Preventing Extinctions
The BirdLife International Partnership is renowned for saving bird species from the brink of extinction, but until now limited resources have forced us to concentrate on just a handful of the world’s most threatened birds.
While we have been saving these birds one species at a time, the pressures that lead to extinction have been building relentlessly.
Today 190 Critically Endangered bird species face imminent extinction, which is why have launched a major new initiative that aims to save every one.
 Rich Lindie / Rare Birds Yearbook
Philippine Eagle: one of 190 Critically Endangered birds facing extinction now.
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Clearly a carefully orchestrated and sustained global conservation effort is required to achieve this. In fact, over the next five years we aim to raise £19,000,000.
This is a huge challenge – one we are taking very seriously and one we are totally committed to achieving. With more than 100 BirdLife Partners around the world, we have the capacity and expertise to achieve our conservation goals.
What we don’t yet have is the funding – and we are turning to companies, institutions and even individuals in our search for a new kind of active conservationist to provide it.
We call them ‘Species Champions’.
Most of us would do more for the natural world if we could – perhaps to offset our worries about the environmental damage done by our own lifestyles, work and travel. But too often the stories and statistics intended to raise our awareness of the growing threat of extinction raise feelings of helplessness instead. Sometimes we feel that any contribution we might make would be swamped by the magnitude of the tide running against the world’s biodiversity.
The BirdLife Species Champions initiative provides an antidote to that 'sense of helplessness' and a focus for our individual desire to make a difference.
By becoming a BirdLife Species Champion, you or your company, or institution will be taking a stand against the forces of extinction. You will be making a measurable contribution to the future of some of the world’s most charismatic birds.
Together, we can turn the tide.