New Initiative to Protect Bird Migration Flows in the Americas

There are currently at least 559 endangered bird species in Latin America and the Caribbean, and since 1970, North America has lost 3 billion birds. Faced with this situation, the Migration Route Initiative of the Americas is a hemispheric response to effectively address the biodiversity loss and climate change crisis through concrete nature- and community-based solutions.

The partnership between BirdLife International, the National Audubon Society and CAF, announced at the COP15 on Biodiversity in Montreal, represents an unprecedented investment in bird and biodiversity preservation in Latin America and the Caribbean. Both COP15 and the recent COP27 on Climate Change in Egypt have called for effective responses to the challenges of biodiversity loss and climate change.

The initiative calls for identifying more than thirty critical landscapes and seascapes along bird migration routes in the Americas for conservation, restoration and management by local partners, communities, and indigenous peoples. U.S. migratory routes cover North, Central and South America and the Caribbean, and stretch across 35 countries, from the Arctic Circle in the north to Tierra del Fuego in the south.

The Americas are home to three of the eight major bird migration routes in the world, making this region critical to the planet’s biodiversity and the response to climate change. However, stopover and wintering sites along these routes are vanishing at an alarming rate.

The initiative builds on the innovative foundations launched in 2021 by BirdLife International, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the East Asian Australasian Flyway Partnership.

“The partnership represents the largest investment ever made in bird conservation in Latin America and the Caribbean and will contribute to integrating the region, countries and communities, from south to north, and migratory birds and their flyways. This is one of our flagship initiatives to advance our goal of becoming the green bank of Latin America and the Caribbean,” said CAF Executive President Sergio Díaz-Granados.

Patricia Zurita, CEO of BirdLife International, said: “Our flyway initiatives are practical. Now it is beyond having more debates. It is about implementing and putting concrete, verifiable actions behind the words. We believe in sustainable development based on birds as indicators. We have to mobilize large amounts of money if we are to have a serious impact. That is why we are talking about mobilizing up to ten billion dollars between the two flyways over the next twenty years. We are committed to nature financing that creates jobs, builds climate resilience and enables nature to become healthy and sustainable.”

“Birds are found in nearly every habitat on earth, connecting people to nature,” said Elizabeth Gray, executive director of the National Audubon Society. “The same birds that captivate people in the northern reaches of the Americas each summer often travel great distances to delight birdwatchers in South America each winter. Our partnership aims to protect the vital migratory routes the birds use to cross the continent, while mobilizing people around the world. We are working with the Americas to preserve the places we all need to survive.”

Why birds?

Birds tell us that our survival depends on a hemispheric solution to mitigate the effects of climate change and address the biodiversity loss crisis. They are one of the species that best indicate nature’s health: Sharp declines in bird numbers are an early and grim warning about the current and future threats that biodiversity and people will face.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), limiting warming to around 1.5 degrees requires global greenhouse gas emissions to be cut by 43% by 2030. At the same time, due to human pressures, one million species may be heading towards extinction in the coming years, as stated by the UN. This variety of living species constitutes the safety net that sustains human life on earth, provides food, clean water, air, energy and increases resilience to the impacts of climate change.

The birds lost are not just threatened or endangered migratory species, but common and endemic birds. Massive biodiversity loss is just around the corner. From more frequent and intense fires in California to the loss of snow cover and glaciers in the Andes, severe droughts in Chile and Peru, an increase in the number and intensity of hurricanes in the Caribbean, and the devastating expansion of savannas in the Amazon, communities and people are already experiencing the devastating effects of climate change and the destruction of nature.

Now, for the first time in the Western Hemisphere, an initiative is tackling systemic issues affecting the conservation of migratory birds. The Americas Flyways Initiative represents a genuine shift in the approach to sustainable development and protection of biodiversity. By bringing in the necessary resources and expertise, we will address this pressing challenge.

Together, we are building the roadmap to reverse the immense loss of birds and biodiversity in the hemisphere. The ambition of the Americas Flyways Initiative and those who value the joy of local and migratory birds is to restore hope for new generations.