Global call to protect migratory birds

By: ABSALOM SHIGWEDHA

A LOCAL cattle herder sees a cloud of Lesser Flamingos feeding in an almost drying up Lake Oponona in Uuvudhiya constituency of Oshana region.

His immediate decision was to rush home, take a shot  gun and shoot the long-legged birds for their meat.
As a result, some of those Flamingos lost their lives while others flew away to other parts of the world.
These Flamingos have just arrived at Lake Oponona a few weeks ago from Tanzania’s Lake Natron, in search of food and safer breeding sites.
The killing of migratory water birds for consumption, is just one of the many threats facing many migratory birds the world-over.
Other threats they face during their migratory journeys are man-made things such as electric power-lines and tall buildings into which they sometimes crash when they take on their long journeys around the world and die.
Many migratory birds such as flamingos, storks, cranes, shorebirds and eagles, travel  thousands of kilometres across flyways that spans countries, continents and even the entire globe, according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA).
This year, the World Migratory Bird Day was on 11-12 May and was celebrated in 65 countries. The day was marked by highlighting the importance of ecological networks for the survival of migratory birds, the important human networks dedicated to their conservation  and the threats they face as well as the need for more international co-operation to conserve them.
In his global message to mark the day, United Nations Secretary General Ban-ki-Moon called for greater international efforts to restore and preserve migratory birds and the network of sites they need to survive as an important part of the environment on which all people depend.
UNEP’s Executive Director, Achim Steiner said “migratory birds and the challenge they face in many ways undermines the ambition of multi-lateralism a globalized world.
“It is only when countries work together for a common cause that the survival and conservation of these species be ensured.”
Launched in Kenya in 2006, the World Migratory Bird Day is organized by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and AEWA, two inter-governmental wildlife treaties administered by UNEP.

* Absalom Shigwedha is a Namibian freelance environmental journalist. E-mail: absalom.shigwedha@gmail.com

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