BirdLife's World Bird Festival

Fundación ProAves - www.proaves.org

Children form an important part of the World Bird Festival
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The World Bird Festival is a BirdLife International initiative that takes place every two years in October. This global event is aimed at highlighting the vital role that birds play in the equilibrium of ecosystems, as well as their relationships with people. Through the innumerable events held during the month-long festivities, BirdLife hopes to deliver the following messages to a global audience:

• Birds are beautiful, inspirational and international

• Universally, birds have economic and cultural value to people

• Due to their popularity, birds are useful for promoting conservation awareness

• Birds provide a useful means to improve our scientific knowledge and understanding of environment

• Birds are sensitive indicators of biological richness and environmental conditions

• Bird species are vital components within ecological functioning in the natural environment

MNS / EEdu

Around the world, going birdwatching is a popular way to enjoy birds
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Hundreds of BirdLife partners and affiliates, each dedicated to the conservation of birds and their habitats, participate in these celebrations. One principle objective of the World Bird Festival is to reach out to communities and individuals in a way that is beyond the scope of these organisations, as a way of raising awareness of the importance of protecting birds and their habitats for the sake of the environment and people alike. It should be widely appreciated that any alteration to this delicate balance could result in the disappearance of numerous species, severe depreciation of the environment and consequent serious repercussions for the human race.

The month-long festival relies on the participation of all people with an interest in celebrating and conserving bird diversity and all life on earth. In previous years, activities held as part of the World Bird Festival have ranged from guided nature walks, lectures, seminars and film showings, through to arts performances (music, theatre and poetry readings), children's events (face painting, bird costume making and painting competitions), and exhibitions (of paintings, prints and photographs). With all of these activities, the focus has been on celebrating the wonder of birds and nature.

LIPU ARCH

World Bird Festivals are not only about birds, they include a wide variety of other nature-related activities
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BirdLife International's first ever World Bird Festival was celebrated in 2001. It attracted over 300,000 people to more than 1,450 events in 88 countries, initially under the theme: “The Inspiration of Birds”. Since this beginning, the global event has grown in size and popularity and it is now celebrated by people and organisations of all regions of the world including Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Pacific.

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