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Common bird species on a decline indicates biodiversity crisis

Common bird species on a decline

 

Most of us connect to nature through the ‘chirpy’ birds we hear throughout the day. Birds are the most common icons for people to relate to nature. But they may not be common anymore. The world over, population of birds from rare species has been on a decline but what is more alarming now is that even the commonest of the bird species are dwindling in number.

Birds and their migrations are the most obvious indicators, acting as barometers that tell us about the quality of global environment. Decrease in their abundance is definitely not a good sign. We are not only losing rare and amazing species, like the Asian white-rumped vultures, becoming “Critically Endangered” in recent years and the birds with the largest wingspans – the Chatham albatrosses getting entangled in long-line fishing and declining in numbers, but also birds like sparrows, nightingales and cuckoos, which were once very common around us.

Data shows that, as reflected by the number of living bird species, the world’s biodiversity is facing a grim future. 45% of Europe’s common bird number fell, 80% of Australia’s wading species declined and 62% of Asia’s migratory water birds are either declining or extinct. Conservation encompasses trivial amounts in terms of money, as compared to the global economy. It is estimated that protecting 90% of Africa’s biodiversity would cost less than US $1bn per year.

There are several reasons for these alarming rates of biodiversity loss throughout the world. Conservationists are looking at ecological and landscape perspectives to justify these rates, learning from sudden crashes in the ecosystem. Policies and practices that lie in the hands of the respective governments affect landscapes and species, across borders.

Source: BBC

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