Editorial: News from the BirdLife Partnership, January 2007

01-02-2007

Over 100 BirdLife Partners worldwide, 10 million supporters, 1 million hectares owned or managed, and thousands of conservation programmes and projects working to conserve birds, many of them Globally Threatened.

With so much ongoing work in so many countries, news from within the BirdLife Partnership continues to be diverse, relevant, interesting and (importantly) first to report on global conservation stories impacting on birds, habitats, people and policies…

This month sees the launch of BirdLife's Editorial, giving you an opportunity to catch up on events and stories coming from the BirdLife Partnership that you may have missed.

So, how to summarise what’s been happening within BirdLife this month?

Let us start with the three big stories:

From Africa, the protection of over 3000km2 of Madagascar’s wetland was announced; the result of years of hard work by BirdLife’s Madagascar Programme among others (Madagascar protects wetlands crucial for people and birds, 22nd Jan). This is fantastic news for the Partnership and was rightly applauded by conservationists and those journalists that covered the story.

For wetland birds elsewhere there was more sombre news with Wetlands International’s ‘Waterbird Population Estimates’ report highlighting continued declines in many wetland species, particularly in Asia (Study reveals further declines for the world’s waterbirds, 23^rd Jan). The Press Association incorporated BirdLife’s comments on this study and the resulting story was very well received (and for good reason). It appeared in newspapers worldwide, from the Tehran Times to the Erie Times, with USA Today and the International Herald Tribune among the bigger names on the list.

From the Middle-East there was more encouraging news for wetland birds. Iraq, a country that rarely features in the media on the basis of its diverse wildlife, received worldwide media attention due to the release of a new Arabic language bird field-guide for Iraqis (Iraqis open the book on wildlife conservation, 25th January). It represented a fantastic achievement for Nature Iraq and those working in the BirdLife Middle-East Partnership. The guide will help bridge the gap between people, birds and conservation in Iraq, eventually leading to better surveying networks within the country.

In fact ‘People-power’ featured heavily this month. There was news that BirdLife Malta and the RSPB continue to push for action from the Maltese Government on illegal hunting and trapping (115,000-strong petition handed to Maltese government, 30th January) and in the U.S., Audubon await the results of their petition to ‘Save the Salton Sea’, a crucial IBA for migratory birds in the region. (US debate continues over future of “bird jewel”, 15th Jan).

Alain Composte

People-power: A BirdLife report this month highlighted the impoverishment of many communities living within Important Bird Areas.
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...news from within the BirdLife Partnership continues to be diverse, relevant, interesting and (importantly) first...

‘People’ were also the basis of a new report from BirdLife International (New BirdLife report investigates poverty for those living within Important Bird Areas, 31st January). The study shed light on the issues that surround impoverished people and their livelihoods within IBAs. The report outlines the steps that BirdLife Partners and other conservation organisations can follow to address and counteract what are life-threatening issues, both for people and birds.

I only wish there were more space to talk of the other stories this month: Kazakhstan signing up to protect its wetlands, captive bred vulture chicks hatching in Asia, anchovy fishery expansion in Peru, bird declines in West Africa…

…but for now it’s onwards into February.

We look forward to keeping you informed of developments, news and insights within the BirdLife Parnership and thank you for your support.

Jules Howard, Communications Officer.

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