It’s the legs that first catch the eye. They’re yellower than the name Spotted Greenshank Tringa guttifer might imply and an ideal length for loping through invertebrate-rich shallows in the upper Gulf of Thailand, on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Then its distinctively unusual upturned bill comes into view. BirdLife is now seeking to improve the future of this intriguing wader, through a Preventing Extinctions project supported by optics manufacturer Zeiss.

Spotted Greenshank is a worthy focus as it numbers “among the world’s most threatened shorebirds,” says Ding Li Yong, BirdLife’s Flyways Co-ordinator for Asia. Classified as Endangered, perhaps fewer than 1,500 remain. Worse, its population decline is ongoing, driven principally by habitat loss and degradation at unprotected sites. Such threats are especially worrisome given that Spotted Greenshank’s tightly confined distribution offers little safety net: it breeds solely in a small area neighbouring Russia’s remote coast where, fascinatingly, it builds its own nests (a unique behaviour among shorebirds) in larch trees.

After using a small number of staging posts on their migration southwards, all the world’s Spotted Greenshanks winter exclusively in Bangladesh and Southeast Asia. But even here the room for conservation manoeuvre is limited: “In winter, most of the known population appears largely concentrated in Thailand and Malaysia,” Yong explains. Specifically, “the varied wetlands of the inner Gulf of Thailand form the world’s most important wintering area,” says Thattaya Bidayabha of Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BCST – BirdLife Partner). These may hold one-third of all Spotted Greenshanks, with two vital sites – Pak Thale Nature Reserve salt pans and Laem Phak Bia mudflats – hosting upwards of 100 individuals.

This pair of locations provides the fulcrum of a new BCST-led project, supported by BirdLife Asia. Building on five years of shorebird conservation efforts, including establishing a private nature reserve, BCST’s Khwankhao Sinhaseni explains that the organisation envisions “significantly strengthening local interest and engagement in Spotted Greenshank conservation in particular, plus shorebird conservation more widely.” This matters, Bidayabha adds, because “much of its habitat here remains unprotected.”

A key, if challenging, aim involves forming new local conservation groups at one or more coastal wetlands. “They can be our guards,” Sinhaseni says, “to protect greenshanks and address threats they face,” such as illegal hunting using mist-nets. BCST will complement this by raising community awareness of the importance of ‘working wetlands’, such as salt pans, that benefit people and shorebirds alike. Plans include educational camps for children, a national shorebird photography competition and developing community-based enterprises such as selling salt-based spa products.

“We want local communities to be more aware of migratory shorebirds that connect us to other parts of Asia and need better protection,” Sinhaseni says. Overall, she concludes, BCST aspires to “build long-term collaborations, even extending beyond the project’s lifetime.”

BCST also aims to address knowledge gaps in greenshank distribution and ecology that impede its conservation in Southeast Asia. Even despite BCST’s recent extensive surveys, Bidayabha explains, “we know that wintering sites remain to be discovered along the Gulf of Thailand,” so a key objective involves tracking them all down.

Doing so will inform “a model for habitat management that helps greenshanks and other globally threatened waterbirds,” Sinhaseni explains. Beneficiaries will include the handful of Spoon-billed Sandpipers Calidris pygmaea (Critically Endangered) that winter here, plus large congregations of Great Knot Calidris tenuirostris (Endangered) and Painted Stork Mycteria leucocephala (Near Threatened), and smaller numbers of Far Eastern Curlew Numenius madagascariensis (Endangered), Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes (Vulnerable) and Asian Dowitcher Limnodromus semipalmatus (Near Threatened).

“We want local communities to be more aware of migratory shorebirds that connect us to other parts of Asia and need better protection.”

Khwankhao Sinhaseni, Conservation Manager, Bird Conservation Society of Thailand

Meanwhile, by “strengthening the conservation of Southeast Asia’s coastal wetlands,” Yong says, project activities will also help deliver monitoring, conservation, capacity-building and outreach priorities in BirdLife’s East Asian-Australasian Flyway Conservation Strategy.

Such a raft of anticipated benefits understandably caught the attention of Zeiss, which has previously supported BirdLife work on Northern Bald Ibis Geronticus eremita (Endangered) in Morocco. “We are delighted to become a BirdLife Species Champion for Spotted Greenshank,” says Petra Kregelius-Schmidt, Zeiss. “Spotted Greenshank is another great example of a threatened migratory bird that needs urgent help, so we are pleased to support BirdLife’s vital research and conservation action to help protect it on its wintering grounds.”

On the muddy fringes of the Gulf of Thailand then, a classic BirdLife project is unfurling: one that focuses on a globally threatened bird, is led by a BirdLife Partner, supported by a committed Species Champion, underpinned by exciting field research, and is fully engaged with local communities as part of site-based conservation. The Spotted Greenshank’s fortunes, like its beak, are on the upturn.

