Home 
Network News Network News East Africa: Region's Birds in Danger
Network News Network News East Africa: Region's Birds in Danger
|
East Africa: Region's Birds in Danger |
|
Nairobi - THEY HAVE FLOWN OVER THE AFrican savanna for millennia, but now, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List, global warming and habitat destruction could shoot some of East Africa's birds out of the sky. The IUCN's Red List is a grim roll-call of endangered species around the world. This year's list says that at least 1,226 species of bird are now threatened, with eight species being up-graded to the "critically endangered" category, the highest threat status. Among the region's bird species listed by IUCN as endangered is the Sokoke Scops-owl, scientifically known as Otus ireneae. The traditional home of the bird, which feeds mostly on insects such as beetles, are the indigenous forests of coastal Kenya, especially the Cynometra woodland of Arabuko-Sokoke Forest between Kilifi and Malindi. Over the past few decades, the IUCN says, the bird's population has plummeted to dangerously low levels, raising the risk of extinction if further pressures on its habitat occur. The bird's population is now estimated to be 2,500, and the numbers are falling. Apart from Arabuko-Sokoke, where about 1,000 pairs are estimated to remain, the Scops-owl is also found in the Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, where a few hundred birds are thought to reside. According to the IUCN, global warming is affecting the population of birds like the Scops-owl through long-term drought and sudden extreme weather, which disrupt the natural environment for the birds. The situation is worsened by the destruction of habitats due to human population pressure. "This latest update of the IUCN Red List shows that birds are under enormous pressure from climate change," said Jane Smart, head of IUCN's species programme in a statement. "The IUCN Red List is the global standard when it comes to measuring species loss so we urge governments to take the information contained in it seriously and do their level best to protect the world's birds." According to the IUCN, another East African bird species that faces extinction is the African Green Broadbill, which is scientifically known as Pseudocalyptomena graueri, and whose home is in Uganda and the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo. IN UGANDA, THE BROADBILL IS FOUND in the southwestern districts around the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest, while in the Congo it is found around the eastern Itombwe Mountains. The key danger to the species is that its habitat continues to be destroyed to make way for human habitation. "Species are being hit by the double whammy of habitat loss and climate change," observed Dr Stuart Butchart of the international NGO BirdLife. "As populations become fragmented the effect of climate change can have an even greater impact, leading to an increased risk of local extinctions." http://allafrica.com/stories/200806160692.html |
