State of the World’s Birds

• 09 May 2022

For Prelims: State of the World’s Birds

For Mains: Conservation, Government Policies & Interventions

Why in News?

According to the new review ‘State of the World’s Birds’, approximately 48% of existing bird species worldwide are known or suspected to be undergoing population declines.

• State of the World’s Birds is an annual review of environmental resources.
• Since birds are highly visible and are sensitive indicators of environmental health, their loss signals a much wider loss of biodiversity and threat to human health and well-being.

What are the Key Highlights of the Review?

• About:
  • Overall:
    • The threat has been attributed to almost half of the 10,994 recognised extant species of birds to the expanding human footprint on the natural world and climate change.
    • While 4,295 or 39% of the species had stable trends, about 7% or 778 species had increasing population trends. The trend of 37 species was unknown.
    • The study reviewed changes in avian biodiversity using data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List to reveal the changes in fortunes of all the global bird species.
  • India:
    • The trend towards declining bird diversity is just as alarming in India, where recent annual trends have been calculated for 146 species.
      • Of these, nearly 80% are declining in numbers, and almost 50% plummeting strongly.
      • Just over 6% of the species studied show stable populations and 14% show increasing population trends.
    • Among the most threatened species were endemic species, birds of prey, and those living in forests and grasslands.
• Reasons for the Decline:
  • Degradation and loss of natural habitats as well as direct overexploitation of many species are the key threats to avian biodiversity.
    • The use of 37% of the surviving bird species as common or exotic pets and 14% as food are examples of direct overexploitation.
  • Also, humans eat 14% of the world’s surviving species of birds.
  • Apart from tropical forests, the threat of natural grasslands has been particularly worrying for North America, Europe and India.

What are the Recommendations?

• Conducting reliable estimates of population abundance and change.
• Novel and more effective solutions applied at scale for demand reduction for over harvested wild birds.
• Monitoring green energy transitions that can impact birds if inappropriately implemented
• Eradication of populations of invasive alien species.
• Shifting human societies to economically sustainable development pathways.

Source: TH