Birdfair projects
Every year we choose an international conservation issue to support. The projects are suggested to us and managed through the BirdLife International partnership. The support from the Birdfair has enabled BirdLife to make some remarkable conservation achievements, including the creation of several new national parks. We’ve helped birds under real threat of extinction, from albatrosses to white-winged guans.
The 2009 Birdfair raised £263,000 to support BirdLife’s work in saving critically endangered birds around the world. This takes the total raised, to date, to over £2,000,000! Such funds are raised in various ways, including sponsorship, exhibitors fees, merchandising, and fantastic volunteer help. Two-thirds of the money raised comes from visitors’ entrance fees. As in all previous years, we guarantee that every penny of the £10 entrance fee goes to the BirdLife projects. Here are the details of just some of those projects, starting from 1992, all the way to present day.
Further links:
Birdfair projects – funds raised 1989-2009
Current Project
2011/12/13: Flyways Programme
Every year, migratory birds brave mountains, oceans, deserts and storms on their journeys to survive. Their epic flights connect us all – crossing our borders, cultures and lives. An estimated 1,855 (19%) of all known birds species make regular cyclical movements beyond their breeding grounds with predictable timing and destinations.
Migratory birds are disappearing
In 2008, 11% of migratory birds were classed by BirdLife International as threatened or Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List. Red List indices show that these migrants have become more threatened since 1988, with 33 species deteriorating and just six improving in status.
Analysis of the main threats shows that there are two key pressures which affect nearly 80% of migratory species. These pressures are agriculture which results in habitat degradation and loss, and biological resource use which includes threats such as deforestation and unsustainable hunting. Other important threats include collisions with wind turbines, electrocution by power lines, deliberate persecution, poisoning, pollution and disturbance during the breeding period, and. Many existing threats are likely to be exacerbated by climate change.
BirdLife’s best placed to help
The BirdLife Partnership is extremely well placed to undertake action for migratory birds. BirdLife Partners operate in over one hundred countries and territories worldwide, and work together to raise awareness about migratory birds and implement conservation projects. International collaboration is the only way to conserve migratory birds as they pass along their flyways.
Three major global flyways
BirdLife Partners are working in the three main global flyways to conserve migratory birds. Click to find out more about our work in the:
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African-Eurasian Flyway - yellow
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Americas Flyway – blue
Born to Travel – The BirdLife Flyways Campaign
The Born to Travel campaign is aiming to improve the conservation status of migratory birds and their habitats along the African-Eurasian Flyway. To get involved in the campaign, please click here.
Previous Projects
2010: Saving southern Ethiopia’s endemic birds
Saving southern Ethiopia’s endemic birds
Having raised an incredible £754,000 over the last three years for BirdLife International’s ‘Preventing Extinctions’ project, 2010 sees the Birdfair supporting a new, one-year project entitled ‘Saving southern Ethiopia’s endemic birds’. This project will be focusing, in particular, on a group of five bird species which are entirely confined to the southern region of this extraordinarily diverse and beautiful country. Prince Ruspoli’s turaco, Ethiopian bush-crow, white-tailed swallow, Nechisar nightjar and Sidamo lark are all globally threatened species but the lark is in danger of soon becoming continental Africa’s first recorded bird extinction if action is not taken quickly. Birdfair funding will make a really positive difference for bird and wildlife conservation and the people of this region.
Update: 4th March 2011
We are delighted to announce that the 2010 Birdfair has raised a staggering £242,000 for southern Ethiopia’s endemics. A cheque was presented to BirdLife CEO, Dr Marco Lambertini, at the Ethiopian Embassy on 4th March 2011.
2007/08/09: Saving Critically Endangered birds
Preventing Extinctions: Saving the World’s Critically Endangered Birds
Currently 189 bird species are Critically Endangered (CR) – on the brink of extinction. Sadly, many CR species have severely restricted ranges and some have global populations below 50 individuals.
BirdLife International has identified the required actions to protect these species but needs to provide the BirdLife Partners with greater financial resources and technical support to ensure that these CR species do not follow the Dodo or Passenger Pigeon into extinction.
Because this is such an important initiative the British Birdwatching Fair has agreed to support it for three years, in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The money raised will be used to support the ‘Species Guardians’ and ‘Species Champions’ initiative, with the aim of seeing many birds come off the Critically Endangered list and have a more secure future.
‘Species Guardians’ will be individuals or institutions committed to doing everything in their power to protect ‘their’ species.
‘Species Champions’ will be individuals, companies or institutions willing to make a regular donation to provide the funds required by the ‘Species Guardians’ and will have the benefit of knowing that their donations are helping to protect some of the world’s most threatened species.
2009
The 2009 Birdfair will be focusing on ‘Lost & Found’ species including the ‘lost’ Dodo and the ‘found’ Cebu Flowerpecker.
To download Bill Thompson, III’s (editor of Bird Watcher’s Digest) podcast episode based on an interview with Lisa Marie Paguntalan about her work on the Cebu Flowerpecker, click here.
Preventing Extinctions…on YouTube!
2008
Spoon-billed Sandpiper is frighteningly close to extinction (John O`Sullivan/RSPB)The 2008 Birdfair supported a suite of species including Sociable Lapwing Vanellus gregarius, Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus, Dwarf Olive Ibis Bostrychia bocagei, Azores Bullfinch Pyrrhula murina, Tuamotu Kingfisher Todiramphus gambieri and Araripe Manakin Antilophia bokermanni by profiling them in the hope that many new Species Champions will step forward to provide further vital funding.
The 2008 Birdfair raised a record-breaking £265,000!
Please see the bottom of the page for the latest updates on work being carried out to help the Restinga Antwren and Spoonbilled Sandpiper.
2007
Bengal Florican (Allan Michaud)Four flagship Critically Endangered species were chosen for the 2007 Bird Fair. These were: the Belding’s Yellowthroat from Mexico, the Bengal Florican from Cambodia, the Restinga Antrwren from Brazil, and the Djibouti Francolin.
The 2007 Birdfair raised £226,000!
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