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2015 Truly is the Year of the Godwit: Ministerial Visit
By Jim Eagles on Pukorokoro Miranda News The future of godwits, Red Knots and other migratory birds looks a little more secure following a visit to the Shorebird Centre by Conservation Minister Maggie Barry to formally announce the creation of a huge reserve in the key stopover area of Bohai Bay and to signal the […]
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Relevant Scientific Articles updated in November 2015
If you need full scientific articles, please contact Dr Judit Szabo, the science officer. Anatidae Shokhrin, V. P., and D. V. Solovyeva. 2014. Broods of the Scaly-sided merganser (Mergus squamatus) in the river basin of Kievka and adjacent territories (Primorskii Krai). Amurian zoological journal VI:214-220. Avian Influenza and Other Diseases Miller, R. S., S. J. Sweeney, J. […]
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70% of Yangtze Wetlands have “Disappeared”
gbtimes 70% of the Yangtze River wetlands in China have dried up, with China’s boom leading to serious degradation of ecological environment quality, according to a report by Legal Daily. Over 11 million hectares of lakes, rivers, marshes, and coasts are located on the Yangtze River Economic Belt, accounting for more than one fifth of […]
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中国湿地锐减危及濒危水鸟种类
Read in English 张春 中国滨海湿地减少是”东亚－澳大利西亚”迁徙路线水鸟种群锐减主要原因之一，全球近半数濒危水鸟种类在该路线上。 研究表明，”东亚－澳大利西亚”迁徙路线上水鸟种群锐减的主要原因之一， 是中国滨海湿地的持续减少。 全球9条候鸟迁徙路线中，穿过22个国家的”东亚－澳大利西亚”路线是最重要的一条，每年有492种约5000万只水鸟往返于该路线，其中246种在中国的滨海湿地停歇、繁殖或越冬。北京林业大学自然保护区学院院长雷光春说，目前该路线上近50％的鸟类呈下降趋势。其中濒危水鸟至少有27种，几乎占全球濒危水鸟种类的一半，有22种途经中国。 10月19日发布的“中国滨海湿地保护管理战略研究”报告（保尔森基金会、中国国家林业局和中国科学院地理科学与资源研究所合作）显示，自从上世纪50年代以来，中国沿海有53％的温带湿地、73％的红树林和80％的珊瑚礁消失——这些都是候鸟迁徙过程中重要的栖息地。根据2012年规划，到2020年中国沿海11省市还有24.69万公顷围填海指标。照此趋势，中国8亿亩湿地保护的红线将被突破。 报告称，快速大面积的围垦和填海是造成滨海湿地面积锐减的主要原因。当前建有海堤（固化海岸）的海岸线已经占到中国海岸线总长度的61％。大量湿地消失以后，候鸟们被迫向为数不多的适宜栖息地集中。若是最后的栖息地遭到破坏，迁徙水鸟会由于来不及适应栖息地的变化而消亡。 东亚－澳大利西亚路线上的候鸟，最北可至北极圈，南至澳大利亚、新西兰。该路线上10个最重要的湿地有一半在中国，鄱阳湖排第一。秋季南迁时部分鸟群会直飞澳大利亚新西兰，春季北迁时绝大多数鸟类都需要到迁飞路线上的湿地进行补给，部分候鸟到达中途湿地后体重只有出发时的一半，如果补给不足将不能飞回北部目的地。 北京师范大学张正旺教授对中外对话说，一些鸟类的存亡几乎完全依赖于中国特定湿地的存亡。一种叫做红腹滨鹬的候鸟，春季北迁时路过渤海湾，由于适宜栖息的湿地已经减少，80％都会在河北滦南沿海湿地停歇一个月补充能量。目前该湿地只剩下12公里海岸线，仍然面临围垦和填海威胁。”河北省今年3月同意将其作为重要湿地，但是还没有对其进行有效保护。”他说。 事实上，随着中国经济的发展，滨海湿地减少速率也在增加，仅2003－2013年间就减少了23％（过去50年减少近53％），但是保护工作还存在很大不足。上述报告表明，沿海140个满足东亚－澳大利西亚候鸟迁徙网络保护标准的湿地中，还有69个没有得到保护。天津、浙江、江苏、山东等省市经济发达，但滨海湿地保护率却相对较低。这里有经济快速发展的原因，也有法规政策不完善等因素，如中国的土地利用类型中湿地被划为未利用地，因此被开垦成耕地或填埋做建设用地在规划中常常是合理的也更加容易的。 而滨海湿地的重要性不仅在于为候鸟提供栖息地。它们具有净化水质，防洪减灾，减缓风暴潮、台风危害等作用，是沿海地区重要的生态屏障。雷光春说，2004年年底印度洋海啸中，8块国际红树林湿地附近海岸带居民就因为红树林保护无一伤亡。 报告依据调查结果在沿海划定180个重点保护区，包括11个最重要的候鸟栖息地，希望政府能立即采取保护措施加以保护。 “我不能说很有信心，但是现在拯救（迁飞路线）湿地的大门还没有关上，我们应该努力抓住机会。” 东亚－澳大利西亚迁徙路线委员会首席执行官Spike Millington先生对中外对话说。由于中国从高层开始重视湿地保护，他对中国的保护成效还是很期待的。他在上述报告发布会上说，英国政府政府也曾经因为经济发展而毁坏了大量滨海湿地，并因此后悔不已。及时认识到湿地的重要性并做好保护工作非常重要。 不过，北京林业大学雷光春教授认为，只是建立保护区并不能解决生态退化的问题。他对中外对话说：”人类在过去100多年间建立了十多万个保护区，占全球陆地总面积的14％，但是生物多样性还是在下降。我们要做的，是怎么协调人和社会发展的关系。” 原文链接 点击这里。
