I've been moonlighting and contributing to the Saving Species blog - here's my introduction to what has every chance of becoming the bird conservation story of the decade. If we are to save the spoon-billed sandpiper from extinct (yes it is that bleak) then several things have to happen. High levels of hunting (for subsistence food) has to be substantially reduced and the headlong loss of coastal wetlands on the east Asian - Australasian flyway must be slowed and, in key areas, stopped. Objectives that could be applied to any species, really. But for spoonie the clock is ticking. With fewer than 200 pairs left, a rapid rate of decline and extinction predicted in a decade, this engaging little wader is on the brink.
So that is why we are supporting an urgent expedition to Chukotka, led by the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, to establish a captive breeding programme at Slimbridge. We’ll be updating this story on the Saving Species blog throughout the summer – but we won’t be ignoring the story here as efforts get underway to tackle the problems that will allow offspring from the founder captive population to be returned to the wild. I covered the award of $100,000 from the Disney foundation for site protection in China.
The fate of spoon-billed sandpipers will truly be a test of the commitment of many Governments to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity – failure = extinction.
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