Although there are many national and international organisations involved with birds and/or conservation there has been no easy way for people concerned about the future of shorebirds across the region to work together and discuss their concerns or findings.

Training program in Sumatra in partnership with Wetlands Interantional. Image: © 2007 APSN. Press image for enlargement.

The APSN has grown from the activities of people dedicated to shorebirds and their conservation over the past 20 to 30 years. The driving force started with people in Australia (members of the Australasian Wader Studies Group) Malaysia (with the eventual formation of the Asian Wetland Bureau – now known as Wetlands Link Internationa) and Japan (wader enthusiasts).

Other groups have become involved from the USA (especially Alaska) and more recently China (Chongming Dao, Taiwan and Hong Kong) and Indonesia. However until now there has been no effort to link individuals and groups over the Asia Pacific region to work towards a common goal.

If you are interested in participating in the Asia-Pacific Shorebird Network, please contact Phil Straw philstraw@shorebird-network.net .

Asia Pacific Shorebird News

The Blueprint provides useful information on key species and key sites divided into three main habitats:

• Intertidal wetland (now down to less than 30% due to landfill and development);
• open sea areas (including the largest Swinhoe’s Storm Petrel colonies in the world, and count data from seabird at sea transects); and,
• islands – with some passage migrant count data and insights into two specialist breeders.

In addition to Birds Korea’s own information and data from the Republic of Korea Yellow Sea Blueprint Region, articles have been generously contributed by a range of experts and organisations on subjects ranging from the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership to Alaskan-breeding Yellow-billed Loon migration, to the growing and massive threat to the Flyway’s Red Knots through “reclamation” of the northern part of the Yellow Sea (Bohai Bay in China).

• View or download the full Blueprint at (www.birdskorea.or.kr).

It is intended to include a review of the status of the ROK’s west coast Ramsar sites and IBAs, in time for sharing with participants of the IUCN World Congress 2012, to be held here in the Republic of Korea.

These are the key findings of the State of the World’s Waterbirds 2010 launched by Wetlands International on 21st October at the Biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan. This publication analyses the changes in the status of waterbird populations between 1976 and 2005 using the data collected for the four editions of Waterbird Population Estimates published by the organisation since 1994.

Dependent on economical activity and conservation measures

The status of waterbird populations is improving in regions where strong conservation legislation is implemented, such as North America and Europe.

However, the rate of decline of waterbird populations is increasing in all other regions without such instruments. The situation is especially alarming in Asia where 62% of waterbird populations are decreasing or even extinct. The combination of a rapid economical growth and weak conservation efforts appears to be lethal. Waterbird populations are exposed to a wide range of threats such as the loss and degradation of marshes and lakes, water regulation, agricultural intensification, hunting and climate change.

Long distance migrants

The status of long-distance migrant waterbirds is generally worse than of those remaining in regions with strong conservation measures. This highlights the importance of coordinated conservation measures across entire flyways from the breeding to the non-breeding grounds.

“It is not surprising that the rate of decline of the long distant migrant sandpipers, snipes and curlews has accelerated most rapidly. Now, 70% of their populations are decreasing. Halting destruction of their migratory staging areas is vital,” says Prof Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. On the other hand, the improving status of many crane species demonstrates that targeted conservation actions for the protection of key sites can produce positive results.

Action needed

“We feel we have to put more effort into the conservation of waterbirds in this region” states Mr. Daizaburo Kuroda, Senior Councilor, to the Japanese Minister of the Environment that supported the publication.

“The decline of waterbird populations in developing countries is an indication of the environmental problems in these parts of the world. The world community of governments that is gathering at the UN Conference in Japan should take action to reverse this trend” states Dr. Taej Mundkur, Wetlands International’s Flyway Programme Manager.

World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) aims to inspire people to take action for the conservation of migratory birds and encourages national authorities, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), clubs and societies, universities, schools and individuals around the world to organize events and programmes, which help draw attention to migratory birds around a central theme each year.
This year’s theme is “Save migratory birds in crisis – every species counts!” It is closely linked to the International Year of Biodiversity declared by the United Nations for 2010. The theme is highly relevant to the plight of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Nordmann’s Greenshank, the two most threatened species of shorebird in the Asia Pacific. One other species highlighted in the context of this year’s WMBD is the Slender-billed Curlew with potentially less than 50 remaining worldwide.

The WMBD 2010 theme aims to raise awareness on globally threatened migratory birds, with a particular focus on those on the very edge of extinction – the Critically Endangered migratory birds. In line with the International Year of Biodiversity, the 2010 WMBD theme also highlights how migratory birds are part of the biological diversity of our world and how the threat of extinction faced by individual bird species is a reflection of the larger extinction crisis threatening other species and the natural diversity that underpins all life on earth.

With the massive loss of shorebird habitat in the Asia Pacific Region other species are in steep decline and may be heading towards endangered classification unless the governments of the region take decisive action to stop the breakneck speed in which habitat is being lost to coastal development and the drainage of wetlands.

The Ramsar Convention now includes 160 contracting parties and 1,910 Wetlands of International Importance with a total surface area of more than 186 million hectares and home to countless waterbirds. World Wetlands Day was celebrated for the first time in 1997 and made an encouraging beginning. World Wetlands Day 2011 marks the 40th Anniversary of the Ramsar Convention with the launch of ‘Ramsar’s liquid assets’ book. 

Each year, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community have taken advantage of the opportunity to undertake actions aimed at raising public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular. From 1997 to 2010, the Convention’s Web site has posted reports from more than 98 countries of WWD activities of all sizes and shapes, from lectures and seminars, nature walks, children’s art contests, sampan races, and community clean-up days, to radio and television interviews and letters to newspapers, to the launch of new wetland policies, new Ramsar sites, and new programmes at the national level. Some of these can be seen at the Ramsar website.

Events that were organized as part of WWD can be viewed at The Ramsar Website .