(MY) water birds count

[Guest guest]

Making water birds count - New Straits Times

24 Jan 2007

Nisha Sabanayagam

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Laden with bulky cameras, tripods and notebooks,

volunteers are sloshing through muddy swamps, and splashing in

knee-high water in wetlands around the country.

 

It's the season again for the annual Asian Water Bird Census (AWC).

Every second and third week of January the distribution and abundance

of water birds is monitored in 26 countries across Asia, covering

about 6,000 wetland sites.

 

Led by Wetlands International, the AWC is part of the International

Water Bird Census, a global volunteer-based programme involving over

100 countries.

 

 

 

Water birds are " visible and charismatic " indicators of the health of

the ecosystem, says AWC co-ordinator David Li.

 

Water birds flock in large numbers in specific wetlands. They are

usually migratory, and larger species like curlews can fly as far as

8,000km without stopping to rest.

 

So local bird-watchers, co-ordinated by the Malaysian Nature Society,

are counting birds in lakes, rivers, swamps, marshes, estuaries,

mudflats and of course, the sea.

 

The data will be compiled and sent to the government and to

conservation associations to update them on the local water bird

status for the year.

 

There are about 150 species of water birds found in Peninsular

Malaysia. Some are residents while others are migrants, which breed in

regions as far north as the Arctic and Siberia.

 

They fly south to Malaysia and other parts of Asia and Australia,

wintering in these areas from November to January to avoid the

freezing weather up north.

 

On their long migratory routes, these wetlands are like petrol

stations, says Li, for the birds to refuel and fatten themselves up.

 

Li, the water bird conservation officer for Wetlands International,

says if the wetlands were healthy, there would be many water birds

able to survive.

 

Unfortunately for the birds, the current global outlook for the

wetlands is not positive.

 

A 2007 report released by Wetlands International earlier this week

says that 44 per cent of the world's water bird populations were

declining or becoming extinct.

 

The report is the fourth edition of " Water Bird Population Estimates " ,

which presents the estimates and trends of 878 water bird species.

 

It says Asia is the continent of greatest concern.

 

 

 

At the local level, Li says, Malaysia is showing a 14 per cent decline

in water birds.

 

" Though this is not alarming, it still shows a degradation in populations. "

 

The main threat in Malaysia is land reclamation for agriculture,

development and aquaculture.

 

" Wetlands are being turned into fish farms, " he says.

 

Pollution caused by domestic sewage, solid waste, use of pesticides

and fertilisers is also a threat.

 

Unfortunately, Malaysian wetlands are not protected.

 

Only five wetlands in the country are designated Ramsar sites, which

ensures the government's commitment to protection.

 

They are Tasik Bera in Pahang, Kuching Wetlands National Park in

Sarawak, Pulau Kukup, Sungai Pulai and Tanjung Piai in Johor.

 

Yet ecologically important areas such as the Matang Mangrove Forest in

Taiping and the Klang Islands off the coast of Selangor are examples

of magnificent wetland systems that are not protected enough, says Li.

 

" In fact, hardly any coastal area in Malaysia is protected. "

 

In Matang, only small areas are protected, despite a report from the

Wildlife and National Parks Department early last year on the dire

situation of the water birds of Matang, especially the milky stork.

 

" Only one bird was sighted in August last year, " says Li.

 

In the 1980s there were over a hundred annual sightings of the

species, which in Malaysia is only found in the Matang forest.

 

The report indicates that the milky stork population has declined more

than 90 per cent over the past 20 years, and the number of water birds

using the area has declined by more than 75 per cent.

 

" The smaller the population, the easier it is to disappear. So it's

really important to have a larger protected area, " says Li.

 

The report notes that forestry, fishing and hunting could have a

significant impact on the water bird population in Matang.

 

The ecological benefits from having a larger protected area, says Li,

could amount to economic benefits in the long run that will bring in

more money than the current logging activities.

 

One of the major contributors to the spread of the bird flu is the

lack of natural areas.

 

" When wild birds that carry the virus lose their natural habitat, they

have no choice but to move closer to civilisation, which brings them —

and the virus — closer to us. "