James Lowen

Imagine driving a car on a long-distance road trip. Your fuel tank starts full, but then runs low. No worries: you’ll refill at the next available gas station. Chugging towards those much-needed pumps, however, you find the station is closed. You must eke out the remaining fuel for another few hours. And if the tank runs dry, your journey is over.

Welcome to the life of a Far Eastern Curlew (Endangered), the world’s largest shorebird. The survival of this leggy, dramatically long-billed migratory marvel depends on an unbroken chain of wetland ‘service stations’ lining the coasts of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway – yet it increasingly encounters concrete wastelands where food-rich mudflats used to be. Its population has crashed by 81% in three decades.

To the untrained human eye – or that of an entrepreneurial developer – habitats such as tidal mudflats and salt marshes may seem featureless, devoid of life and ripe for reclamation. To millions of waterbirds worldwide, however, they are vital feeding stations – filled with energy-packed molluscs and worms, plus essential fatty acids – that power perilous migrations.

“Coastal wetlands are essential for birds to rest and refuel before continuing their gruelling, long-distance marathon,” explains Barend van Gemerden (BirdLife’s Global Flyways Programme Co-ordinator).

Home to millions

This is true along each of the eight major migratory bird flyways identified worldwide, which for millennia have connected boreal breeding grounds with southern hemisphere wintering quarters. The numbers of birds involved emphasise their importance. The East Asian-Australasian Flyway serves an astounding 50 million migratory waterbirds, including Far Eastern Curlew and Great Knot (Endangered), at 900 internationally important wetlands across 22 countries.

In the Americas, up to 1.3 million migratory shorebirds gather in Suriname and the Bay of Panama, as do 1.1 million in Alaska’s Copper River Delta. Despite a 68% decline from 1982–2005, perhaps two million Semipalmated Sandpipers (Near Threatened) – three-quarters of the world total – assemble in Canada’s Bay of Fundy, drawn by seasonally high densities of crustaceans that fuel a 3,000-km non-stop flight to South America.

The world’s largest tidal mudflats, Europe’s Wadden Sea, nourish 12 million migratory waterbirds, including almost all the world’s ‘dark-bellied’ Brent Geese. On Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, Sivash provides the key stopover point for Broad-billed Sandpiper: almost one-third of its western population may pause there. Research into the body fat levels of this stripy-headed wader suggests that southbound autumn migrants take migration to the wire, building up just enough fat to travel 1,300 km non-stop from Poland’s Baltic coast to Sivash. For its strategy to succeed, Broad-billed Sandpipers rely on Sivash’s brackish lagoons and mudflats remaining intact. Should they – or other wetland stopovers – be destroyed or become degraded, the waders risk death.

“Coastal wetlands are essential for birds to rest and refuel before continuing their gruelling, long-distance marathon.”

Barend van Gemerden, Global Flyways Programme Co-ordinator, BirdLife

Nowhere to go

The tragic case of Great Knot exemplifies what happens when things go wrong. In the 2000s, the Republic of Korea reclaimed 400 km² of Yellow Sea mudflats at Saemangeum by building the world’s longest seawall. Ninety thousand exhausted migrants arrived where the estuary should have been – but found neither habitat nor food. Unable to refuel, they died in transit. Removing this food-rich stopover for migrating Great Knot reduced the species’ global population by 20–30%. In 2010, Great Knot was catapulted from Least Concern to Vulnerable, then uplisted to Endangered in 2015.

One eighth of the world population of the closely-related Red Knot (Near Threatened) uses the same flyway, so these birds run a similar gauntlet. But it is the subspecies rufa, journeying along the eastern seaboard of the Americas from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego, that has most dramatically suffered unintended consequences of human enterprise. Its population has slumped by 75% in 15 years because of problems at a single site, Delaware Bay (USA). Unlike Saemangeum, its habitat remains intact – but there is no longer enough food. Red Knots have long timed their spring arrival to feast on Horseshoe Crab eggs. But the crabs have been so overharvested that the food source has expired. With insufficient energy to fly the final 3,000 km to Canadian breeding grounds, it was game over.

“Coastal wetlands,” van Gemerden emphasises, “are a lifeline for hundreds of species that migrate through them every year.” But as the two species of knot demonstrate, this lifeline is fraying. The tension between avian need and human greed renders coastal wetlands, according to van Gemerden, “one of the world’s most threatened habitats, devastated by pollution, disturbance, drainage and development projects – and disappearing or being degraded worldwide.” Things will worsen with climate change: modelling suggests that a 2°C rise would impact four out of five US sample sites, destroying 20–70% of their intertidal habitat.

Vanishing habitat

Globally, one sixth of mudflats (more than 20,000 km2 ) disappeared from 1984 to 2016. In the Yellow Sea, up to 65% of intertidal habitats has been lost in 50 years, vast muddy expanses reclaimed for agriculture, aquaculture or infrastructure. The difficulties many migratory birds face in completing annual migrations, van Gemerden says, are “leading to population collapses, pushing a suite of species towards extinction”. Moreover, this tragedy affects not just birds, but people too, given the importance of coastal wetlands in sequestering carbon and reducing flood risk through buffering wave energy.

