World Migratory Bird Day observed at Sakumo Ramsar Site

The Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission on Thursday called on the public to ensure better planning and control systems to reduce the impact of the spate of unsustainable land use change, and encroachment on wetlands including the Sakumo Ramsar Site.

It said the impact should not only be on migratory birds

populations, but also on the natural resources, economy and well-being

as a whole.

The call was contained in a statement issued in Accra by Nana

Kofi Adu-Nsiah, Executive Director of the Wildlife Division of the

Forestry Commission in a message to mark World Migratory Bird Day

2011.

The World Migratory Bird Day, celebrated in the second week of

May each year, is a global initiative devoted to creating awareness to

promote the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats

worldwide.

The day is organised by the Secretariats of the African-Eurasian

Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and the Convention on Migratory

Species (CMS) – two international wildlife treaties administered by

the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

On this day, people around the world take action and organise

events such as bird festivals, education programmes and birdwatching

excursions to help raise awareness around specific themes.

The theme for this year’s World Migratory Bird Day is “Land use

changes from a bird’s-eye view” and focuses on the negative effects

human activities are having on migratory birds, their habitats and the

planet’s natural environment.

In Ghana, the Wildlife Division is organising educational talk

for school children at the Celebrity Golf Club and bird watching at

the Sakumo Ramsar Site, near Tema on Friday 13 May, 2011.

Whiles using the occasion to educate school children on the

importance of migratory birds as indicators of environmental change,

they would take the opportunity to draw attention of the general

public to the spate of unsustainable land use change, such as,

encroachment on wetlands including the Sakumo Ramsar Site.

“We will also call for a better planning and control systems to

reduce the impacts, not only on migratory birds populations, but also

on our natural resources, economy and well-being as a whole, “the

statement added.

Flying thousands of kilometres each year, migratory birds have a

unique view of the Earth. This view enables them to notice the

remarkable changes, which are currently threatening many of the

planet’s ecosystems.

Each year more and more sites, such as coastal wetlands, that the

migratory birds depend on during their journeys either diminish in

size or disappear completely.

The majority of these changes is caused by human use of land and

has a direct impact on migratory bird populations, which are

particularly sensitive to any interference to the sites they use

throughout their migratory cycle.

Many aspects of human land use are extremely damaging to the

birds’ habitats. For example, urbanisation and intensive agriculture

can fragment and replace complex networks of habitats needed by the

birds.

Deforestation and mineral extraction can damage entire area used

by birds’ during their annual migration.

In addition, land reclamation and pollution degrade crucial

wetlands and other habitats for many migratory bird species.

The loss and fragmentation of these essential habitats are being

further compounded by the effects of climate change - rising global

temperatures, frequent storms and sea-level rise with threatening

tidal wave impact on coastal wetlands, which are important resting

areas for many migratory birds.

In this context, the message for this year’s World Migratory Bird

Day is a clear signal that birds are useful natural indicators for the

status and trends of environmental change.

They seem to be telling people what they see from the skies

during their annual migratory cycle – the degrading ecosystems because

of humans’ destructive activities.

They do not end there: they are also saying they are more

concerned with the human destructive activities because it affects

them too.

While human survival depends on transformations of natural areas

for their basic needs such as food and shelter, a sustainable use of

land is vital to reduce the impacts on the natural resources, such as

air, water, soil, nutrients, plants and animals.

“We therefore need to do more to reduce the growing number of our

activities that tend to degrade the natural sites required by birds in

their migratory cycle,” the statement said.

Source: GNA / Ghana