Water and its importance to migratory birds is the focus of this year’s World Migratory Bird Day, a global campaign that aims to raise awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them. Activities to mark the day will be held globally on two peak days in both May and October under the theme “Water: Sustaining Bird Life.”

Water is fundamental to sustaining life on our planet. Migratory birds rely on water and its associated habitats—lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, swamps, marshes, and coastal wetlands—for breeding, resting and refueling during migration, and wintering. Yet increasing human demand for water, along with climate change, pollution, and other factors are threatening these precious aquatic ecosystems.

Global headlines are sounding alarm: 35 percent of the world’s wetlands, critical to migratory birds, have been lost in the last 50 years. Utah’s Great Salt Lake, the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere, used by more than a million shorebirds, is in danger of disappearing within five years. Climate change is depleting natural water systems, depriving migratory birds of vital stopover sites around the world. These sobering statistics go hand-in-hand with recent reports that reveal that 48 percent of bird species worldwide are undergoing population declines.

The campaign is a joint effort of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), Environment for the Americas and the EAAFP. The addition of the EAAFP to this Partnership will strengthen engagement and awareness for migratory birds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Contact us at info@environmentamericas.org with any questions.