Accordingly, coastal wetlands need urgent, intensive attention. “BirdLife is working with local communities across the world to protect and restore unique habitats,” van Gemerden explains. “The voices of local users help show how valuable healthy coastal wetlands are.”

Examples from the BirdLife Partnership are wide-ranging. The Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (BirdLife Partner), with support from BirdLife Species Champion Zeiss, is working with local conservation groups to protect working wetlands important for shorebirds such as Spotted Greenshank (Endangered). Audubon (BirdLife in the USA) has restored tidal marshland at San Pablo Bay, California, helping migratory shorebirds such as Willet as well as Black Rail (Endangered). BirdLife Cyprus has removed invasive reeds and created new pools to restore Akrotiri Marsh, a key breeding site for the migratory Ferruginous Duck (Near Threatened). Having worked on 70-plus coastal habitat creation projects in the UK, RSPB (BirdLife Partner) has consolidated its experience into a ‘sustainable shores’ action plan now being brought to a wider audience.

Tropical mangrove forests often shelter open coastal wetland habitats and guard communities against rising sea levels, so receive ample BirdLife attention. In Nigeria, BirdLife is funding a local women’s charity to promote mangrove agroforestry, thereby sustaining livelihoods and stabilising the coast. In Mexico, Pronatura (BirdLife Partner) has worked with villagers for 15 years to restore mangroves. Similar BirdLife initiatives have protected mangroves, and thereby helped both birds and people, in the Caribbean, Panama, Palau and Samoa.

Protecting wetlands globally

Site-based conservation is key, clearly, but BirdLife goes further. “We are also working with governments and businesses to ensure development projects are located out of harm’s way,” van Gemerden says. Again, examples are numerous. In Montenegro, CZIP (BirdLife Partner) successfully blocked construction at Ulcini Salina, persuading the government to protect nationally important saltpans instead. In Turkey, Doğa (BirdLife Partner) launched a successful legal challenge against construction of a ‘mega-bridge’ at Izmir Bay, where a tenth of the world population of Greater Flamingo comes to breed. SPEA (BirdLife Partner) is fighting the Portuguese government’s decision to construct an airport on the Tagus Estuary, winter home to 70,000 Black-tailed Godwits (Near Threatened).

In the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, BirdLife Partner Nature Society (Singapore) secured formal Government protection of mudflats and mangroves at Kranji-Mandai, thereby helping migratory Chinese Egrets (Vulnerable). In 2020, years of effort by BANCA (BirdLife in Myanmar) successfully quadrupled the protected area of mudflats in the Gulf of Mottama to 1,610 km². Alongside restoring habitat at Geum Estuary, the Republic of Korea’s most important wetland following the destruction of Saemangeum and a migratory haven for 5,000 Far Eastern Curlew, the BirdLife Partnership helped South Korean authorities secure the tidal flats’ designation as a World Heritage Site earlier this year. “BirdLife has been extremely influential in guiding governments to take action,” van Gemerden underlines.

This is all great news, but the chain of sites that forms a flyway is only ever as strong as its weakest link. “The loss of a wetland in one country directly affects the number of birds in other nations,” van Gemerden explains. Sadly, the spectre of development looms over wetlands worldwide. Two particularly worrying current examples come from opposite ends of the planet. Canada’s Fraser River Delta, the vital final northbound stopover for most of the world’s Western Sandpipers, is threatened by a proposed massive expansion of a freight terminal. In Australia, meanwhile, 3,000 wintering Far Eastern Curlews are imperilled by plans for a marina and apartment complex at Moreton Bay.

In both developments, BirdLife Partners are on the case. “Through pooling the experience, capacity and influence of our global Partnership,” van Gemerden says, “we are uniting countries along all the world’s major migration routes, ensuring birds have a linked chain of safe havens throughout their journeys.” The world’s coastal wetlands and their migratory waders – whether leggy and long-billed or otherwise equipped – need BirdLife’s help. And that means yours too.

Restoration is not just about improving things for nature: it can mean life or death for millions of people. In Africa’s Sahel region, a largely semi-arid expanse of land that stretches the breadth of the continent on the southern fringes of the Sahara Desert, 80% of people depend on agriculture. But years of climate change, over-farming and over-grazing have eroded this once green band, endangering the food security and livelihoods of 130 million people.

To tackle this crisis, in 2007 the African Union and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification joined forces to launch the Great Green Wall initiative, spanning 11 countries west to east from Senegal to Djibouti. The initiative aims to restore degraded soil by creating a mosaic of different land uses, including sustainable farming and restored patches of natural habitat. Their vision is to see 7,000 km of trees, grasslands and verdant vegetation stretching the breadth of the continent – vegetation that will bind the soil, retain water and create 10 million green jobs, in addition to providing food security for more than 20 million people by 2030.

