CONSERVATIONISTS call for development of energy infrastructure that slow down climate change without harming migratory bird species.
Making bird-friendly energy infrastructure is the theme of this year’s World Migratory Bird Day, which is celebrated on the second weekend of May. This year, the celebration falls this weekend.
World Migratory Bird Day was launched in 2006 in Kenya to raise awareness on the importance of migratory birds and their habitats.
The Philippines, where wetlands like those in Olango Island off Mactan form part of the East Asia-Australasia Flyway, is a signatory of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).
CMS, one of two intergovernmental wildlife treaties administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), is composed of 120 parties from Africa, Central and South America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. It brings governments together to develop policies to protect and manage migratory bird flyways.
Conditions
Migratory birds—such as cranes, storks, shorebirds and eagles—travel hundreds and thousands of kilometers to find the best ecological conditions and habitats for feeding, breeding and raising their young.
According to the UNEP, 14 percent of migratory bird species included in the CMS agreement are considered threatened or near-threatened in the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) Red List.
“Since 1988, 53 species have deteriorated in status (sufficiently to be uplisted to higher categories of extinction risk on the IUCN Red List) while only nine species have improved (sufficiently to be downlisted to lower categories),” read a UNEP-CMS report in 2014.
The report said that the population of migratory birds are declining globally but the highest proportion, or 20 percent, of threatened migratory water birds is in the East Asia–Australasia region.
Soaring birds
The Africa–Eurasia, Central Asia and East Asia–Australasia have the highest proportions of threatened soaring birds at 30 percent each and the Americas, Africa–Eurasia and East Asia–Australasia have the highest proportions of threatened seabirds at 30 percent.
“Overall, the East Asia–Australasia region has the highest proportion of threatened migratory birds in all categories and is under enormous pressures with some 45 percent of the world’s human population as well as the fastest-growing economies,” the report read.
“Analysis of the main threats to migratory species evaluated as threatened and near-threatened on the 2010 IUCN Red List shows that important threats include land-use change, illegal hunting and taking, non-native species, diseases, pollution, climate change, natural system modifications, infrastructure development, human disturbance, fishing, energy production and distribution,” the report stated.
Because migratory birds cross many borders, they are affected by differing policies and conservation measures.
“It is evident that international cooperation among governments, NGOs and other stakeholders is required along the entire flyway of a species in order to share knowledge and to coordinate conservation efforts,” the CMS said.