Fri, May 10, 2013 -
World Migratory Bird Day 2013 Highlights
Importance of Ecological Networks for Migratory
Birds, Need for a Greater International
Response
Bonn/Nairobi 10 May
2013 - The annual migration of an estimated
50 billion birds - around 19 per cent of
the world's 10,000 bird species - is one
of the world's great natural wonders, yet
the critical staging areas migratory birds
need to complete these journeys are being
degraded or are disappearing completely.
These increasingly vulnerable
sites, which act as stepping stones on migration
routes, serve as a place for the birds to
rest, feed and breed during their annual
migration cycles. As a result of the degradation,
some species may be extinct within a decade,
while others are facing population losses
of up to nine per cent each year.
Celebrated in over 65 countries on 11-12
May, World Migratory Bird Day 2013 will
highlight the importance of ecological networks
for the survival of migratory birds, the
important human networks dedicated to their
conservation, the threats migratory birds
face, and the need for more international
cooperation to conserve them.
Events to mark World
Migratory Bird Day will include bird festivals,
education programmes, presentations, film
screenings and birdwatching trips.
"I fully support
the global campaign to raise awareness about
the threats to migratory birds from habitat
destruction, overexploitation, pollution
and climate change," said United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. "I call
for greater international efforts to restore
and preserve migratory birds and the network
of sites they need to survive as an important
part of the environment on which we all
depend."
Launched in Kenya in
2006, World Migratory Bird Day is organized
by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)
and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird
Agreement (AEWA)?two intergovernmental wildlife
treaties administered by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP).
Many migrating birds
- such as Cranes, Storks, Shorebirds and
Eagles - travel thousands of kilometers
across flyways that span countries, continents
and even the entire globe. Yet pressures
resulting from a growing human population,
rapid urbanization, pollution, climate change
and unsustainable use of natural areas are
causing the loss, fragmentation and degradation
of natural habitats along the birds' migration
routes and threatening their survival.
Similar to a human transport
system of harbors, airports and roads, migratory
birds depend on these international networks
of natural sites for food, safety, breeding
and moulting?as well as for stopover areas
which act as refueling stations between
breeding and non-breeding areas.
Stopover sites of international
importance for migratory waterbirds include
the Wadden Sea, shared by Germany, the Netherlands
and Denmark; Banc d'Arguin on the west coast
of Mauritania; Bahia de Santa Maria in Mexico
and the Saemangeum tidal flat in the Yellow
Sea in South Korea.
Migratory waterbird
species that depend on a network of intertidal
habitats along the East Asian-Australasian
Flyway (EAAF) are showing rapid decline
and are amongst the world's most-threatened
migratory birds. The decline is mainly caused
by the fast pace of coastal land reclamation
occurring in this densely populated region,
particularly around key coastal staging
areas in the Yellow Sea.
According to a 2011
report commissioned by the International
Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN),
the rates of decline in the region are among
the highest of any ecological system in
the world. At least 24 waterbird species
using the flyway are heading towards extinction
and many others are facing losses of five
to nine per cent per year. According to
the IUCN report, species such as the Spoon-billed
Sandpiper could become extinct within a
decade.
"Migratory birds
and the challenges they face in many ways
underline the ambition of multilateralism
in a globalized world?it is only when countries
work together in common cause that the survival
and conservation of these species be ensured,"
said UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP
Executive Director Achim Steiner.
"There are many
reasons why migratory birds should be conserved?their
beauty and behavior are a source of joy
and inspiration for millions upon millions
of people," he added. "But they
also are part of the web of life that underpins
nature's multi-trillion-dollar ecosystem
services, while being in some countries,
including Kenya, part of the nature-based
tourism that generates 10 per cent of the
nation's GDP."
This year, World Migratory
Bird Day events will be celebrated in countries
which share the African-Eurasian Flyways.
In Kenya, for instance, a regional event
will take place on the shores of Lake Elementaita
- part of the Kenya Lakes Systems, a network
of sites that supports 11 globally threatened
bird species.
The area also sustains
75 per cent of the near-threatened Lesser
Flamingo, and Lake Elementaita is known
to be one of the world's major breeding
colonies of the Great White Pelican. The
event is being hosted by the Kenyan Wildlife
Service (KWS) in cooperation with the UNEP/CMS
and UNEP/AEWA Secretariats.
"The key message
behind World Migratory Bird Day is that
countries, dedicated organizations and people
around the world need to work together to
ensure that migratory birds can continue
to travel, refuel and reach their destinations,"
said Bradnee Chambers, Executive Secretary
of the CMS.
The global World Migratory
Bird Day campaign is backed by a growing
number of international partners, including:
BirdLife International, Wetlands International,
the Secretariat of the East Asian-Australasian
Flyway Partnership (EAAFP), the International
Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation
(CIC) and UNEP.
In order to protect
crucial staging grounds and thus conserve
bird species, sophisticated systems such
as the AEWA Critical Site Network (CSN)
Tool are helping to summarize current knowledge
about the network of sites used by migratory
waterbirds in the African-Eurasian region.
