Some weeks in the past, the media referred to Colombia as the most effective locations on this planet for birdwatching. There was a cause behind that declare. Colombia garnered the very best variety of recorded fowl sightings on World Large Day, a world birding occasion that takes place concurrently all through the planet yearly on Could eleventh. Colombia documented 1,558 species sighted final World Large Day. The one different nation that got here near that determine was Peru with 1,448 species. Past making newspaper headlines, this excessive variety of sightings raised a key query within the scientific group. What’s being performed to guard such treasured biodiversity?
Colombia´s ecosystems are as various as its fowl inhabitants. The most recent official guidelines ready by the Colombian Committee of Ornithological Information includes 1,969 bird species discovered within the nation. The overwhelming majority (roughly 1,660) reside in Colombia full-time and 84 are endemic, that’s, not discovered elsewhere on the planet. The remaining 225 are migratory birds that come and go relying on the season.
“Since birds are animals, they don’t acknowledge political borders”, explains María Ángela Echeverry-Galvis, a professor for the Division of Ecology and Territory at Colombia´s Pontificia Javeriana College. “But, we are able to determine the areas, cities, and nations birds inhabit, which supplies us a sure diploma of accountability in managing the ecosystems that birds want.”
Immediately, birds face many threats, probably the most critical being habitat transformation. In Colombia, this has occurred for a lot of causes, together with the growth of agricultural, livestock, and aquaculture frontiers, all actions which might be incompatible with conservation. Added to which might be unlawful crops and street infrastructure growth.
“This case not solely impacts forest birds. If we take into account all endangered species, probably the most essential ones stay in areas which were remodeled from wetlands, swamps, and freshwater our bodies”, provides Echeverry.
There are roughly 246 aquatic fowl species in Colombia that embody each migratory and resident birds, corresponding to flamingos (Phoenicopterus ruber), plovers (Charadriidae), sandpipers (Scolopacidae), oystercatchers (Haematopodidae), and stilts (Recurvirostridae). Birds residing in wetlands, savannahs, grasslands forests, excessive mountain ecosystems, and concrete methods, are all precedence targets of the National Bird Conservation Strategy (ENCA) 2030, the principle coverage doc that protects Colombia’s fowl fauna.
ENCA was launched in June 2023 underneath the management of the National Audubon Society, the Humboldt Institute, the Nationwide Fowl Observers Community (RNOA), and the Colombian Ministry of Surroundings and Sustainable Improvement. The technique was developed by practically 2,000 individuals, who contributed their voices, expertise, and information.
“Birds are an umbrella group, that means that constructive actions which might be made to fowl habitats for his or her profit will, in the end profit your complete ecosystem. Not like different umbrella species, corresponding to jaguars or spectacled bears, birds are comparatively simpler to seek out. Moreover, a single fowl supplies a wealth of details about an ecosystem,” explains Noemi Moreno, Technical Supervisor of Audubon Colombia and ENCA 2023 Nationwide Coordinator. An “umbrella group” is a time period utilized in environmental conservation for species chosen for conservation and safety since they profit a broad vary of different species and the ecosystem, as a complete. By defending birds, different animals are additionally protected.
ENCA goals to offer a framework for all fowl conservation efforts in Colombia “so they could be given better visibility and stop them from being perceived as scattered efforts”, states Pedro Arturo Camargo, a biologist on the Bogotá Ornithology Affiliation (AB).
ENCA is without doubt one of the nation methods in place to assist Colombia meet its worldwide obligations which might be geared toward curbing biodiversity loss, such because the Kunming-Montreal World Biodiversity Framework targets, accepted in 2022 by 196 nations, together with Colombia. In response to Moreno, ecosystem well being is linked to fowl well being and the precise presence of birds in a particular location. The lack of fowl species is an indicator of biodiversity loss.
“Having a Nationwide Technique in a rustic with probably the most fowl species on the planet implies that the nation has a technique for conservation and ecosystem restoration. If an space has no birds, then that space is just not conducive to human life,” concludes Moreno.
The Nationwide Technique addresses 5 core matters. The primary is to undertake the slogan “Colombia, the nation of birds”, which could possibly be of monumental profit to conservation. “It’s a approach for individuals to take motion and lift group consciousness about the necessity to take care of birds and the ecosystem,” says Moreno. The aim is for 50% of Colombians to have the ability to acknowledge and determine with this slogan by 2026. To attain this aim, methods have been developed in communities all through the nation to pick a species that symbolizes the area because it has been incessantly seen in that space, or as a result of it culturally represents its inhabitants.
