Arab world’s illegal bird hunting could drive many to extinction
▶ Report released in Abu Dhabi at start of global summit for migration
Almost a quarter of the world’s migratory birds are at risk and could eventually face extinction, a new global report released in Abu Dhabi revealed.
And mankind is to blame, says the State of the World’s Birds survey, which points the finger at illegal hunting, loss of feeding and breeding grounds to agriculture, pesticides and poor environmental practices.
Illegal hunting takes the lives of up to 38 million birds every year. The major culprits are Italy, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, where more than 15 million birds are killed a year.
“The magic of birds has been astounding humanity for hundreds of years,” said Patricia Zurita, chief executive of BirdLife International, which commissioned the study. “But we are making it very difficult for them. The trends are extremely concerning.”
The report was released on the first day of the Global Summit for the Flyways, a major international gathering in Abu Dhabi that will examine in detail the challenges facing birds and offer possible solutions for protecting populations.
Flyways are the paths used by migratory birds as they travel thousands of miles and across continents with the changing of the seasons.
The paths exist on every continent, with some species passing the entire length of North and South America, and from Siberia down to the southern-most tip of Africa. Migrations typically take place in the spring and autumn, with billions of birds involved.
One of the most famous is the Arctic tern, which breeds in the Arctic but spends winter in the Antarctic. Some of them travel more than 80,000 kilometres in a year.
The Arabian Peninsula, is an important stage in several flyways, with birds passing across from countries such as India and Russia to Africa.
The UAE is home to many migratory birds, as part of the Asian-East African flyway that spans 64 countries for more than 300 species.
They include the greater flamingo, which arrives from Central Asia and Iran and sometimes breeds in the UAE, and the hoopoe, which ranges across Europe and North Asia but spends winter in the tropics.
Tris Allinson, editor-in-chief of the report and senior global science officer at BirdLife, said industrial farming was wiping out hedges and small groups of trees essential to thriving bird populations, while some modern pesticides could disrupt migratory birds’ ability to navigate.
“Increasingly, we are seeing birds that not long ago were familiar and widespread becoming at risk,” Mr Allinson said.
Nearly 1,500 species could now be considered at risk, he said, representing one in eight around the world.
In other places, coastal wetlands, which provide food for wading birds, were being lost to development while even clean-energy projects such as wind turbines were killing birds as they tried to fly past them.
“There are a multitude of causes,” Mr Allinson said. “But unfortunately, all are the result of humanity.”
BirdLife International brings together 120 organisations with an interest in protecting birds. The four-day conference will examine in detail all challenges and aims to produce a declaration of intent to protect birds worldwide at its conclusion.
As well as providing a sanctuary for many species of wild birds, the UAE has led efforts to protect the houbara, a member of the bustard family traditionally hunted with falcons, but whose numbers have fallen in many of its native countries.
Efforts to save the houbara began with Sheikh Zayed in the 1970s, said Ali Al Shamsi, a senior specialist at the International Fund for Houbara Conservation in Abu Dhabi. Since it established breeding programmes in Abu Dhabi, Morocco and Kazakhstan for the Asian and North African houbara, more than 59,000 of the birds have been released into the wild in 14 countries.
This success could be a model for species elsewhere, said Mr Al Shamsi.
“This is our big chance to pass on our message,” he said.
Khaled Irani, the chairman of BirdLife and president of the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature in Jordan, said protecting wild birds could bring economic benefits to countries.
The Jordan Rift Valley was an important flyway from Turkey to Africa, Mr Irani said, and attracted a growing number of bird watchers and other eco-tourists.
“In most protected areas they are the largest employers,” he said.
The Flyway Summit is a “huge opportunity” for conservationists and concerned organisations to agree on a common approach, Ms Zurita said.
“People don’t realise,” she said. “The biggest part of the problem is a lack of awareness.”