The plenary
presentations gave time to review the major themes that would be
touched on throughout the conference programme. The topics covered
in the plenaries were all subject to further discussion in the
programme of parallel workshops. These gave the opportunity
to further discussion of the issues involved.
One strand of the conference programme related to geographical
regions and was structured around the world’s main waterbird flyway
systems. The presentations by Schmidt (
2.2, Americas),
Davidson & Stroud (
2.3,
Africa and western Eurasia) and Mundkur (
2.5,
East Asia and Australasia) provided contrasting reviews of
knowledge and conservation activity of these flyways. Of
particular note was the contrasting periods during which formal
(and informal) international conservation structures have been in
place in different parts of the world in order to support and
encourage waterbird conservation (a theme further elaborated upon
by
Kuijken -
2.1). Thus, whilst the 1916 Convention for the Protection
of Migratory Birds provided the early and initial stimulus for
international co-operation between the two countries of Canada and
USA, structures for international co-operation have only more
recently been established in other parts of the world, most
recently in the Neotropics through the informal Western Hemisphere
Migratory Species Initiative. Whilst formal multilateral
intergovernmental conservation treaties have still to be
established in some regions, Schmidt and Mundkur both outlined the
bilateral treaties involving USA, Russia, Japan and Australia in
the East Asia-Australasian flyway. The development of the
Agreement on the conservation of migratory African-Eurasian
Waterbirds (
AEWA) potentially includes
117 countries, and is the most ambitious multilateral treaty
related to waterbirds yet to be developed (
Lenten,
3.7.1).
Finlayson and colleagues (2.6) gave a stark
assessment of the range and complexity of the potential impacts of
changing climate on waterbirds and their wetland habitats.
Evidence for these impacts is increasingly becoming apparent. Many
such effects are predicted first to impact upon arctic
environments, and
Wohl (2.10) summarised the global
significance of this region as the ultimate source of most
waterbird flyways, outlining also several recent initiatives to
develop pan-arctic environmental co-operation.
The conservation of seabirds, especially whilst they are on
the high seas, is an issue of major recent conservation concern.
Indeed, nearly all the world’s albatross species are now listed as
globally threatened.
Cooper (2.9) outlined the main approaches
being undertaken to address these problems so as to reverse current
negative trends.
The impact of fisheries on albatrosses is an example of
bycatch or an unintentional harvest.
Kanstrup (2.7)
reviewed the other deliberate harvests of waterbirds and the basis
through which some of these might be made more sustainable.
The critical role of science in understanding and deriving
solutions for conservation issues was outlined by
Piersma (2.4), and
Lank
& Nebel (2.8). They stressed the need for evidence-based
approaches to the development and implementation of conservation
policy.
Considering the wide range of material presented by the
plenary speakers, it is clear that recent decades have given
waterbird conservationists a wide range of tools with which to
address issues and problems. These range from formal
inter-governmental treaties, to practical conservation responses
such as
species action plans (section 4.1),
management planning processes to maintain the ecological character
of protected areas, as well as wider-scale catchment/water-basin
management planning, Integrated Coastal Zone Management and other
land-use policies (5.4).
Despite the existence of these tools (notably the wide range
of guidances and handbooks developed and published by international
conventions such as
Ramsar, AEWA and the
Convention on Biological Diversity,
waterbirds populations and the ecological quality of the wetlands
on which they depend continue to decline markedly throughout most
of the world. This is a reflection of the massive, unsustainable
environmental impacts generated by increasing human populations and
their economic demands.
Important though current responses are, the stark findings of
the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005 stress the urgent need
for conservation responses to be urgently pro-active in engaging
with the primary drivers of environmental degradation. This will
take committed waterbird conservationists into increasingly
unfamiliar territories.