World's waterbirds find themselves in a bind

12-03-2007

Efforts to save the world’s declining waterbirds have been brought into sharp focus today with the release of Waterbirds around the world, a global publication bringing together reports from a number of top scientists working on their conservation worldwide.

The book, which features contributions from a number of BirdLife International Partnership and Secretariat staff, is the outcome of a major international conference on waterbirds held in Edinburgh in April 2004.

The publication gives a unique overview of current conservation efforts to save the world’s waterbirds and highlights the need for global action to protect migratory birds and their flyways, particularly across Africa and Asia.

“Waterbirds are highly susceptible to man-made change because the wetlands they inhabit are often densely populated and intensely utilised. Many of these species are long-distance migrants meaning that their protection requires coordinated action by international networks of conservationists," said Birdlife International’s Mike Crosby, who co-authored the paper, Threatened waterbird species in eastern and southern Asia and actions needed for their conservation, one of over 200 papers in Waterbirds around the world.

“The book contains a wealth of information and case studies about waterbirds and wetlands and the conservation actions needed to ensure they can be afforded protection,” said Crosby.

"...their protection requires coordinated action by international networks of conservationists." —Mike Crosby, BirdLife International

Conservation efforts in Europe - where many environmental measures are obligatory within Member States of the European Union – will be of most encouragement to conservationists:

“The implementation of species action plans in many EU Member States has made a big difference to conserving some of Europe’s most threatened birds,” said BirdLife Europe’s Ian Burfield, co-author of the report, Saving Europe’s most endangered birds.

“But for migratory species, it isn’t just about the actions of the EU. The nature of their migrations means that countries in all continents must take a unified approach to the waterbird conservation challenges highlighted in this publication.”

The book is a joint publication of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (UK), Scottish Natural Heritage (UK) and Wetlands International.

For more information on Waterbirds of the World, go to www.jncc.gov.uk/worldwaterbirds