Many species, such as the California vulture, would not have existed outside museums without the conservation efforts of many bird and nature conservation organizations and societies.
Birds of all kinds play a prominent role in maintaining natural balance and human health, as they contribute to pollinating trees and eliminating harmful insects and other services they provide to nature. Over the past years it has been in the critically endangered category.
According to the fifth report issued by BirdLife International on the 27th of last month, under the title "The State of the World's Birds 2022", about half of the number of bird species have become threatened with extinction, while only 6% of them recorded an increase Relative in numbers, but its general condition is bad.
Birdlife International is considered one of the oldest international associations in the preservation of the environment. It was established in 1922 and was called the "International Committee for the Conservation of the Environment" before it developed and became what it is. It currently includes about 120 national bodies whose goal is to preserve nature, and it issues an international report on Status of birds every 4 years.
Protection areas and critical condition of birds
According to the report, BirdLife International has been working since 1979 to establish protected areas for birds, and today they cover about 9% of the general area of the land (land) and only 2% of the water, given that there are migratory birds living in water bodies. The number of these reserves spread around the world is about 13,600, and their area varies from one reserve to another.
This follow-up allows identifying threats, assessing the state of birds in the world, and comparing them with the blacklist of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In this regard, the report stated that about 49% of bird species are threatened with extinction, and their numbers are in continuous decline, while 38% of them are in stable condition and only 6% have experienced an increase in their numbers.
The report pointed out that the old protection programs have existed in Europe and North America for about 50 years, and not all reserves are in good condition, as there are about 277 of them in a dire state and need to be reconfigured, as they lost many of their privacy due to the disappearance or deterioration of parts of their forest areas due to their exploitation. Excessive, knowing that two thirds of birds (71%) live in forests.
"We have lost about 160 species of birds over the past 500 years, and the threat level is increasing rapidly over time," said Lucy Haskell, the report's lead author. She added that "most of the species that became extinct were those that lived on the islands, but today the threat has shifted to the continents and forests, which are the habitat of birds."
In addition, the report recorded a deterioration in the condition of wetlands, which are transit areas for migratory birds. Every year, about 50 million birds of 200 species migrate through these areas, whose degradation has affected the presence of about 50% of bird species that have become classified as "critical".
Since 1950, about 65% of wetlands have disappeared or deteriorated due to drought or high levels of water and pollution.
The threats that caused the decline in bird numbers are many and overlapping, including:
Forest fires.
Overexploitation of forest resources.
Agriculture.
weather changes.
Urban expansion, including the construction of large roads and highways.
Many species, such as the California vulture, would not have existed outside museums without conservation efforts (websites)
There is still hope for recovery
Despite the miserable condition of the birds and the loss of many of their habitats and resources that keep them alive, the authors of the report expressed optimism about the possibility of reducing this deterioration and preserving what remained of them or even contributing to an increase in their reproduction.
According to the statement, the big step that can be taken now is to rehabilitate the reserves and areas inhabited by birds, and to put in place studied protection programs in areas that have become a threat to birds, especially in remote areas and remote islands.
The statement added that since 2013, about 726 species of birds, in addition to 450 protected areas, have benefited from the rehabilitation. Our scientific research confirmed that conservation efforts have allowed since 1993 to preserve about 32 species from extinction.”
He added that there are "many species, such as the California vulture, that would not have been found outside museums without the conservation efforts of many organizations and associations for the protection of nature and birds."
The statement concluded by emphasizing that protecting birds from extinction is in itself a protection for humans, because birds contribute to pollination of trees and plants, and remotely monitor rodent animals that cause agricultural crops to be lost, in addition to their contribution to improving the health of many individuals.
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