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19 May 2008 - On the occasion of the recently celebrated
World Migratory Bird Day 2008, UNEP, the AEWA and CMS Secretariats
and the other WMBD Partners warned against the alarming
trend of declining numbers of migratory birds globally (see
WMBD press release). The now published 2008 IUCN Red
List on Threatened Species of birds has further
underlined this alert. According to the list, one in eight
of the world’s bird species is in risk of extinction.
The list was presented on the opening of
the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological
Diversity currently underway in Bonn, Germany. Altogether,
1,226 species of birds are listed as threatened. Eight of
them fall in the category ‘Critically Endangered’,
which is the highest IUCN Red List threat category.
In the press release announcing the latest
numbers, Jane Smart, head of IUCN’s Species Programme
said: “The IUCN Red List is the global standard
when it comes to measuring species loss so we urge governments
to take the information contained in it seriously and do
their level best to protect the world’s birds”.
A total of 148 species have changed their
Red List categories, most of them due to improved knowledge
of populations or threats. However, 24 of the 26 species
that have moved to another category because of changes in
their population size, their rate of decline or their range
size, have been moved to a higher threat level. Among the
species that changed categories is the AEWA species Eurasian
Curlew (Numenius
arquata), which has been uplisted from
Least concern to Near Threatened.
Hence, the AEWA Secretariat would like
to join IUCN,
BirdLife
International and other key organizations in
urging CBD COP conference delegates to try to make meaningful
progress towards achieving the 2010 biodiversity target
and to do more to halt the loss of bird species and biodiversity
on a wider scale.
For more information go to:
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