What can stop bird’s decline?

The U.S. Department of the Interior released a sobering report on March 19 entitled, “The State of the Birds 2009.” The report is the first extensive study and analysis undertaken by the federal government on this crucial indicator of environmental health.

A stunning one-third of the more than 800 bird species in the U.S. are endangered, threatened or in decline, due primarily to climate change and habitat loss, according to the report.

It notes: “Hawaiian birds and ocean birds appear most at risk, with populations in danger of collapse if immediate conservation measures are not implemented. Bird populations in grassland and aridland habitats show the most rapid declines over the past 40 years. Birds that depend on forests are also declining. ...

“[T]he possibility of extinction is still a cold reality for many birds: Thirteen species may no longer exist in the wild (nine species and one subspecies from Hawaii, plus Bachman’s Warbler, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and Eskimo Curlew). Several species face unprecedented conflict with humans for land at peak economic value (for example, in peninsular Florida, mid-continental prairies, coastal California, Texas hill country, and the Pacific Northwest).” (stateofthebirds.org)

The National Audubon Society—a contributor to the 2009 report—in 2007 noted dramatic declines in 20 common bird species in the U.S. over a 40-year period: “Since 1967 the average population of the common birds in steepest decline has fallen by 68 percent. ... All 20 birds ... lost at least half their populations in just four decades.” (audubon.org)

The 2009 report indicated that things can be turned around with planning, advocacy and protective legislation: “The upward trend for wetland birds in the U.S. is a testament to the amazing resilience of bird populations where the health of their habitat is sustained or restored.” The report also noted the restoration of peregrine falcon and bald eagle populations.

What can reverse the decline?

There are many dedicated environmentalists who daily try to reduce their own carbon footprint, to recycle and take other measures on behalf of a sustainable and clean natural environment. But that is not enough. Individuals must come together and build a strong global movement for a new system that puts people and the planet first, instead of profits for a wealthy minority.

Environmental activists who recently took part in anti-capitalist protests at the G20 summit in London rightly aimed their struggle at the capitalist governments that have bailed out banks with trillions of dollars while taking money away from programs to enact and enforce environmental regulations and protections.

On the other hand, tiny socialist Cuba, an impoverished country hammered by more than four decades of a U.S. blockade, has made strides in protecting birds and their habitat, as well as other environmental measures unheard of in capitalist countries.

Cuba accounts for half the land mass in the Caribbean and has rich and diverse ecosystems and animal species. The island has 355 kinds of birds, including 23 endemic species found nowhere else in the world and 165 species that stop in Cuba during migration. (bsc-eoc.org/cuba.html)

A 25-year study resulted in the 2006 publication of “Aquatic Birds in the Wetlands of Cuba,” a popularly-written scientific book distributed free of charge to all libraries, museums and environmental organizations in that Caribbean island nation.

“The text emphasizes how rice fields have been transformed into important sites in terms of food, nest-building and homes for [wetlands] birds which, at the same time, benefit this crop by eating a large amount of potential menaces: unwanted invertebrates and plants.” (Granma, Nov. 14, 2006)

The Cuban study resulted in two environmental education campaigns involving 8,000 residents in rice-growing areas and the classification of three zones as Important Bird Areas by Birdlife International.

Hamel is a member of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, a participating organization in the State of the Birds 2009 study. E-mail: [email protected].