The second pillar entails creating affect within the productive and strategic providers sectors. ENCA establishes tips for higher manufacturing practices. “We’ve got already developed circumstances for sustainable livestock farming in some components of the nation. The sugarcane, coffee, and cocoa sectors have taken the initiative to enhance their manufacturing methods and mitigate threats resulting in the disappearance or displacement of birds to different locations,” Moreno explains.
The third pillar is geared toward supporting area people initiatives, strengthening the Nationwide Fowl Observers Community (RNOA) and different non-governmental and group organizations centered on fowl safety in Colombia. In response to Moreno, communities have already taken motion by organizing teams to cease mining or halt infrastructure growth if carried out in areas inhabited by necessary species.
The fourth pillar supplies tips for collaborating with Regional Autonomous Companies and different organizations answerable for land use planning with a view to outline strategic fowl conservation areas. Outlined objectives embody rising protected areas and OMEC (Different efficient area-based conservation measures) in strategic fowl areas by, at the very least, 10%.
The fifth and final pillar is to generate, handle and disseminate information about fowl conservation. This entails rising the variety of scientific publications, data in open databases, and assessments of threatened species, in addition to better participatory/interdisciplinary information technology.
Birdwatching as a Conservation Device
A necessary side of ENCA is the crosscutting nature of avitourism, specifically, tourism that focuses on birdwatching. “ENCA goals to unveil bird-based conservation alternatives, not from a consumption standpoint (birds are usually not consumed), however, moderately, as a dedication to nationwide and regional growth for functions of fostering appreciation for birds, changing into higher knowledgeable and enhancing how they’re managed,” provides Professor Echeverry.
Colombia at the moment has 4 birding trails making distant fowl areas extra accessible to the general public. These trails additionally showcase the nation´s pure wealth, its delicacies, tradition, and different features of area people life. The initiative is just not solely useful for species conservation, however for strengthening native economies and sustainable growth, as properly.
Birding has develop into a well-liked exercise on Barú Island (45 minutes from Cartagena) because of a venture steered by Grupo Argos Negocio de Desarrollo Urbano. Barú Island is famend for its lovely seashores. Nevertheless, since a powerful 192 fowl species had been recognized on the island (10% of the nation´s nationwide fowl depend), seashores are not the one vacationer attraction.
A complete of 16 group members, representing Barú’s 4 native Afro-descendant communities obtained avitourism coaching. The target was to organize them to raised meet the wants of the numerous birdwatchers that journey to Barú. This endeavor was executed along with the Nationwide Aviary of Colombia which has its headquarters on the island.
“In our earlier consultations main as much as the venture, we tried to raised perceive these communities, notably their unmet wants. We additionally acknowledged how necessary birds are for the world. We started to brainstorm concepts to lift public consciousness relating to the worth of nature. Afterward, our focus shifted to figuring out birds and fowl watching,” recollects Ilva Gómez Crespo, Authorized and Sustainability Supervisor of the City Improvement Enterprise staff.
Though coaching started in 2020, venture leaders had been busy at work figuring out birds on the island. In 2023 they revealed “Isla Barú, A Bird Paradise”, a scientific compilation figuring out every of the island´s fowl species Now these 16 birdwatchers who’re formally licensed as tour guides are studying English to have the ability to higher cater to worldwide tourism.
“We’re striving for fowl watching to develop into an excuse for the conservation of our ecosystems,” explains Carlos Cuello Mendoza, environmental director of the City Improvement Enterprise staff. Throughout the framework of ENCA, this non-public sector firm signed a memorandum of understanding to handle fowl conservation points not solely in Barú but additionally in Barranquilla.
Along with Grupo Argos, different organizations such because the Asociación Nacional de Industriales (Nationwide Affiliation of Industrialists, ANDI) are additionally utilizing ENCA as a benchmark to information their environmental initiatives and formulate targets for fowl conservation. We should keep in mind, as highlighted by the Nationwide Coordinator of the Technique, that caring for birds additionally means caring for our ecosystem.
This weblog was first revealed by El Espectador newspaper, June 21- 2024.