Alexander Gillespie: More effort needed in global strategy to protect birdlife

Eastern bar-tailed godwits migrate 11,000km between Alaska and New Zealand. Photo / Greg Bowker

There are 9956 described species of birds and 1217 of these species are deemed endangered or vulnerable to extinction. About one bird species becomes extinct every two years.

Unless patterns change, this number could climb as high as 10 species a year by the end of the 21st century. A total of 103 species of bird have slipped from existence since 1800.

This current rate of extinction is thought to be 50 times higher than the rate that would be occurring if humans were not involved in the process. A total of 966 species have populations of less than 10,000 individuals, 502 species have populations of less than 2500 and 77 species consist of less than 50 individuals.

These global figures have been mirrored in New Zealand, where since humans first settled, 32 per cent of land and freshwater birds and 18 per cent of sea birds have been extirpated. Although the last extinction, the huia, was in 1907, at least half a dozen other endemic bird species sit precariously on the cusp of existence.

The good news is these species can, through intensive efforts, often be saved. In this regard, near miraculous results have already been achieved by the Department of Conservation.

Whilst the saving of endemic species is possible within our borders, the problem becomes much more complicated when dealing with birds which migrate between countries and regions. Migratory birds navigate with a mix of tools involving geography, astronomy, the magnetic fields of the Earth and learnt behaviour.

In addition, a good bit of luck for these migratory creatures is essential, as the challenges against successful migration, multiply each year. Climate change, pollution, over-hunting, incidental capture and habitat loss are the most common threats.

Flyways are the flight paths used in bird migration. New Zealand is the furthermost corner of one of eight recognised flyways, known as the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. This flyway stretches across 22 countries, extending from within the Arctic Circle, through East and Southeast Asia, to Australia and New Zealand.

This flyway is home to more than 50 million migratory waterbirds from more than 250 different populations, including 28 globally threatened species. Although many of these species do not use New Zealand as a stop-over, many do.

Perhaps the most spectacular of all of these is eastern bar-tailed godwit. This remarkable little creature holds the world record for migration, covering 11,000km between Alaska and New Zealand via the assistance of little more than favourable winds.

Such migratory birds are the true ambassadors of biodiversity. They are also the proof that the laws of ecology and political boundaries occupy very separate worlds.

Most of all, they are the perfect example that unless all nations that are within their migration cycle co-operate, successful conservation will often be elusive. In many regards, the global community has already come to recognise this need, and launched initiatives to celebrate and protect migratory birds.

Such initiatives have been supported by widespread publicity of flyways of international significance, such as with that of the Great Rift Valley. This example is only 7200km long. Nevertheless, it stretches between Africa and the Middle East and has achieved strong international support, financial and otherwise, due to the remarkable diversity of countries, and the diversity of bird species it encompasses.

This flyway has also delivered strong cultural and economic benefits to the identified regions, as the birds have again begun to prosper, and tourists have flocked to witness a spectacular natural phenomena.

Driven by similar considerations, the Australian government has, since the early 1970s, slowly and quietly stitched together a series of bilateral agreements on migratory birds with Japan, China and Korea. In addition to helping protect migratory birds, these agreements have also formed the basis for regional relationships, from which the pursuit of other conservation objectives, have been launched.

This remarkably successful diplomacy was tied into one over-arching arrangement in 2006 with the East Asian-Australasian Flyways Partnership. This partnership covers many of the species which are already migrating to and from New Zealand.

Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Singapore and the United States have also pledged their support. The core of the partnership is the sharing of information, focusing upon species with special conservation needs, and the protection of habitats that the migratory birds rely upon.

Despite being a crucial part of the flyway, and home to some of the most spectacular migratory achievements on the planet, New Zealand is not part of the partnership. Although New Zealand has recently been at the core of the successful Albatross and Petrels Agreement, our lack of signature is an obvious hole with regard to the new Flyways Partnership.

This anomaly is added to by a relative undervaluing of both the migratory species which visit the country, and the places they inhabit. That is, whilst Australia has listed 64 sites of habitat which are of international significance to migratory birds under an already existing complimentary international agreement, New Zealand has only listed six.

This is despite the fact that potentially, well over a hundred of such sites exist within our borders. The New Zealand omission in this area is most likely due to the fact that the agencies which are charged with managing such species are already stretched to capacity, a traditional myopia for issues which are over the horizon, and other conservation needs which are given greater priority.

This is regrettable, as this may be one of the few areas where benefits of regional co-operation, conservation of species and strong economic rewards meet at the same point. That point is 11,000km from Alaska.