The Bearded Vulture Gypaetus barbatus is a Critically Endangered species in southern Africa whose entire range in the Southern Hemisphere falls within the Maloti-Drakensberg mountains of South Africa and Lesotho, which forms the area of focus for this research. In this thesis I have attempted to synthesize 15 years of research on the Bearded Vulture population of southern Africa using various approaches to quantify the decline in the species, investigate the mechanisms of this decline and determine the most appropriate management actions necessary to attain the short-term species' conservation target of a positive population growth rate. Firstly I assessed the territory occupancy, distribution and density of the population over two time periods to identify population trends. The number of occupied territories decreased by between 32%-51%, the breeding range decreased by 27% and breeding densities decreased by 20% over the past five decades. The birds occupy a breeding range of 28,125 km2 with higher densities recorded in the core of the range than in the peripheral areas. The population is estimated at between 368-408 individuals (109-221 breeding pairs).