Waterbird declines
Governments call for urgent actions
These inter-governmental meetings gave
opportunities to reflect on current issues and set priorities for
action. Debates on waterbird conservation at these meetings
were significantly influenced by the latest findings of national
waterbird programmes such as the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS).
No punches pulled
AEWA MoP4 didn’t pull its punches: a series of
blunt Resolutions were adopted by the 62 Contracting Parties and
these can be found in full on the AEWA web-site (see
below). The overall status of migratory waterbird
populations in the Agreement area of Africa, the Middle East and
western Eurasia was acknowledged as poor and declining.
Despite international targets to reduce and even halt the
loss of biodiversity by 2010, monitoring evidence suggests that,
for waterbirds, the overall situation is actually becoming worse
rather than showing signs of improvement.
Causes of declines
The main causes of these declines were
identified as continued widespread habitat loss and degradation,
and locally unsustainable harvesting of waterbirds. The
effects of pollution, including the use of lead gun-shot throughout
most of the Agreement area, was highlighted, together with the
consequences of climate change on habitats and species, which will
result in further unwelcome and unpredictable impacts.
Key wetlands continue to be threatened or even
lost to development, and in recent years many sites of major
importance for waterbirds have been lost or damaged. A
proposal that would have severely damaged Lake Natron in Tanzania –
home to 75% of the world’s lesser flamingos– is a topical example.
The Parties agreed a new process that will allow the AEWA
Secretariat to work with a country in the event of future threats
to important sites or species.
Ramsar’s CoP10 was a larger meeting – as
befits a global convention. Indeed, nearly all Ramsar’s 158
Contracting Parties were represented in South Korea, together with
a very large number of national and international Non-Governmental
Organisations including the UK’s Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust.
Two Resolutions were adopted with particular significance for
waterbird conservation.
Response to avian disease
The Ramsar CoP adopted Resolution X.21
Guidance on responding to the continued spread of highly
pathogenic avian influenza [HPAI] which provides a major
compilation of technical and policy guidance related to HPAI H5N1.
In particular, it provides a ‘roadmap’ of such material
produced over the last three years, as well as presenting
significant new guidance aimed at reducing the risk of HPAI
infection at wetland reserves. Further and complementary
Resolutions on HPAI H5N1 were adopted by both AEWA MoP4 and CMS
CoP9 – the latter also reflecting on the wider issues of disease in
waterbirds and other wildlife.
Waterbird flyways
Resolution X.22 Promoting international
co-operation for the conservation of waterbird flyways
reflected on the conservation of the world’s waterbird flyways.
It noted alarm “at the continuing decline in abundance of
many waterbirds throughout the world, resulting not only from
unsustainable exploitation, but especially from the loss and
degradation of wetland habitats (in particular through both
small-scale and larger-scale land claims and other land use changes
of intertidal wetlands).”
The Ramsar Parties called for an exchange of
best practice approaches to the international conservation of
migratory waterbirds in recognition that there are a number of
different legal and other conservation frameworks around the world.
Ramsar, CMS and AEWA will be working together to that end
over the next few years.
Search for slender-billed
curlew
CoP9 endorsed a CMS call for a final search
for the slender-billed curlew. There have been no verified
records of this critically threatened bird since 1999, and an
international working group for the species established by CMS
launched a tool kit to assist people to identify and report
slender-billed curlew in the field. A downloadable
identification leaflet, an mp3 file of its call, and a map of all
recent sightings by season (all from http://www.slenderbilledcurlew.net/),
mean that travelling waterbird counters will now know what to look
for, and when and where to search for this elusive wader.
All three international meetings called for
follow-up actions related to the priorities identified. JNCC
and other partner organisations in the UK will be contributing to
these actions so as to ensure that the UK’s long-developed and
significant expertise in waterbird monitoring and conservation can
be used to help try to halt the progressive decline of the world’s
waterbirds.
David Stroud
Senior Ornithological Adviser
Tel: +44 (0) 1733 866810
Email:
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