Keeping it personal

Every country in the Sahel is different, and so are the reasons for land degradation. A key aspect of the Great Green Wall initiative is its localised approach, where participating countries address the problem using local contexts. Given the nature of the problem and the needs of people, nations may choose to focus on agroforestry, reforestation, irrigation systems or even fixing sand dunes in place with native vegetation.

Their efforts are already beginning to bear fruit. An report released in 2020 shows that about 20 million hectares of land have been restored so far. In Senegal, 11 million trees have been planted, while across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Nigeria and Ethiopia, more than 540,000 hectares of land have been reforested, creating over 280,000 jobs.

Nature Mauritania (BirdLife Partner) is carrying out a habitat restoration program in partnership with the National Agency of the Great Green Wall and supported by Vogelbescherming (BirdLife in the Netherlands). So far, 10,000 seedlings of various local species including Acacia Senegal, Umbrella Thorn and Indian Jujube have been grown. The seedlings, bolstered by 20,000 others from Nature Mauritania’s nursery, have gone a long way towards reforesting the degraded land around Lake Mâle – a site that is crucial to fishing and farming communities, as well as an Important Bird & Biodiversity Area. Furthermore, local communities are benefiting from various livelihood schemes including poultry raising and market gardening.

“These restoration efforts are a testament that ordinary people with conviction can have an extraordinary impact on their world,” says Djibril Diallo, Executive Director of Nature Mauritania.

“These restoration efforts are a testament that ordinary people with conviction can have an extraordinary impact on their world.”

Djibril Diallo, Executive Director, Nature Mauritania

Putting wildlife at the centre

Restoring the land is no doubt beneficial for agriculture – but it is also vital to consider nature conservation at every turn. To this end, BirdLife and our Partners are collaborating with the Great Green Wall initiative to make sure that wildlife also reaps the rewards of restoration.

“BirdLife and Partners have been involved in a lot of conservation efforts in the region, such as the Living on the Edge project in the Sahel. Building on what has been done, this collaboration will ensure that as activities are implemented, biodiversity conservation is also considered and integrated for sustainability,” says Geoffroy Citegetse, BirdLife’s lead co-ordinator in mainstreaming conservation in Great Green Wall activities.

Major areas of co-operation include restoring wildlife habitats, monitoring biodiversity along the Great Green Wall corridor and building the capacity of national and local conservation organisations. Partners have also helped raise awareness of the initiative and campaign to decision-makers.

In January 2021, the Great Green Wall initiative received a boost at the fourth One Planet Summit, which brought together decision-makers from around the world to accelerate international action for the protection of biodiversity. At the summit, the initiative’s partners pledged almost €14 billion for the 11 countries to preserve biodiversity and meet UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2025.

“While each country has its own restoration goals and ways to achieve them, the implementation activities are being performed at the local level, which means that local communities own the process and are directly benefiting from restoration efforts and the conservation of biodiversity. Greater support for communities will help the green revolution to take shape in the Sahel, and with it the promise of better lives for its people,” concludes Citegetse.

Every year, over 200 species of waterbird take off from their breeding grounds across the tundra, marshes and frozen forests of northern Asia, bound to spend the winter in the balmy climates of Australia and New Zealand. Along the way, the diverse flocks converge upon the coastal wetlands of Southeast Asia to refuel on the shoreline’s bountiful worms and molluscs. These vital habitats form the heart of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway – one of the world’s major bird migration flight paths. Protecting these sites is therefore a conservation priority – but what has been achieved so far?

A new paper published in the journal Oryx, written by BirdLife and several of our national Partners, sheds light on the scale of the challenge – not least, the large gaps in basic ecological knowledge of shorebirds in the region, including where the most important sites are found. These knowledge gaps have impeded efforts to protect the most important wetlands for threatened species.

Even when important sites have been identified, action has not necessarily been taken. For instance, while 180 Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) across Southeast Asia contain coastal wetlands, only a small number are actually legally protected. Meanwhile, several potentially important sites for migratory waterbirds remain to be studied, and ongoing research such as satellite tracking has uncovered areas of wetland that hold threatened species, but which are entirely undocumented.

Iraq – communities educated and offered alternative livelihoods

In Iraq, the trade in wild birds is widespread. At local markets, anything from owls, eagles, hawks, vultures and even some songbirds can be found caged and trussed, waiting to be sold. These birds are trapped in the wild and some of them can fetch high prices on the open market. Our national Partner, Nature Iraq, has been actively monitoring the hunting and sales operations in the markets, such as Al- Ghazl Market in Baghdad. Nature Iraq reports this to relevant government agencies on an ongoing basis and is working with local groups to develop alternative livelihoods, as well as to educate and improve awareness about overhunting and advocate to ensure better conservation outcomes for wild species.

