© Environment News Service (ENS) 2000
October 26, 2000

KANDY, Sri Lanka, October 26, 2000 (ENS) - Political enemies India and Pakistan have come together in an effort to find a way to halt the rapid decline of the region's critically endangered vultures.

They are joined by scientists and conservationists from Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Japan and other Asian nations at the 2000 Pan-Asian Ornithological Congress, which opens in Kandy, Sri Lanka today.

BirdLife International, the world's largest partnership of bird conservation organizations, is hosting the congress through its partner in Sri Lanka, Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka.

The plight of the vulture will top the agenda, along with identifying better protection for the continent's forests where many of the region's 346 threatened bird species live.

"According to the latest data the white rumped vulture and long billed vulture have suffered extremely rapid declines in India," said J.C. Daniel, of the Bombay Natural History Society, BirdLife International's partner in India.

Daniel said the decline caused by disease had resulted in the species' being regraded from "least concern" and "near threatened" to "critical." BirdLife grades species' condition on a scale ranging from least concern to extinct.

"New reports are also emerging that populations of white rumped vultures are rapidly declining in Nepal, and the first symptoms of the disease have now been observed in white rumped vultures in Pakistan," said Daniel. "A westward spread of the disease through Pakistan and beyond to the Middle East, Europe and Africa now appears inevitable."

"It is imperative that we must quickly find a cure for this disease and stop it decimating the remaining Asian populations of these majestic birds," said Daniel.

As ENS correspondent Devinder Sharma reported earlier this month, the biggest problem faced by those trying to save vultures is pinpointing the nature of the disease. Typically described as a mystery virus, the disease causes white rumped and long billed vultures to suffer drooping necks. Lethargy follows and death comes with a month or so.

In recent years, India's vulture population is estimated to have declined by as much as 90 percent.

Conservationists argue that birds are important indicators of environmental change. "They are highly sensitive to change and can give early warning signs of emerging environmental crises such as the over-exploitation of forests and climate change," said Professor Sarath Kotagama, president of Sri Lanka's Field Ornithology Group.

That is of particular concern in Sri Lanka, said Kotagama, where 15 of the 23 bird species native only to the island nation are either threatened or near threatened.

This week's meeting will discuss the BirdLife International book, "Threatened Birds of Asia," which documents the status of the region's threatened birds, and will be published in April 2001.

The book follows "Threatened Birds of the World," which was launched by BirdLife's patron, Queen Noor of Jordan, at the World Conservation Union (IUCN) World Congress in Amman, Jordan earlier this month.

While delivering a shocking assessment of the rate of extinctions for birds, "Threatened Birds of the World," outlined a rescue package that combines practical solutions and policy commitments.

The book reported the number of bird species threatened with global extinction rose by 75 from 1,111 in 1994 to 1,186 in 2000 - 12 percent of all bird species.

Of the new total number of threatened bird species, 1,175, or 99 percent, are at risk of extinction from logging, intensive agriculture, longline fishing, hunting and trapping, said the book.

This week's Birdlife International meeting will hear about progress in establishing and implementing Asian Important Bird Areas Program in India, Sri Lanka and Nepal along with the role of birds and ornithology in ecotourism.

Important Bird Areas are sites designated as internationally important for the conservation of birds and biodiversity, selected according to internationally recognized criteria. Error: Unable to read footer file.