Migratory bird species increasingly at risk, report finds, but there is still hope

BirdLife International's State of the World's Birds report, launched at the Global Flyways Summit in Nairobi, finds 45% of migratory bird species in decline and 11% threatened with extinction. Seabirds, shorebirds, and species dependent on marine, forest, and coastal wetland habitats are especially at risk, and only about 9% of migratory species have adequate protection across their full life cycle.

The report notes the slender-billed curlew was confirmed extinct last year, one of eight migratory species lost in the past 150 years. Governments and conservation groups signed the Nairobi Flyways Declaration alongside the launch, including a $3 billion pledge from the Asian Development Bank for wetland protection, and researchers point to the Balkans' Egyptian vulture recovery as evidence that coordinated cross-border effort can work.

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