Arctic to Indian Ocean, plan to protect migratory birds’ routes

GURGAON: Member countries of the Central Asian Flyway (CAF) on Thursday decided to formalise an action plan for conservation of migratory birds and their habitats that fall on the CAF route.
The decision was taken at a two-day event organised by the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) concluded on Thursday. CAF members also visited the Sultanpur National Park in the city earlier in the day.
The Central Asian Flyway is one of the nine flyways around the world and includes several routes taken by migratory waterbirds. It spans from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean, with the northernmost limit of migration being Siberia in the Russian Federation and the southernmost being the Maldives and the Indian Ocean Territory. The routes cross over 30 countries of north, central and south Asia, and the trans-Caucasus region, including Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and India.
At least 279 migratory waterbirds from 182 species use the CAF. These include 29 globally threatened and near-threatened species breeding, migrating and wintering within the region. Major threats to these birds in the CAF region include uncontrolled hunting, habitat degradation, unsustainable water management and lack of law enforcement and conservation capacity.
The plan for the CAF initiative will be proposed in Uzbekistan in October.
Bivash Ranjan, additional director general of forests (ADGF), MoEFCC, said, “The conservation of migratory birds and their habitats is critical to preserving the biodiversity of our planet and the CAF is a crucial flyway that supports hundreds of species of migratory birds. Through international cooperation and collaboration, we can ensure the sustainable conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. As an outcome of this meeting, India looks forward to the establishment of the action plan for the Central Asian Flyway and our country will further support the establishment of a coordination unit for CAF.”
Dr Taej Mundkur, international consultant of BirdLife International, presented a draft CAF analysis on the status, conservation issues and a series of recommendations for conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. The analysis was prepared by the partnership of NGOs in consultation with governments, experts and other stakeholders.
“The overall consensus that arrived in the meeting was to further strengthen international collaboration for the entire Central Asian Flyway through establishment of a new Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) initiative involving governments of all flyway members countries, international organisations, international NGOs and other stakeholders. This is a significant step towards the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. The plan for the CAF initiative will be proposed at the 14th Conference of Parties, which will be organised in Uzbekistan in October,” Dr Mundkur told TOI.
Conservation in India is particularly important as the country is a winter stopover for almost 90% of the migratory birds that use this flyway.