{"id":2207512,"date":"2026-09-22T18:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T17:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2207512"},"modified":"2026-09-18T11:50:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T10:50:57","slug":"decline-of-migratory-birds-spurs-calls-for-coordinated-conservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/decline-of-migratory-birds-spurs-calls-for-coordinated-conservation\/","title":{"rendered":"Decline of migratory birds spurs calls for coordinated conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI \u2014 The decline of many migratory bird populations is a red flag that ecosystems around the world are under increasing pressure, conservation experts warn, adding it\u2019s time for governments to come together and coordinate conservation efforts across national borders.<\/p>\n

Representatives from governments, conservation agencies, NGOs, financial institutions, and donors gathered in Nairobi from Sept. 8-11 for the Global Flyways Summit, hosted by BirdLife International in collaboration with Nature Kenya to address the growing threats facing migratory birds and the habitats they depend on.<\/p>\n

BirdLife presented the latest edition of its quadrennial \u201cState of the World\u2019s Birds\u201d report, which reported that 45% of migratory bird species are declining, while about one in nine faces the threat of extinction. Shorebirds and seabirds were identified as among the groups experiencing particularly severe declines.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A great snipe (Gallinago media) in Nigde, T\u00fcrkiye. These near threatened snipes breed in Scandinavia and western Russia, and spend their winters at sites across West, Central, and East Africa. According to the IUCN, this species\u2019 numbers are declining rapidly due to habitat loss and hunting pressure. Image \u00a9 Koray \u00d6\u011freten via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Red List Index of species survival for migratory birds, with examples of species uplisted and downlisted and the main factors driving these changes. Image courtesy of BirdLife International, 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
<\/figcaption>The conservation organization said the main pressures include loss of habitat, agriculture, hunting, pollution, and climate change.<\/p>\n

Stuart Butchart, BirdLife International\u2019s chief scientist, said these threats cannot be addressed effectively in individual countries because migrating birds depend on interconnected habitats that span countries and continents. A bird may breed in one country, but spend the nonbreeding season thousands of kilometers away, depending on several stopover sites during its annual journeys between sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cMigratory birds are sentinels, and their declines reveal growing pressure on the natural systems that sustain us,\u201d Butchart told the summit. \u201cBut the science is equally clear: conservation works, with coordinated action preventing extinctions and helping populations recover. The solutions exist: what is needed now is their implementation at flyway scale.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the summit concluded, more than 100 organizations signed the Nairobi Flyways Declaration, pledging to integrate flyway conservation into development planning and finance.<\/p>\n

The Asian Development Bank has committed to mobilizing $3 billion over the next decade to protect at least 50 priority wetlands along the East Asian\u2013Australasian Flyway, benefiting ecosystems on which nearly 200 million people depend. In the Americas, the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean said it would raise between $3 billion and $5 billion through 2050 to safeguard more than 30 landscapes and seascapes. The World Bank and BirdLife are also working to mobilize several billion dollars across Africa, Europe, and Asia.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very interested in flyways because the global value of international birding as part of the tourism sector is worth $70 billion,\u201d Valerie Hickey, the World Bank\u2019s director for environment, told Mongabay in an interview. \u201cAnd we want to make sure that the men and women, the families, who call places home that are also home to some of these migrating birds can take advantage of that tourism economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said just 5% of international tourist arrivals are in Africa currently, and less than 1% of global tourist spend. \u201cWe think it can be much more, in particular in wildlife-based tourism, nature-based tourism. And that includes people who want to come spend a lot of money watching birds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A critically endangered spoon-billed sandpiper (Calidris pygmaea) in Hainan, China. Image \u00a9 \u98ce\u7ec7\u96fe via iNaturalist (CC BY-NC 4.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"BirdLife<\/a>
BirdLife International, State of the World\u2019s Birds 2026.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
<\/figcaption>BirdLife International\u2019s CEO, Martin Harper, said the new \u201cState of the World\u2019s Birds\u201d report highlighted the scale of the challenge, but added he\u2019s encouraged by the fact that more than 100 organizations signed on to the flyways declaration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a huge global community to deliver this wild ambition of a network of sites, well protected, across each of the great flyways of the world, so that our migratory birds can fly free from harm,\u201d he told Mongabay in an interview. \u201cSo that show of commitment from a hundred organizations, representing a hundred countries, I think, shows that we\u2019re building a movement which will hopefully turn things around.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also pointed to the work that multilateral development banks are doing to mobilize and direct investment to protect flyways around the world. \u201cThey\u2019re not necessarily new commitments, but what we heard today was about the progress that each of them are making. They were talking about real projects where they\u2019re moving money into places to transform them for people and for nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harper said the involvement of development banks marks an important shift from treating bird conservation as a narrowly environmental issue to incorporating biodiversity into mainstream economic and development decisions.<\/p>\n

The summit ultimately underscored a broader message: protecting migratory birds is not only about conserving individual species. It requires coordinated action across borders to protect the interconnected ecosystems that sustain wildlife, communities, and economies.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This article<\/a> by Wilson Odhiambo was first published by Mongabay on 14 September 2026. Lead Image: Bar-headed geese (Anser indicus) migrate between Mongolia and Central Asia, and non-breeding sites in India and Bangladesh. While the IUCN currently deems the species of least concern, BirdLife notes that its population is shrinking rapidly due to over-hunting, unsustainable levels of egg collecting and loss of habitat. Image \u00a9 Nejib Ahmed\/Shutterstock.<\/em><\/p>\n

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