The International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN ) officially declared the Slender-billed Curlew extinct, during this week’s congress in Abu Dhabi.
This is the first known global extinction of a migratory bird species, whose range included mainland Europe, North Africa, and West Asia.
Amy Fraenkel, Convention of Migratory Species of wild animals (CMS) Executive Secretary, said “the extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew…underscores the urgency of implementing effective conservation measures to ensure the survival of migratory species. Hopefully, the loss of this species will help galvanize action to protect other threatened migratory species.”
Several measures to protect the species include listing it under CMS Appendix I and II at the signature of the Convention in 1979.
A Memorandum of Understanding concerning Conservation Measures for the Slender-billed Curlew, was also adopted under CMS, in September 1994, to protect the remaining 50.
It was also included in the list of priority species of 255 waterbird species in June 1995, a new treaty born out of negotiations under the CMS framework, to prevent the decline of the migratory waterbirds in the African-Eurasian
Several other waterbird species listed under either CMS or AEWA (or both) were moved to a higher risk level on the IUCN Red List in recent years, indicating more efforts are needed to reverse their declines.
These include waders, such as the Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola), Broad-billed Sandpiper (Calidris falcinellus), and Curlew Sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea) which were uplisted to Vulnerable, and the Ruddy Turnstone (Arenaria interpres) and Dunlin (Calidris alpina) which were uplisted to Near Threatened.
Nicola Crockford, Chair of the joint CMS/Birdlife Slender-Billed Curlew Working Group and observer for BirdLife International to AEWA and CMS, said new technologies must be used to protect birds.
“With new technologies and knowledge now available, there is no excuse for allowing such tragedies to repeat. You cannot restore a species once it is gone” she said.
Picture: Chris Gormersal, Birdlife International