Syria – hunting laws strengthened and Egyptian Vultures rescued

Despite the immense political and economic instability in the country, the Syrian Society for Conservation of Wildlife (SSCW, BirdLife in Syria) is working tirelessly to end the illegal killing of Vulnerable species. Syria is one of the worst ‘blackspots’ for illegal killing and trapping of birds in the Mediterranean. In recent months, SSCW have been working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform to revise and refine the laws that regulate hunting in the country. This will give greater protections to migratory birds and help to reduce the widespread poaching currently taking place. On the 16th August 2021, SSCW met with the Ministry in Damascus, as part of a special stakeholder forum, to finalize the revision of the draft law.

The SSCW team recently rescued two Egyptian Vultures that had been illegally trapped. They were able to safely release one back into the wild on the 28th August 2021 and are trying to rehabilitate and treat the other one for a later release. This Endangered species has undergone a recent and extremely rapid population decline due to illegal poisoning and persecution and the use of unsafe veterinary medical products. The estimated global population size is only 12,000 – 38,000 mature individuals, so the rehabilitation and release of these two adults is great news. The released individual, named Hermon, after Mount Hermon, the highest point in Syria, has been fitted with a GPS satellite tag provided by BPSB through the Egyptian Vulture New Life project so that we can monitor his status.

Hungary – poison detection dogs enable rapid crisis response

On the 16th August 2021, the most serious case of mass poisoning ever recorded in Hungary was discovered in the jurisdiction of a hunting association near Tura. The Carcass and Poison Detection Dog Unit of MME (BirdLife in Hungary), the ranger service of Duna Ipoly National Park Directorate and volunteers found more than a hundred poisoned baits and more than 50 poisoned animal carcasses. 96% of the carcasses were protected birds.

The rapid response of the poison detection unit meant that this local ecological catastrophe was contained quickly, avoiding what could have been an even higher death toll. The evidence and the carcasses suggest that the perpetrators used these strong neurotoxins in large quantities with the intention of killing birds of prey. This poison is not only harmful for birds of prey and smaller predators, but could possibly be dangerous to all kinds of animals and humans as well. This type of intentional poisoning is a serious criminal offense, and an investigation is ongoing.

France – ‘barbaric’ glue traps now banned

Thanks to long years of battling in the courts, BirdLife’s partner in France, Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO), managed to put an end to the barbaric practice of songbird trapping with glue traps in France. Following legal action by LPO, France’s highest court has now ruled that this practice is illegal, saying that an exemption that had permitted it was in breach of European legislation. The European Court of Justice (ECJ) had earlier judged this practice as incompatible with EU law.

Turtle Dove hunting now illegal in several Mediterranean countries

The European Turtle-dove – a familiar and beloved bird that is widespread in culture and folklore – is now classed as Vulnerable to extinction. In Europe, its population has decreased by 30% in the last 15 years, making it one of the most threatened long-distance migratory birds in the world. The main reasons for this decline are habitat loss and degradation, primarily due to by intensive agriculture. However, the species is also the target of illegal and legal hunting all along its flyway.

With the adoption of temporary hunting moratoriums by several European and Middle Eastern countries, the tireless work of BirdLife Partners has bought this species some time. But is it enough to save them from extinction? 2021 is BirdLife’s Year of the Dove, and we will be calling on more countries to join France, Portugal, Spain and Israel in adopting hunting moratoriums to save this species and to put an end to the illegal killing that is rampant across the region.

Thailand – campaign against mist nets

Our Partner in Thailand, BCST, has been promoting an awareness campaign on the use and dangers of mist nets to wild birds, while encouraging its members and birdwatchers especially, to report observation of mist nets used in trapping birds.

Cambodia – vital research into root causes of hunting

NatureLife Cambodia (BirdLife Partner) have been interviewing coastal communities about bird hunting in Koh Kapik, and have implemented surveys of bird hunting in rural markets in several Cambodian provinces. On the ground, they have also been working hard to strengthen enforcement against hunting in two key wetlands on the Mekong floodplain. In addition to this, the Cambodia team have met with government agencies to provide updates and discuss action to strengthen work on addressing hunting.

Myanmar – local conservation groups strengthened

BANCA (BirdLife in Myanmar) have been working hard to build local capacity to strengthen wetland protection, including addressing illegal bird hunting in the Mandalay region. Specifically, they have been building capacity of the Regional Wetland Conservation Committee and the local conservation organisation, ‘Shwe Kanthayar’ , who are established in the Mandalay region to help address bird hunting and other wetland conservation issues. BANCA has also organised consultative meetings with government agencies to report their surveillance findings of bird hunting.

Vietnam – groundwork laid for new hunting laws

The Viet Nature Conservation Centre have provided feedback to government agencies on the development of new policy directives at the national level to address the hunting of migratory birds. They have also performed surveys of bird shops and markets selling birds for food in Northern Vietnam to provide data on the issue to stimulate further enforcement action.

Guyana – major shorebird protection campaign launched

BirdLife have several allies and local researchers in Guyana, though there is no official Partner as yet. Guyana is well-known for harvesting great numbers of shorebirds for food, and the only protection the birds have is a ‘bag limit’ – the number of shorebirds allowed per day. There is no legal protection for Endangered species and no seasons for hunting.

