Bird Conservation as a Flagship for Global Diversity Conservation1

David Brackett2 ______It is a pleasure to be here at the Third International tion spectrum from maintaining the diversity in com- meeting of Partners in Flight (PIF) – and the interna- mon species of birds (across their natural ranges) to tional aspect is important. Bird conservation is a global recovery of species at risk (often in greatly restricted problem. Building on the work of BirdLife Interna- ranges by the time they are listed). Many of the tional and other partners, the 2000 IUCN Red List of underlying habitat objectives are shared by abundant Threatened Species listed more than 12 percent of the and rare species alike. Integrated delivery of habitat world’s known species as at risk. Bird conservation is objectives, then, is the only option. PIF and NABCI also a national accountability. Partners in Flight has exemplify partnerships working to achieve a common been a leader in helping countries acknowledge their goal of bird conservation, and they share a larger vision share of that accountability, but it is important that the of biodiversity conservation. responsibility is shared. Another area to which Canadians have devoted a lot of That leads to the need – no, the imperative – for inter- effort in the past couple of years is the development of national co-operation if we are to be effective. But the Species at Risk legislation. Many of you here may have need is not just government-to-government coopera- commented throughout this process; some of you might tion. We talk about a landscape approach to managing even have understood the issues. The proposed Species habitat, about considering solutions at an ecosystem at Risk Act (SARA) to protect wildlife at risk from level. Well, there are ecosystem-like connections in the becoming extinct or lost from the wild recognizes organizational world as well. We need to make the shared responsibility among federal, provincial and connections between regulators and the regulated; territorial governments. This leads to mandatory part- between the scientists and the policy makers; between nerships to develop recovery strategies/action plans for the grantors and the grantees, and between bird con- endangered and threatened species, and management servation projects and initiatives. The best way forward plans for species of special concern. The legislation in the near term, in my opinion, is the North American also requires us to identify critical habitat and protect it Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI). Eventually, we through conservation agreements, provincial or terri- need to see NABCI as only a step towards a true torial legislation, or federal prohibitions. As part of hemispheric effort and as one of a series of such efforts SARA, a Habitat Stewardship Program provides fund- globally. There are organizations working at that level ing for voluntary conservation activities by individuals, now: BirdLife International, Wetlands International, organizations, communities, businesses or governments The Convention on Migratory Species, The European that protect species and habitats. Many such activities Union’s Birds Directive, and so on. are already under way in Canada. We need to maxi- mize opportunities to piggyback bird conservation onto I would like to spend a few minutes talking about these efforts for species at risk and critical habitat, and activities in Canada. The Canadian Wildlife Service this will require coordination with Partners in Flight (CWS) has a 10-year strategic plan to guide its activi- and NABCI programs. ties. Its mission statement is to: Conserve wildlife and the ecosystems of which they are a part, with a Finally, I’d like to say a few words about an issue that particular focus on migratory birds and species at risk. is occupying an increasing amount of my personal Conservation of birds is an important part of the CWS time: We need to find better ways of managing the data mandate. In fact, conservation of migratory bird popu- that are generated from our conservation programs and lations is the first of three main CWS roles (the other of turning those data into information, the information two being leading the protection of species at risk, and into knowledge, and the knowledge into action. While the conservation of habitat for migratory birds and most, if not all, of our programs and projects pay at- species at risk). These roles are strongly interrelated; tention to data compilation, management, and retrieval, we must strengthen the linkages across the conserva- too often that attention is focused a little too narrowly, ______a little too locally. There is a growing realization in the biodiversity conservation community that we need to 1A version of this paper was presented at the Third Interna- improve the integration of our data and its derivatives. tional Partners in Flight Conference, March 20-24, 2002, Governments are certainly engaged through initiatives Asilomar Conference Grounds, California 2Canadian Wildlife Service, 351 St. Joseph Blvd. Hull, Quebec, like NBII in the USA, CISE in Canada, leading edge Canada. K1A 0H3. efforts by CONABIO in Mexico, initiatives under the

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Commission on Environmental Cooperation (NABIN), achievement of effective conservation and sustainable the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, and forms of development”. We plan to bring this about many, many more. through a novel approach to partnerships for conserva- tion, where the IT industry provides the hardware and Many of these initiatives focus on making what is software resources, foundations and governments pro- already collected better accessible, leading to a focus vide the financial resources, and the conservation com- on museum collections and taxonomic issues. These munity provides the expert participation and the data are important, but there are also some pressing con- (i.e. the content). servation problems to be dealt with. We expect this will lead to concrete recommendations On the non-governmental side, the Species Survival for site-specific conservation actions. Commission of the IUCN – which I chair just at the moment – is developing the Species Information Ser- I have had a chance to look through the program for vice. The SIS will be a web-based system that will this meeting, and I am impressed with the range of allow field biologists and researchers around the globe topics that will be covered, and with the commitment to link their real-time information through a stan- to effective collaboration and integration that is re- dardized database to allow the better integration of flected in so many of the presentations. I know the first geo-referenced, peer reviewed information – quite a two international meetings helped us along the path mouthful, but it is hard to capture the complexity of the noted by Humberto Berlanga – taking the idea of inte- project in a single sentence. The vision of the project is grated bird conservation from the novel to the obvious. “A world in which current and universally accessible I am confident this meeting will do more of the same. biodiversity information encourages and promotes the

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