 2012, Meyburg and Boesman 2013). It was recently found to be the raptor most frequently electrocuted by power lines in a study in western Kazakhstan (Levin and Kurkin 2013). Three sets of factors have been identified as having detrimental impacts on the species in Russia and Kazakhstan: increased mortality owing to collisions with power lines, poisoning and direct persecution; a reduction in the area of suitable habitat and a reduction in available food; poor breeding success owing to destruction of nests and juvenile mortality during spring fires and disturbance by people and livestock (Strategy of the Steppe Eagle Conservation in the Russian Federation 2016). Young eagles are taken out of the nest in order to sell them to western European countries (Mebs and Schmidt 2006). A decline in the number of birds and a reduction in the proportion of juveniles migrating over Eilat, Israel began immediately after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, leading Yosef and Fornadari (2004) to suggest that the species may have been affected by radioactive contamination. This species is vulnerable to the veterinary drug diclofenac (Sharma et al. 2014), which was intensively used in the species's wintering range in Pakistan and India (M. Horvath in litt. 2016).

The species is known to face a very large range of threats that are having a severe impact on the global population. The population that visits the UAE, however, is probably naturally very small because it is at the very edge of its range in the country. It is probably naturally limited here by the lack of appropriate breeding sites, or possibly from the lack of large predators and their prey, and so the remains they feed on (Aspinall 1996). Instead, the principal food source in the region is potentially from dead domestic stock (Aspinall 1996), and this could potentially bring it into conflict with farmers. In the wider region it has been noted that the species may face persecution, and it could also be impacted by the poisoning of feral dogs/wolves (Symes et al. 2015). There is no evidence of any local susceptibility to diclofenac poisoning, which has impacted global vulture populations, but this should be monitored (Symes et al. 2015).

Aspinall (1996) says that there are no threats known to this species within UAE, while Symes et al. (2015) specifies only nest predation by White-tailed Mongoose Ichneumia albicauda;as a threat across the breeding population in the whole Arabian Peninsula. As for Lappet-faced Vulture Torgos tracheliotos, though, the species faces a large range of threats across its global range, and within UAE monitoring of other potential threats should occur. In particular persecution, and any potential impacts from poisoning (either due to diclofenac and other Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs[NSAIDs; see Botha et al. 2017] or as a byproduct of poisoning feral dogs/wolves [see Symes et al. 2015]).

The major threats to this species come from the loss of breeding sites due to coastal and island development, with at least one island site partially lost, predation by cats and rats primarily on islands, and foxes on the mainland, oil and other marine pollution, and disturbance (Aspinall 1996, Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi 2016). Some of the islands with breeding colonies are inhabited, and human disturbance is a threat.

Within the UAE, the species is threatened by oil pollution and marine debris (plastics). The population within the UAE is likely to be impacted by the global threats described below, however, the extent to which these threats impact individuals that visit the UAE is uncertain.Globally, human disturbance represents a significant threat to this species. Caspian Tern colonies are especially vulnerable to disturbance during the early courtship and incubation stages, during which human visitation results in the flushing of the whole colony, potentially leading to nest or colony abandonment (Cuthbert and Wires 1999 per Shuford and Craig 2002). The effect of disturbance during research activities has been well quantified, with activities such as ringing and cannon-netting representing a large proportion of the reproductive failure in colonies studied (Shuford and Craig 2002). Disturbance due to recreational activities are less well quantified but likely also significant (Shuford and Craig 2002). Much of the loss of reproductive success due to human disturbance occurs through gull predation of chicks during the few seconds of panic flight in which the eggs and chicks of a nest are left exposed (Shuford and Craig 2002). Historically, overexploitation within parts of its global range has resulted in large population declines through the collection of eggs and adults for food and feathers (Shuford and Craig 2002) - shooting of birds is still thought to occur, but on a much smaller scale than in the past;(Shuford and Craig 2002).

In the UAE, the removal of irrigated pivot fields impacts this species.This species is of global significance given its global listing as Critically Endangered. It is likely that the main drivers of the global decline come from outside of UAE, and so these external threats are likely also the main threats to the population that visits the country. Care should be given though to make sure that any relevant threats are not present in the country, or do not spread into the UAE.Globally, it now appears that illegal hunting during migration and on the wintering grounds may be the primary threat (M. A. Koshkin, J. Kamp and R. D. Sheldon in litt. 2007 et al. 2008, Fisher unpublished 2016). Data from 2005-2012 suggest that low adult survival, perhaps resulting from known hunting pressure along the migration routes, appears to be the most critical demographic rate (Sheldon et al. 2013).Other key factors explaining the magnitude of declines remain poorly understood, despite much recent research. On the breeding grounds, it was probably formerly threatened by the conversion of steppe to arable cultivation, plus, perhaps less likely, the reduction in grazing by large herds of native ungulates and, latterly, by the loss of the enormous herds of domestic grazing animals from state-sponsored collective farms (Eichhorn and Khrokov 2002, Watson et al. 2006). However, since the collapse of the Soviet Union, large areas of arable cultivation have been abandoned and are reverting to natural steppe habitat, herds of domestic livestock have become concentrated around villages (where their permanent presence leads to shorter swards than were created by the vast herds that grazed semi-nomadically under the Soviet system), while an increase in fires (owing to reduced control of fires) may also have contributed to an increase in suitable habitat. These factors may be behind the possible increase in numbers (at least in parts of Kazakhstan) in recent years (Watson et al. 2006, M. A. Koshkin, J. Kamp and R. D. Sheldon in litt. 2007). Concentration of nests in heavily grazed areas in the vicinity of villages may have increased threats from human disturbance and trampling by sheep, goats and possibly other livestock (Watson et al. 2006, M. A. Koshkin, J. Kamp and R. D. Sheldon in litt. 2007). Low egg survival due to nesting in areas of high grazer density has been suggested as one of the causes for the species' decline (Watson et al. 2006). The species may be affected by the increasingly dry climate in its breeding and wintering range, but it is not clear if this benefits or threatens this semi-desert species (Watson et al. 2006). Agricultural expansion and intensification, overgrazing and loss of steppe habitats all pose threats to stopover sites used by the species (Ashoori et al. 2013, Sheldon 2013, Asswad 2014). An irrigation project distributing water from the;Atatürk dam to fields around Ceylanpinar may have a negative impact on the species as the habitats change (Fisher unpublished 2016).