Our local allies have been working on a social campaign to reduce shorebird harvest on the coast of Guyana, which is going to be implemented in the last quarter of 2021. BirdLife International will support the Leon Moore Nature Experience, North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, the University of Guyana and the US Fish and Wildlife Service to implement this challenging initiative.

It is expected that this project will establish a framework for collection of long-term survey data at key sites (vital to know the scale of the issue), install educational signage to raise awareness of shorebirds and their conservation needs, broaden social media impact on the issue, introduce local and international laws protecting shorebirds from overharvesting, and update IBA (Important Bird and Biodiversity Area) information, particularly along the Guyana North-East Coastline.

Thank you!

As you can see, we have made huge progress over the past six months, and donations to our appeal were integral to our work. The above is just a flavour of the huge amount of work done by the BirdLife Partnership against the illegal killing of birds – and our efforts are ongoing.

If you would like to support our work to tackle the illegal killing of birds, you can donate below.

Your Excellency Mr. Huang Runqiu, distinguished delegates, it is my pleasure to speak to you on behalf of Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, the Wildlife Conservation Society, WWF International, and my own global BirdLife International family, present in 115 countries.

We know, you know, nature is in crisis. The science is unequivocal. Our very survival is at risk, as well as that of entire ecosystems and more than a million other species. The biodiversity and pandemic crises are in deadly lock-step with the climate crisis.

We all know and agree we need, we demand, a strong post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework. This must set and achieve clear, measurable milestones and targets to achieve a mission of being nature-positive – that is, halting and reversing the loss of biodiversity – by conserving and restoring it by 2030. This means concrete, specific numbers starting now, with scrutiny along the way as to how we’re doing – it isn’t acceptable to wait for 10 years and then look surprised when we didn’t get there.

We must not equivocate – we must now conserve and restore the world’s key biodiversity areas, the integrity and intactness of its ecosystems and its incredible diversity of species – as a win/win/win solution to the biodiversity, climate, and health crises. Through measurable targets such as the effective protection and conservation of at least 30% of land, freshwater and sea by 2030 – working with and for local people, with priority given to Key Biodiversity Areas which provide life sustaining ecosystem services.

Let us listen and learn from the Indigenous Peoples and local communities who know and treasure their landscapes and seascapes best. Let’s join forces with them, respecting and honouring their rights and wisdom.

Conserving and restoring nature is just one tool in the toolkit, and unfortunately will not be enough unless we effectively address the drivers of nature loss. We know what they are: unsustainable agriculture and fishing, wildlife exploitation, unbridled destruction of forests, wetlands, and grasslands and climate change. And we know how to do this – there are many successful examples of sustainable use and management of nature to meet human needs for food, fibre and other commodities.

We must seize this opportunity and impose nature at the heart of inclusive, sustainable and just nature-positive economies by collectively closing the biodiversity finance gap. Government commitments, unlocking private sector financial flows, and ending harmful subsidies are the bottom line. Right now, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to drive the trillions of dollars being mobilised to build back better, to build back greener, bluer and more equitably after COVID-19.

Now must be the turning point where we stop trashing and destroying nature — now is the moment to overwhelmingly redress our dangerously unbalanced relationship with the planet and demand from ourselves, our governments, all players, action, not words. Many young people have a finely-tuned ear for what they call blah-blah-blah. My daughters have an uncanny ability to see through our words. Let us prove them wrong. Prove to my daughters, and your children and grandchildren, that transformational change is not empty words but concrete and measurable actions in our daily lives, and our daily acts. Ambitions and aspirations won’t save nature alone, won’t reverse climate change, and won’t prevent the next pandemic– only action will.

Just last week we and 1350 other civil society organisations called for the UN Human Rights Council to recognise the right to a healthy environment – and following its resounding support, we must now reflect this right in the global biodiversity framework.

We international conservation NGOs are fully committed to working with you to turn these words into reality, to create and then implement a global biodiversity framework that defines a generation and secures our planet’s nature for us and future generations – and we commit to hold you and ourselves accountable to these promises.

It is nothing short of a moral obligation. Humanity and nature are at a tipping point – there cannot be further delay.

Let’s fight together for justice for nature, the planet, and her people. We are in this together!

Gracias 谢谢

By Jeanette Smith

The African Penguin Spheniscus demersus (Endangered) population is decreasing rapidly, primarily due to a lack of food. A shift in fish stocks away from historic feeding grounds on the west coast as well as competition with the fishing industry have meant that African Penguins breeding on the west coast of South Africa especially, are struggling to find food. Penguins have been unable to follow the changed prey distribution because of a lack of safe breeding sites along the southern Cape coast. A small colony of penguins established at the De Hoop Nature Reserve in 2003 but predation by caracal caused them to abandon the colony a few years later. 

