The State of the World’s Birds

Recently, 'The State of the World’s Birds', an annual review of environmental resources was published.

• The study reviewed changes in avian biodiversity using data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List to reveal the changes in fortunes of all the global bird species.
• Since birds are highly visible and are sensitive indicators of environmental health, collating and analysing bird data not only helps understand their condition, but also offers an unparalleled insight into the health of the natural world as a whole.

Key Findings: Almost half of the 10,994 recognised extant species of birds are threatened owing to the expanding human footprint on the natural world and climate change.

• 5,245 or about 48% of the existing bird species worldwide were known or suspected to be undergoing population decline.
• While 4,295 or 39% of the species had stable trends, about 7% or 778 species had increasing population trends. The trend of 37 species was unknown.
• The study underlines birdwatching, a global pastime involving millions of people, as a form of avian conservation but warns of “local negative impacts” of bird feeding valued at $5-6 billion per year and growing by 4% annually.