Migratory Birds and Animals Rapidly Dying Out
11/19/99
*******************************
RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Migratory Birds and Animals Rapidly Dying Out
Source: Environment News Service, http://www.ens.lycos.com/
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: November 19, 1999
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, November 19, 1999 (ENS) - Elephants are
vanishing from western and central Africa.
Sturgeons are in dramatic decline because of over-exploitation for
their roe which is sold for high prices as caviar, and also due to
pollution of their river and coastal marine habitats.
Antelopes have almost been eradicated over the last 30 years in the
northern African arid areas - a region larger in size than the
Australian continent.
Houbara bustards, birds well adapted to steppe and desert areas and
traditional prey for hunting with falcons will soon disappear from
Asia and Africa if no strong action is taken.
Albatrosses and other seabirds, dolphins and marine turtles by the
hundreds of thousands are being caught and drowned in the nets of
fishing boats.
Governmental and non-governmental wildlife experts from 100 countries
worked on plans to reverse these losses at a global conference in
Cape Town, South Africa from November 4 to 16 - the 6th Conference of
the Parties to the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory
Species of Wild Animals (CMS).
The Convention, which aims to offer protection across national
boundaries to species threatened with extinction - such as whales,
seals, polar bears, elephants and migratory birds - was signed in
Bonn in 1979.
There are between 5,000 and 10,000 migratory species. Many are
threatened with extinction and very many have not been researched at
all.
The conference decided by consensus that seven migratory species -
six rare birds and the manatees in the marine areas of Panama and
Honduras - be listed as endangered. This will entail their strict
legal protection including their habitat, by the countries where they
live.
Thirty other species - dolphins in South-East Asia, seven petrel
species, twelve sturgeon species of various regions and the Whale
Shark - will be protected in other ways. These will include
transboundary research, monitoring, conservation actions,
harmonization of legislation, capacity building and public awareness
raising activities.
Seven more countries added their signatures to an Agreement on the
Conservation of Marine Turtles on the Atlantic Coast of Africa, led
by the Nigerian Minister of Environmental Affairs, Dr. Imeh Okopido.
Over and above goodwill decisions, the wildlife experts, although
under severe pressure from their finance ministries at home, agreed
to invest about US$1 million in a two year project plan for the
benefit of the species concerned and their habitats, but with real
benefits in the longer term to the local communities in the
respective countries.
To date, more than 80 wild animal species enjoy the strict protection
offered by the Bonn Convention through being listed under Appendix I.
Examples include many whale species, dolphins, Monk seals, European
bats, the Snow leopard, turtles and many species of birds, such as
the Osprey and the Siberian crane.
The most comprehensive of the specialized agreements to date is the
Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory
Waterbirds (AEWA) which has just held its First Meeting in Cape Town
at the invitation of the Netherlands. It presently embraces 117 Range
States covering 60,000,000 square kilometres and 172 species, such as
the White Stork, pelicans, flamingoes and endangered ducks, which are
dependent on intact wetlands. "Migratory birds do not just require
protection in their breeding and wintering grounds..." says CMS
Executive Secretary Arnulf Mueller-Helmbrecht, "...but also in their
resting places and along their migration routes."
This agreement is seen as an essential instrument for the
conservation of waterbirds on their migration routes, for the 21st
century. Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations
Environment Programme said, "One should bear in mind, that migratory
birds have evolved in the course of the last 200 million years. A
study carried out by the Max Planck Society has established that over
the past 25 years, the number of birds migrating between Europe and
Africa has declined by one per cent per annum". It is "an alarming
thought that these species could become extinct in the next 100 to
200 years," he said.
Sea birds too are vanishing. "At least 250,000 albatrosses and
petrels have been killed in the past three years," claims an expert
from the international bird conservation group BirdLife
International, who called them "extremely endangered."
To reverse the killing of albatrosses and petrels, the delegates
passed a resolution demanding a "substantial reduction" in the by-
catch from countries with fishing fleets. The by-catch means animals
and birds other than the targeted species of fish that are caught by
the fishing nets.
Other seabirds, dolphins and marine turtles are also expected to
benefit if this resolution is implemented.
Complete information about the Bonn Convention is online
at: http://www.wcmc.org.uk/cms/
The next Conference of the Parties will be held in the Convention's
home city, Bonn, Germany in 2002.