The Report on the Site
Network for Waterbirds in the AEWA Agreement
Area, prepared by Wetlands International
and BirdLife International using the CSN
Tool information as a basis, revealed that
less than half of the critical sites of
AEWA waterbird populations had adequate
protection.
"If maintained
and continuously improved, this information
can significantly help conservation efforts,
but it is also revealing some disturbing
gaps as the recent site network report has
shown," said Marco Barbieri, Acting
Executive Secretary of AEWA. "The bigger
challenge, which has become obvious from
the AEWA report, is that countries need
to increase their efforts to fill the gaps
in terms of adequate legal protection status
and management of these sites."
FURTHER QUOTES
"Very often migrant
birds are under huge pressure at the exact
points where they are most vulnerable. Birds
battling to reach the sea-shore descend
into a limitless line of nets. Tiny falcons
funnel through forests to be trapped in
their thousands. Exhausted shorebirds find
that the mudflats where they once refueled
are now a sea of concrete, or circle wearily
because their roosting sites have vanished"
- Dr. Marco Lambertini, Chief Executive,
BirdLife International.
"What does concern
them (the waterbirds of the East Asian -
Australasian Flyway) is that the network
of sites they have traditionally depended
on for safety, food, breeding and moulting
is changing rapidly and usually for the
worse. Areas of inter-tidal coastal flats
of East Asia have undergone a steep and
continuing decline in recent decades, threatening
the migration routes of migratory shorebirds"
- Spike Millington, Chief Executive of East
Asian ? Australasian Flyway Partnership
(EAAFP) Secretariat.
"Migratory waterbirds
are spectacular and engaging ambassadors
of wetlands. They connect people across
the globe and the concerns about their conservation
have played an important role in the creation
of our organization" - Ms Jane Madgwick,
Chief Executive Officer, Wetlands International.
"One of the truths
about climate change is that no one species
or habitat is immune from its effects. Therefore,
the effort to meet the climate challenge
and the effort to protect bird migration
are deeply intertwined. Altered timeframes
for migration (as temperatures rise), changed
flight patterns (due to changing ecosystems)
and reduced bird populations (due to extreme
weather and drought) all provide ample evidence
that the changing climate is already affecting
migratory birds" - Ms. Christiana Figueres,
Executive Secretary of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
"Migratory species
are interesting because they highlight some
of our own contradictions. We constantly
aspire to move more freely around the world,
yet we do exactly the opposite for migratory
birds. We put hurdles on their journeys
all the time. We make their travels more
and more complicated. Nature actually dictates
these movements of these species and we
tend to forget that we are part of nature
and should listen a little bit more to its
rules" - Jean-Christophe Vié,
Deputy Director, IUCN Global Species Programme
and Director, SOS ? Save Our Species.
Further statements marking
World Migratory Bird Day 2013 can be found
here.
NOTES TO EDITORS
About World Migratory
Bird Day
Launched in 2006, World
Migratory Bird Day is a global initiative
devoted to celebrating migratory birds and
promoting their conservation worldwide.
It is organized by the Secretariats of the
Convention on the Conservation of Migratory
Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the African-Eurasian
Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) - two
international wildlife treaties administered
by the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP).
For more information,
including all global events, please visit
the website.
Pictures and other materials
are available here.
About the Convention
on Migratory Species (CMS)
The Convention on the
Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild
Animals (also known as CMS or Bonn Convention)
aims to conserve terrestrial, aquatic and
avian migratory species throughout their
range. It is an intergovernmental treaty,
concluded under the aegis of the United
Nations Environment Programme, concerned
with the conservation of wildlife and habitats
on a global scale. Since the Convention's
entry into force, its membership has grown
steadily to include 118 (as of 1 January
2013) Parties from Africa, Central and South
America, Asia, Europe and Oceania.
CMS and its related
Agreements on migratory birds bring together
governments and other stakeholders to coordinate
and further develop global flyways policy,
to ensure that all flyways in the world
benefit from some kind of coordination mechanism
that promotes cooperation at ground level
among the countries involved. This includes
working towards establishing a viable network
of sites which can be used by migratory
birds, to both ensure their survival as
well as make sure they will continue to
be able to be a source of inspiration and
fascination for people all over the world
for generations to come.
For more information,
please visit the website.
About the African-Eurasian
Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA)
The Agreement on the
Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory
Waterbirds (AEWA) is an intergovernmental
treaty developed under the auspices of CMS
dedicated to the conservation of migratory
waterbirds that migrate along the African-Eurasian
Flyway. The Agreement covers 255 species
of birds ecologically dependent on wetlands
for at least part of their annual cycle.
The treaty covers 119 Range States from
Europe, parts of Asia and Canada, the Middle
East and Africa. Currently, 71 countries
and the European Union (EU) have become
a Contracting Party to AEWA (as of 1 June
2013).