Forest and Bird Joining BirdLife International

Forest and Bird, Issue 313, 1 August 2004, Page 11

Forest and Bird Joining BirdLife International

orest and Bird is to upgrade its membership in the international conservation organisation BirdLife International to that of a full partner. The organisation is an association of some 66 national bodies working in a worldwide partnership to protect the world’s birds and their habitats. For some years, Forest and Bird has been affiliated to BirdLife International, and its predecessor the International Council for Bird Protection. Forest and Bird’s role is seen as a key one, protecting birds in the southwest Pacific and Antarctic regions, and the Society has been taking an increasingly active role in this advocacy, internationally. Forest and Bird’s deputy national president, Dr Peter

Maddison, recently attended a meeting in Durban, South Africa, marking 10 years of global conservation action by BirdLife International. ‘The focus of the meeting was on the challenges and opportunities facing all of us in the conservation of birds and their environments, while sustaining people’s livelihoods, Peter Maddison writes. "Despite the meeting being initially faced with the doom and gloom of the perilous state of the world’s

birds — with the grim statistic of 300,000 seabirds being killed annually, for example — the meeting was upbeat about the growing and huge support for bird conservation, and the growing involvement of communities in restoration and protection projects. ‘New Zealand has a ranking high in the list of countries with endangered species (27 in all, including our subantarctic territories), Peter Maddison says. The six days of meetings included presentations, seminars and workshops on ‘Important Bird Area Conservation; "The Challenges of Achieving Sustainability, "Saving the World’s Threatened Seabirds; ‘Climate Change and Bird Conservation, ‘Saving Threatened Species from Extinction’ and ‘Achieving

Sustainable Financing and Conservation Campaigning. At the conference, Peter Maddison presented papers on Forest and Bird’s role in BirdLife International’s ‘Albatross and Petrel Campaign’ (by Barry Weeber) and on the Kiwi Conservation Club (Ann Graeme and Carol Knutson). Launched at the meeting was a compact disc giving details of the conservation status of all the world’s birds. This information is also available on BirdLife’s web site, www. birdlife.org On his return, Peter Maddison recommended to the national executive that Forest and Bird upgrade its membership status in BirdLife from Affiliate to Partner Designate, a probationary status covering the year or so while formal arrangements are made.