Bird Migration Connects Us All

By Sarah Brady, Head of Communications, BirdLife International

The simple fact is that we need nature. We need nature for our societies to function. From food to water to homes to wellbeing, nature is the universal need that connects us all. Birds, other animals, insects, and plants are all intertwined in a complex array of relationships that enables each species to survive. Like a Jenga puzzle, if we remove even one piece, the stability of the whole system is threatened.

When humans created borders to package our societies together, nature didn’t get the memo. Vast ecosystems stretch across these boundaries, covering continents and oceans, sometimes halfway across the world. As the seasons change, there simply isn’t enough food, water, shelter or habitable climates for all wildlife to stay exactly where they are. Therefore, the species must migrate and find new places to ensure their survival. Billions of birds, insects, mammals and marine lifeforms undertake these journeys twice a year, facing a myriad of threats as they traverse a world that is squeezing nature to its very edges.

Nature knows no borders and we must acknowledge this to protect us and all the wildlife that shares our planet. The world would be a much darker place without the magnificent Steppe Eagle, quirky Sociable Lapwing or the charismatic vultures, let alone the communities that would be devastated if these species are not protected. 

Cover image © Shutterstock/Certhian Photography

This week government representatives from over 75 countries are meeting in Uzbekistan at the 14^th meeting of the snappily named Convention of Migratory Species Convening of the Parties (CMS COP14), to agree what we must do to ensure that nature has safe passage across our borders. With millions of birds using migration routes called flyways, like superhighways across the skies, the places they go must be conserved for all our benefit. The BirdLife community champions birds and nature, calling for action and working with governments to implement agreements and end the barriers to migration.  

So here is what must be done in Uzbekistan this week:

1. Create a new initiative to protect nature and the communities that depend on it along the Central Asian Flyway.
2. Ensure that migratory seabirds are protected along their arduous ocean journeys.
3. Ensure the investment in renewable energy infrastructure the world desperately needs is safe for birds and other wildlife.  
4. Agree ambitious actions to save species such as the Steppe Eagle and the Saker Falcon.
5. Tackle specific threats to migrating birds such as the use of nets to hunt birds.