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World's birds still under threat
No help yet for a third of the world's threatened birds - but a quarter show
benefits of conservation action. BirdLife International has published a ground-breaking report, State of the
world's birds, at an international conference in Durban South Africa.
400 species are still waiting for conservation action, three years after
BirdLife International identified measures for all the world's threatened
birds.
This is just one of the findings published today in State of the world's
birds, a report which brings together for the first time the sum of existing
research about the status and distribution of birds, current conservation
actions and priorities, and what birds tell us about the health of the
environment and wider biodiversity.
State of the world's birds also describes how 24 percent of Globally
Threatened Birds (280 species) have begun to benefit from actions identified by
BirdLife, and implemented with the help of national governments, communities,
and national and local NGOs. In four percent of species, the benefit has already
been judged 'significant', emphasising that timely action based on good science
can reverse the slide to extinction.
Launching the report, BirdLife Director Dr Michael Rands said: "State of
the world's birds presents firm evidence that we are losing birds and other
biodiversity at an alarming and ever-increasing rate. The BirdLife Partnership
is directly helping to implement actions for 42% of Globally Threatened Birds,
but we need support from others, particularly national governments, both in
terms of financial help and in establishing and maintaining protected areas. The
BirdLife Partnership's World Conference brings together over 100 NGOs to find
timely, practical and affordable solutions for the crisis facing birds,
biodiversity, and the future of our own species."
Dr Leon Bennun, Senior Editor of State of the world's birds, explained:
"Global biodiversity is declining, but accurate measures are hard to come
by. State of the world's birds shows that birds are excellent environmental
indicators, and what they are telling us is that there is a fundamental malaise
in the way we treat our environment."
However, State of the world's birds also includes many case studies of
successful approaches to conservation, from simple measures that can be taken to
help rare seabirds, to easily-altered local changes in behaviour that have made
a real difference to endangered species in the Pacific. The case studies
highlight the difference that can be made by a change of heart at national
government or community level - from the designation of a protected area in
Vietnam to the adoption of sustainable forest management by villagers in
Cameroon. - BirdLife International
More information:
Richard Thomas in Durban, South Africa: Mobile: 084 4441053; email: richard.thomas@birdlife.org
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