World Migratory Bird Day 2018 Unified Campaign Triggers Events for Birds Around the World

 

Bonn, 10 May 2018 – “Unifying Our Voices for Bird Conservation” is the theme of World Migratory Bird Day 2018, which will be celebrated in over 60 countries around the world on 12 May 2018.

World Migratory Bird Day is an annual, UN-backed global awareness-raising and environmental education campaign focused on migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them.

“Migratory birds connect people, ecosystems and nations. They are symbols of peace and of an interconnected planet. Their epic journeys inspire people of all ages, across the globe. World Migratory Bird Day is an opportunity to celebrate the great natural wonder of bird migration – but also a reminder that those patterns, and ecosystems worldwide, are threatened by climate change.  I urge Governments and people everywhere to take concerted conservation action that will help to ensure the birds’ survival -- and our own”, said United Nations Secretary General António Guterres in a statement to mark World Migratory Bird Day.


Of the 11,000 bird species which exist on the planet, one in five is considered to be migratory. Forty per cent of these are in decline, with one in eight being threatened with global extinction.
Major threats to migratory birds include habitat loss and degradation, caused by agricultural and coastal development, collision with badly placed wind turbines and powerlines, unsustainable harvesting and the illegal killing and taking of birds.  Migratory birds are also heavily affected by poisoning, for example, through ingested toxic lead released into the environment as ammunition or fishing weights as well as by climate change.

Efforts to conserve migratory birds both globally and regionally are internationally coordinated by the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS, also known as the Bonn Convention) and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA). The two UN Environment-administered treaties have been spearheading World Migratory Bird Day since 2006.

“This year the campaign has a new global dimension as it is unifying efforts on both sides of the Atlantic to spark global awareness and action on migratory birds,” said Bradnee Chambers, Executive Secretary of CMS.

The new collaboration is between CMS, AEWA and the US-based Environment for the Americas, which has been the lead organization behind International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) in the Americas. The new joint World Migratory Bird Day campaign, is bringing together efforts along the world’s main migration corridors, also called flyways, for celebrations all across the world – and for the first time, with two peak campaign days in the year. 

“Due to the cyclical nature of global bird migration and the fact that a country’s physical location on the planet has a bearing on the presence of migratory birds, we have decided to follow the recommendation by many countries to promote World Migratory Bird Day celebrations on two central days spread out across the year,” said Jacques Trouvilliez, Executive Secretary of AEWA.
Starting in 2018, World Migratory Bird Day will be annually observed on the second Saturdays of both May and October, making it possible to organize events in countries around the world at peak times of bird migration.