When in 2015, BirdLife South Africa (BirdLife partner) began investigating whether it would be possible to establish new African Penguin colonies, the De Hoop colony was chosen as an ideal candidate site. In partnership with CapeNature, BirdLife South Africa designed and constructed a predator-proof fence to ensure that, this time, the penguins would be safe. To entice penguins to re-colonise the area naturally, life-like penguin decoys and penguin calls being broadcast by loudspeakers help create the impression that penguins are breeding there.

After waiting two years to test whether natural colonisation would happen, the BirdLife South Africa and CapeNature approached the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) to assist with taking the next step, which is to release penguins at the colony. The first release took place on 11 June.

“This release, which will hopefully be the first of many, is the culmination of many years of work so I’m immensely excited to see it finally happening!” says Christina Hagen, the Pamela Isdell Fellow of Penguin Conservation at BirdLife South Africa, who has been running the project since 2015. “Although there are more years of hard work ahead of us, it is an important step to take now, as every year we wait, we lose more and more penguins.” continues Hagen.

CapeNature CEO, Dr Razeena Omar confirms the value of this partnership, saying “CapeNature is proud to be part of this innovative project on one of our flagship protected areas, De Hoop Nature Reserve. It is critical that we reverse the decline of the endangered African Penguin, and the release of the rehabilitated fledglings is an important next step in achieving the goal of establishing a colony.”

The released penguins were hand-reared at SANCCOB; most hatched from abandoned eggs rescued at the Stony Point penguin colony and incubated at the organisation’s Table View facility. Dr David Roberts, Clinical Veterinarian at SANCCOB, says, “We received an unusually large number of African penguin eggs earlier this year and it was a tall task to hand-rear so many chicks at once. Events like this one indicate the trouble that African penguins are in when extreme weather conditions and lack of food cause adult birds to abandon their nests to save themselves”.

According to Roberts, “The penguins are released as fledglings as they have not yet chosen a place to breed and once an African penguin starts breeding at a colony, they return there year after year. By releasing fledglings, we hoped that they will return to De Hoop Nature Reserve to breed when they are ready to do so in three to six years.”

In addition to the released birds being individually marked with Passive Integrated Transponders for post-release monitoring, two African penguins will be fitted with GPS trackers to monitor their movements immediately after release.

“We are grateful to our partners, CapeNature and SANCCOB, and all the donors who have made this work possible, particularly Pamela Isdell, the Patron of the African Penguin” says Mark D. Anderson, CEO of BirdLife South Africa. “This is a vital step towards re-establishing this colony and will improve the conservation status of our iconic penguin.” 

Richard Kipng’eno stares at a multitude of pink carcasses scattered on the ground. The scene looks horrific. Several dead Lesser flamingos Phoeniconaias minor dot the area which is adjacent to a high-voltage powerline. Richard’s rough estimate puts the casualty numbers between 50 and 100. All are the latest victims of collision with the 132kV Juja-Naivasha-Lanet-Lessos electric line at Soysambu, northwest Kenya. 

“Over the years, we’ve seen numerous collision and electrocution incidents involving flamingos, pelicans and other birds along this section of the power line. The situation is quite dire,” says Richard.

Richard’s fears are not far-fetched. The Juja-Naivasha-Lanet-Lessos powerline cuts through a section of the Lake Elementaita Important Bird Area (IBA), a breeding site for Great White pelicans Pelecanus onocrotalus and home to thousands of waterbirds. Over the years, Richard, who has worked in the area as a tour guide, has witnessed the devastating effects of powerline collision and electrocution on birds. As he recalls, these incidents occur frequently but are not reported.

“Unfortunately, most of these occurrences go unreported and the relevant wildlife authorities seem not to be that concerned. The situation is dire,” adds Richard.

Worldwide, collision and electrocution by power line are responsible for the death of several species of birds. It is estimated that hundreds of millions of birds die every year from collision and electrocution with power transmission lines.

By John Mwacharo

Double Threat
Running almost parallel to the Juja-Naivasha-Lanet-Lessos powerline is another 400kV line; the soon to be commissioned 308 km Olkaria-Lessos-Kisumu transmission line, another potentially deadly threat to migratory birds. A three-kilometre stretch of the new powerline runs along the southern edge of Lake Elementaita. Its proximity to the shore puts at risk lives of thousands of birds which frequent the lake. Nature Kenya (BirdLife Partner) and other conservation organization are concerned about this development. 

“The current routing of the powerline just at the edge of Lake Elementaita is a death trap for birds. This section of the line does not comply with global avian safety standards,” says Dr Paul Matiku, Nature Kenya Executive Director. 

“This line is a threat to migratory wetland birds and critically endangered vultures through electrocution and collision. Lake Elementaita and other central Rift Valley lakes are key biodiversity hotspots of local and international importance,” adds Dr Matiku.

