Judit Szabo, EAAFP Science Officer
In Australia, the Red List Index for birds, based on the IUCN status of the species, has been calculated since 1990 (https://theconversation.com/
In the overall number we see only a slight decline in these 25 years. However there are major differences between groups. The status of parrots, for example, has improved thanks to successful conservation actions for some species. The index for seabirds has long been low and has declined further in the last two decades. For migratory shorebirds that visit Australia for the non-breeding season the decline has been devastating, largely as a consequence of habitat loss in their migratory pathway (https://theconversation.com/
Migratory birds are a shared resource among different countries and for their successful conservation international cooperation is necessary.
BirdLife Australia’s Threatened Species Committee has released grim news confirming that seven of Australia’s migratory shorebird species are on a trajectory to extinction. Read the Flyer ‘Meet our shorebirds on the slippery slope to extinction’ at: http://birdlife.org.au/documents/WMBD-Species-Profiles-2015.pdf