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Status of the migratory shorebirds
« on: Jun 9th, 2004, 8:54pm » |
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For members' interest. Message from Mr Simba Chan of WBSJ: ----- Original Message ----- From: "Simba Chan" To: <Hong Kong Group :> Sent: Wednesday, June 09, 2004 8:59 AM Subject: Status of the migratory shorebirds in Africa and western Eurasia > Dear friends, > > The International Wader Study Group has just published its major review of > the status of 131 populations of 55 species of migratory waders > (shorebirds) in Africa and Western Eurasia in its occasional series > International Wader Studies. Details can be accessed at: > > http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/stats/adu/wsg/index.html > > Amongst the review's many conclusions are: > > * Of the 131 populations, 45 are of significant conservation concern > because their populations are in decline and/or are small. Some of these > are threatened with extinction. Others are in very rapid decline. > > * Of those populations for which there are definite or probable trends, > nearly four times as many populations are in decline as are increasing. > > * Of the three major flyway systems, populations using the East Atlantic > Flyway are the most well known - with little over a third in decline. In > contrast, not only is knowledge of populations on the other two flyways > worse, but their status is much poorer - of populations with known trends, > 53% of those on the West Asian/East Africa Flyway are in decline, as are > 55% of those on the Black Sea/Mediterranean Flyway. > > * Geographic analysis shows that the area with the largest number of > declining waders is western Europe. As this is also the area with the > greatest extent of international nature conservation legislation, this > suggests there is an urgent need to refocus the implementation of this > legislation. > > * Whilst there has been welcome improvement of knowledge of status and > trends, there remain major gaps in our knowledge: for 60% of populations > considered, monitoring is insufficient to provide even the most basic > information on trends. > > * Recommendations are made as to future priorities for the development of > wader monitoring in Africa and Western Eurasia. > > > Simba Chan > Wild Bird Society of Japan >
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