Environmental Concerns
Of concern to conservationists is Lake Elementaita’s biodiversity significance. For starters, the lake is the only breeding ground for the Great White pelicans in East Africa. Lake Elementaita, together with lakes Nakuru, Natron and Bogoria, form the Rift Valley alkaline lakes network, a significant part of the flamingo migration. Lake Elementaita is also an integral part of the African-Eurasian flyway. Millions of birds use this flyway to migrate from their wintering grounds in Africa to their breeding sites in Europe and Central Asia.

“Investors need to pay special attention when designing and installing power lines through critical biodiversity hotspots such as Lake Elementaita. Any slight error could be catastrophic to the conservation of birds nationally and internationally,” warns Dr Matiku.

Proponents of the powerline project, led by the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (KETRACO), claim due diligence was exercised as recommended in a 2009 Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) report. Critics on the other hand, say otherwise. “The ESIA being relied upon by this project is flawed and invalid,” asserts Dr Matiku.

“There were no consultations or any form of engagement with ornithology experts and other stakeholders for this particular project. Design and specifications of all transmission line components were not part of the ESIA and were indicated to have been procured at a later date. The design and components are key determinants of the impacts and mitigation measures of any given project. This was a critical omission and should have formed the basis for review of the ESIA before implementation of the project,” he adds.

Intervention
To date, Nature Kenya has twice written KETRACO and held two meetings seeking to have the contentious 3km section of the powerline halted or rerouted. None of these interventions has borne fruit. The appeal was extended to other stakeholders including the Cabinet Secretary in the Ministry of Energy and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the project’s financiers. The National Environment Complaint Committee (NECC) was also made aware of the issue and has asked KETRACO and the Ministry of Energy to respond to queries raised.

Audience with international conservation institutions was also sought over the matter. These included BirdLife International, the Ramsar Secretariat, and the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). Ramsar wrote to the Kenyan government seeking a response.

Among recommendations fronted by Nature Kenya to avert bird deaths by collision or electrocution, was halting construction activities to allow for participatory stakeholder engagement. Another suggestion was rerouting of the power line further away from Lake Elementaita. It was also proposed that an ornithological study be conducted to understand the potential negative impacts of the project on birds, with the aim of agreeing on avian safety measures in the project location, design and engineering works.

Other suggestions included; making the transmission line more visible to birds, abandoning overpass of transmission lines and availing maps and GPS coordinates of the entire power line from Olkaria.

Gloom Ahead?
As of January 2021, nothing seems to have changed. Newly installed pylons stand close to the old ones with no rerouting or any other mitigation measure envisaged by the developer. KETRACO remains numb over the issue. Nature Kenya has now written to the Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary over the matter. The National Environmental Complaint Committee has however acknowledged it is aware of the issue and is looking into it.

“We are working on a report on this issue. We have already visited the site in question. Thanks for the continued support of conservation in particular protection of our birds. Please count on our support on conservation efforts,” notes Dr. Chumo Kipkorir, the committee’s secretary, in an email to Nature Kenya.

For Richard and other nature enthusiasts, the omnipresence of electric lines and pylons at Lake Elementatia spells doom to the area’s bird population. And if the latest flamingo death incident is anything to go by, the worst is yet to come.

On its part, Nature Kenya continues to pursue every possible avenue, including engaging relevant stakeholders, to make the country’s IBAs, KBAs and flyways safer for birds.

By Mireia Peris

Traslasierra National Park – located in the northwest of Córdoba, Argentina and created in March 2018 – will add 17,000 hectares to the 27,000 it already has. This significant milestone will help protect an important part of the Gran Chaco, a hot, semi-arid forest which is home to immense biodiversity and historical heritage. After the Amazon, it is the biggest forest area left standing in South America, but is threatened by deforestation, cattle production and other human activities.

This habitat acts as natural refuge for about 200 species of birds, 34 mammals and 30 reptiles, some of which are rare and globally threatened with extinction. Traslasierra National Park plays host to threatened birds such as the Crowned Solitary Eagle Buteogallus coronatus (Endangered) and the Andean Condor Vultur gryphus (Vulnerable), which was moved to a higher threat category in the last year’s update to the IUCN Red List. Other rare species that will call this new paradise home include the Yellow Cardinal Gubernatrix cristata (Endangered), Turquoise-fronted Amazon Amazona aestiva and Chaco Owl Strix chacoensis (both Near Threatened).

Hernán Casañas, Executive Director of Aves Argentinas, mentions that expanding the territory of a national park is a “transcendent” step towards achieving the biodiversity conservation goals that should govern Argentina’s environmental policy. It will also help local people to earn a more sustainable living: “With the implementation of the Traslasierra National Park… an auspicious panorama opens up for Cordoba in terms of tourism, not only locally but also internationally… Córdoba can demonstrate that nature conservation and development go hand in hand,” says Casañas.

Through our partner Aves Argentinas, which has been part of the promotion and management of this project from the very beginning, the Wyss Foundation provided the necessary financial resources for the creation of the National Park, as part of a joint effort led by the Province of Córdoba and the National Parks Administration.