Bonn,
20 April 2011 - An international conference on “Power
Lines and Bird Mortality in Europe” took place in
Budapest, Hungary on 13 April 2011. The meeting aimed to
advance dialogue and reach agreement between key stakeholders
on the need to address the problem of large-scale bird
mortality on power lines at the European level.

“The conference brought together governments, the European Commission,
representatives of the energy sector and conservation practitioners – the
stakeholders who can make a difference in resolving the issue of bird mortality
on power lines in the EU and in pan-European scale” said Sergey Dereliev,
AEWA’s Technical Officer, who attended the conference.

Mortality on power
lines, especially due to electrocution, is considered one of the main threats
for bird species such as Spanish and Eastern Imperial Eagles
and others listed on the global Red List of threatened species. Electrocutions
can also disrupt electricity supplies, causing economic disruption and requiring
costly ‘retrofit’ investments to make power lines safe.

The conference adopted the Budapest Declaration on the mitigation of bird
mortality on power lines in Europe which describes a set of actions to lead
to the delivery of clear results by 2020.

Amongst others, a poster was presented
by the RWE Rhein-Ruhr Netzservice, a German power grid service company, which
shows an innovative method of fitting
bird protection markings to overhead powerlines from a helicopter. The company
has specialized in fitting such preventive “bird reflectors” to
high-voltage powerlines and has already successfully installed over 12.000
of these bird-protection markings using a helicopter in Germany.

In late 2010,
AEWA and RWE Rhein-Ruhr Netzservice signed a special Cooperation Agreement
to support an independent review and the development of guidelines
for mitigating and avoiding the conflict between migratory birds and electricity
power grids in the African-Eurasian region.



The review and guidelines will give a better understanding of the existing
bird-power grid conflict in the AEWA region and will provide a practical
overview of the various solutions and guidance available on mitigating and
avoiding the electrocution and collision of migratory birds.

The international
review is being implemented by a consortium led by Bureau Waardenburg (based
in The Netherlands) which is currently reviewing existing
information on the conflicts between birds and the electricity grid, concentrating
on collisions, electrocutions, disturbance effects and positive influences
of power lines. Together with these findings the final report will also
present an overview of the issue at a regional level, focusing on conflict
hotspots
and species at risk as well as identifying and presenting gaps in the knowledge
on the extent of bird risks throughout the region.

The review will be based
on both published information as well as on information obtained through
direct inquiries from AEWA Parties, Range States, GOs and
NGOs in more than 130 countries across the African-Eurasian region. In
addition to the review, a set of guidelines will be developed on various possible
solutions devised for mitigating or avoiding collisions and electrocutions.

Further Information: