These days they appear again in large swarms in the sky: geese, cranes and starlings make their way in impressive flocks to their southern wintering grounds. But the impression of the masses of birds is deceptive: all over the world, bird populations are declining more than ever before. show that new data from the bird protection umbrella organization Birdlife International and the World Conservation Union IUCN. After that, almost half of the approximately 11,000 bird species on earth continue to record severe losses. One in eight bird species is now threatened with extinction. Only six percent of the species show increasing populations.
“Our latest report on the state of the world’s birds paints the most worrying picture yet of the future of birds, and therefore of all life on earth,” the report, released on Wednesday, said. Never before in the more than 100 years of research into bird populations has the situation been so dramatic. “The situation of the birds shows that we are in the middle of a global extinction crisis,” said Birdlife chief scientist Stuart Butchart.
BirdLife assesses the status of bird populations for the IUCN Red List. The continuing negative trend that the experts are finding affects all regions of the world. In Japan, for example, bird populations in all habitats have plummeted by more than 90 percent over the past 150 years. In Africa, the extinction crisis among vultures and other birds of prey is increasingly threatening human health because the scavenging birds also keep infectious diseases in check. In Costa Rica, more than 60 percent of birds in tropical forests have gone silent since the turn of the millennium, and in Australia, nearly half of common seabird species have declined since the turn of the millennium.
Birds are considered to be good indicators of biodiversity as a whole
According to the report, around three billion fewer birds live in the United States and Canada today than they did 50 years ago. That corresponds to the loss of almost every third bird. US scientists warn that the disappearance of birds, like the death of insects, is a sign of a global ecological crisis.
Europe is no exception either. Here, populations of once common farmland bird species such as skylarks and whinchats have fallen by almost 60 percent since 1980. The EU countries have lost 600 million birds over the past four decades, which corresponds to a loss of 40,000 birds per day. In Germany, too, the downward trend is clear. With the turnstone, which lives on sea coasts, and the saker falcon, which breeds on rocks, two species were declared extinct as breeding birds in Germany last year. Others could soon follow: 33 bird species are classified as “endangered” in the German Red List.
The report also analyzes the causes of global bird descent. After that, the expansion and intensification of agriculture is the greatest threat to the world’s birds. Two-thirds of all threatened species have suffered from agrochemical use, conversion from grassland to arable land, and land-use encroachment into their habitats. The progressive deforestation with a loss of more than seven million hectares of habitat per year and climate change are identified as further threat factors.
Despite all the bad news, nature conservation can also record successes in the fight against extinction. Since the 1990s, several dozen bird species have been saved from extinction through targeted protective measures. And just last year, an area of sea in the North Atlantic the size of France was put under protection after scientists discovered that up to five million seabirds spend the winter there after the breeding season.
The State of Birds Reports, issued every four years, are considered one of the most important indicators of the state of nature worldwide. Because birds are the best researched and one of the most representative group among all animal and plant species. Because they depend on intact ecosystems for their survival and live in different places across continents over the course of the year, they are considered by scientists to be the ideal barometer for the state of biodiversity and the health of the planet as a whole. The report is likely to be one of the most important technical foundations for the deliberations on the new World Conservation Convention, which is to be adopted in December at a summit meeting of the almost 200 member states of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montréal, Canada.
“Montréal must become Paris for biodiversity”
Bird researchers also have high hopes for the Montreal Agreement. Among other things, restrictions on the use of pesticides are to be laid down there. Above all, the goal envisaged in the draft agreement of effectively protecting 30 percent of the land and sea areas of the planet in the future is seen as a prerequisite for a turnaround in the species crisis. Birdlife’s 120 national member organizations have identified more than 13,000 “bird and biodiversity areas of particular importance” that could form the framework for such a protected area system.
The Montreal Agreement is given a similar importance for the global protection of animals, plants and ecosystems as the Paris Agreement has for climate protection. “Montréal must become the Paris for biodiversity, where the governments finally call the extinction of species for what it is: an existential question for mankind,” says Konstantin Kreiser, the department head responsible for nature conservation policy at the German Birdlife partner Nabu. He attributes a decisive role to the commitment of the federal government in rescuing the negotiations, which are currently faltering in the final phase. A few days ago, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced a greater financial commitment to global nature conservation. “If the chancellor wants to send a real signal of responsibility for future generations, then he should go to Canada in December and not to Qatar,” says Kreiser.