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Let’s manage the estuary – [EAAF010] Hunter Estuary Ramsar Site
By Stuart Blanch for Fairfax Media HUNTER Wetlands Centre Australia turns 30 this weekend. It is an amazing achievement for our community, which restored and protected the site. Thousands of Novocastrians volunteered. Generous support flowed from governments, council, industry, service clubs and businesses. While celebrating and reflecting on these past three decades, I’ve had […]
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Scaly-sided Merganser: seeing the benefit of conservation efforts
Peiqi Liu, WWF China Scaly-sided Mergansers leave the Russian Far East, perhaps DPR Korea, and north-eastern China when the first cold nights come in late October, only to return to these breeding grounds the following March, as soon as winter is over. This year, a merganser family, whose chicks were raised in one of […]
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Monitoring improves conservation action – October 2015 Newsletter!
As November advances, we see the arrival of many migratory waterbirds in their non-breeding quarters. Here in the Republic of Korea, thousands of Bean and Greater White-fronted Geese are thronging the harvested rice fields. Shorebirds are settling into their favoured spots in the southern part of the Flyway, such as Australia and New Zealand. Several […]
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Bird of the Year Godwit gets Chinese habitat protection deal
TVNZ, New Zealand View the TVNZ ‘One News’ Video of this report here: www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news New Zealand has reached a memorandum of understanding with China, which has agreed to protect the habitat of the Godwit. The Bar-tailed Godwit (known as Kuaka in New Zealand), was recently declared Bird of the Year in New Zealand. During their […]
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AI Situation Update: Asia (July to October 2015)
Since the 1st of July 2015, there have been 133 confirmed avian influenza outbreaks in Asia. Between the 1st of July and 21st of October, the following subtypes of avian influenza outbreaks were observed in Asia: H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N2 HPAI H5N6 HPAI H5N8 HPAI H7N9 low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) Countries were affected […]
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The Black-faced Spoonbill: Asia’s beloved wading bird fights for space
Doug Meigs, Mongabay This charismatic wading bird saw its numbers soar from just 288 individuals in the 1980’s, to over 3,000 in 2015, but coastal developers will need to find a way to share intertidal areas with these birds if they are to survive. The Black-faced Spoonbill, with its fascinating feeding behaviors, has won the […]
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