BirdLife partners in more than 70 European, Middle Eastern and African countries today launched the partnership’s biggest international campaign to date which will run for 4 years and aims to protect migratory birds on the African-Eurasian flyway (1).

“Every year, migratory birds brave mountains, oceans, deserts and storms on their journeys to survive,” said Dr Marco Lambertini, CEO of BirdLife International. “However, we are destroying the habitat they need to rest and re-fuel, building hazardous structures such as power lines and badly placed wind farms which cross their path, and illegally shooting and trapping them,” added Dr Lambertini.

More than 40% of migrant bird species passing between Africa, the Middle East and Europe, have declined in the last three decades. Of these, 10% are classified by BirdLife as Globally Threatened or Near Threatened on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List (2).

The causes of declines depend on the species and type of migrant. Water birds are threatened by habitat conversion for agriculture and development, drought, over fishing and pollution. Soaring birds – which glide on thermals – are threatened by collisions with man-made structures such as power-lines and badly placed wind-farms, contamination of water supplies and illegal hunting. Songbirds are highly vulnerable to changes in the wider landscape such as agricultural intensification, desertification, deforestation, climate change and illegal trapping.

“As one of the islands on the central Mediterranean migratory flyway Malta receives large numbers of migrating birds every spring and autumn. The most serious threats they face as they pass over Malta are illegal hunting, trapping and over-development (3).” said Tolga Temuge, BirdLife Malta’s Executive Director. “It is useless for other countries in Europe and Africa to increase their conservation efforts only to have the birds threatened upon leaving their borders. For this reason conservation in Malta is important on both a national and international level.”

The launching of the international campaign coincides with the first day of the northern spring to celebrate the return to Europe of migratory birds from Africa. The campaign will run linked projects and organise activities from Europe to Africa to improve the conservation of these amazing trans-continental travelers.

The campaign video can be viewed on www.birdlifemalta.org

Photo shows the European Bee-eater – Bright, noisy flocks of European Bee-eaters are always a noticeable sign of migration. Photo by J. Coelho.

Notes:

1) The “African-Eurasian” flyway can be described to cover all of Africa, all of Europe, South-west Asia (including the Middle East and Central Asian States), Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago.

2) The IUCN Red List Partnership consists of members and partners of IUCN who are making a particularly significant contribution to The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This takes the form of technical or financial support or both. The Partnership currently consists of Conservation International, BirdLife International, NatureServe and Zoological Society of London.

3) In Malta the most serious threat to protected species such as birds of prey and herons is illegal hunting, whereas trapping causes the local extinction of breeding songbirds (finches). Spring hunting has a serious impact at a national and international level on Turtle Dove and Quail, both listed as European Species of Conservation Concern. Over-development results in the destruction of habitat for many species of migrants using Malta as an area to rest and refuel, as well as breeding habitat for several nationally important bird species, such as the Corn Bunting and the Annex 1 listed Short-toed Lark.

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