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Asian Waterbird Census
July 2020
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AWC coordinator Enam Ul Haque, Bangladesh Bird Club and team 2020
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Latest update on the Asian Waterbird Census
2020 is a special year for biodiversity as it marks the end of the landmark Aichi 2020 Biodiversity Targets, that governments around the world had agreed several years ago. It also marks the year of several important global and regional meetings for biodiversity and climate change. As you will all be aware, despite these targets and actions, we are losing birds and it is being widely recognised that we are entering a major global climate emergency.
The Asian Waterbird Census (AWC) and the rest of the International Waterbird Census by annually monitoring waterbirds and wetlands helps us all to feel the pulse of our environment and to raise awareness of the urgency need for on the ground action for conservation of waterbirds and their wetland habitats.
2020 has started as a special year with the COVID-19 virus restrictions on our lives and travel. Unfortunately the rapid spread of the virus has disrupted everything and will, in all likelihood, continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
Despite this, it is very good to know that the dedication of volunteers has ensured that the 2020 annual counts have been undertaken, wherever possible, in line with local restrictions. Congratulations to all!
For the AWC 2020 we have used an slightly updated new AWC Wetland Assessment Form to encourage collection of basic information on the state of wetlands and of ongoing and potential threats to wetlands and waterbirds. This information request was provided to the network in two ways - within an updated AWC Count Excel 2020 form and as a standalone questionnaire based on a Google Form. So far we have received over 350 wetland assessment form submissions, from Bhutan, Cambodia, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Republic of Korea. As most countries are still to submit the annual data for 2020, we look forward to receiving additional information. In our last issue of the newsletter we summarized the valuable information being generated by your 2019 contributions. We aim to share the 2020 summary based on your latest contributions in the next issue of the AWC Newsletter.
We encourage participants to submit their waterbird count forms at the earliest to support production of local, national and flyway syntheses in a timely manner. Getting these reports out soon to the public are crucial to highlight conservation issues and for enable action to be taken.
Last December we have uploaded simple boundary maps of AWC count areas on the IWC Portal that have been submitted by all of you in the AWC network. This allows you to visualise existing sites and to visit these sites and report on the birds you see this year as well. Having these maps as a reference should help participants to visit the same site and report birds in a consistent manner.
We are pleased to report that many participants and coordinators are now submitting these simple count area boundary maps for sites covered during the 2020 census. Do take a moment to check out your count sites (you will need to zoom in close to see your site) and make a special effort to provide this vital boundary information to your coordinator if it is not uploaded yet. This will provide a reference to you for any regular counts at this site as well as the AWC 2021 and beyond. We will upload all your latest maps to this website in late 2020 in advance of the next AWC, do so send them in soon.
Overview of Waterbird Counts reported during the AWC 2016-2020
(as of 30 June 2020)
X indicates counts have been provided and are in processing.
Country/region |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
Afghanistan |
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Australia |
37 |
55 |
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Bangladesh |
63 |
95 |
72 |
75 |
69 |
Bhutan |
17 |
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11 |
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British Indian Ocean Territories |
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3 |
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Brunei |
14 |
12 |
12 |
10 |
5 |
Cambodia |
11 |
14 |
6 |
7 |
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- China mainland |
17 |
19 |
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- Taiwan |
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55 |
51 |
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- Hong Kong SAR |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
|
Democratic People's Republic of Korea |
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X |
India |
569 |
266 |
106 |
666 |
517 |
Indonesia |
75 |
134 |
92 |
125 |
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Japan |
156 |
159 |
155 |
151 |
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Laos |
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7 |
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Malaysia |
24 |
26 |
28 |
25 |
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Maldives |
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Mongolia |
1 |
1 |
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Myanmar |
1 |
4 |
23 |
12 |
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Nepal |
50 |
52 |
53 |
50 |
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New Zealand |
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22 |
X |
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Pakistan |
12 |
19 |
16 |
21 |
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Palau |
1 |
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11 |
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Papua New Guinea |
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Philippines |
140 |
198 |
256 |
X |
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Republic of Korea |
200 |
200 |
183 |
183 |
183 |
Russian Federation (AWC) |
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Singapore |
9 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
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Sri Lanka |
51 |
42 |
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Thailand |
84 |
46 |
40 |
41 |
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Timor-Leste |
2 |
13 |
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10 |
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Vietnam |
3 |
2 |
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X |
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Grand Total |
1539 |
1425 |
1136 |
1404 |
774 |
Our thanks as ever to the national coordinators and their networks for their continuing efforts and support for this important monitoring programme. We greatly appreciate the many funders and supporters who ensure that the annual counts are implemented at the local and national level in all countries and regions. Our special thanks also to the Ministry of the Environment of Japan and Wetlands International members for supporting international coordination of the census this year.
Dr Taej Mundkur, AWC Regional Coordinator &
Tom Langendoen, AWC Database Manager
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Updates of AWC Coordinators
Dr Steve Klose, Migratory Shorebird Program Manager with BirdLife Australia has kindly accepted to serve as the AWC national coordinator for Australia in 2020. Steve takes over from Dr Dan Weller who left BirdLife Australia at the end of the last year. A BirdLife member for more than 30 years, shorebird lover and bird and bat bander for more than 20 years, Steve is keen to develop the strategic outreach and conservation impact of the program both domestically and internationally through new lighthouse initiatives and collaborations. Steve is also the incoming Conservation Officer of BirdLife’s Australasian Wader Study Group (AWSG). He’s worked internationally in research, for industry and government and has been an expert member on both Australian and European government delegations to international treaty conferences on the field of biodiversity and conservation.
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New AWC Coordinator for Australia, Dr. Steve Klose
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The capacity for coordination of the AWC in India with a large network of volunteers across the country has been strengthened with appointment of DS Dadwal as the new state coordinator for Himachal Pradesh. We are also sad to announce the passing of Mr. Kushal Mookherjee, who was for many years the coordinator for West Bengal. His energy and dedication for waterbird conservation will be greatly missed. Dr. Rudraprasad Das has now taken on the role of coordinator for West Bengal.
We acknowledge and applaud the hard work of all AWC Coordinators in managing national volunteer networks in all countries and regions. See here for a full list.
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13th Conference of Parties (COP) of the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS)
This major global event brought together Contracting Parties, observer governments, representatives of other conventions and agreements, technical experts, NGOs, academics and youth from around the world. It was held in February 2020 in Gandhinagar, India. The main focus of the conference was on ecological connectivity and transboundary cooperation. A high priority is to ensure that the post-2020 global biodiversity framework to be finalised and hopefully adopted at the next Convention on Biological Diversity COP, initially scheduled for China in October 2020 now postponed to 2021) will include these fundamental issues to ensure migratory species and their habitats are better conserved.
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CMS COP13 in action
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The Parties considered a large number of resolutions that provide an ideal framework for international cooperation and action. In relation to migratory birds, the updated global Programme of Work on Flyways has been unanimously adopted. This lists priorities to achieve migratory bird conservation and habitat management worldwide and along all flyways.
In addition, several resolutions were updated & adopted by the COP that are important for dealing with species and habitat conservation – and dealing with major threats. These include Action Plans for Birds, Preventing Poisoning of Migratory Birds, The Prevention of Illegal Killing, Taking and Trade of Migratory Birds, Renewable Energy and Migratory Species, Power Lines and Migratory Birds, Addressing Unsustainable Use of Terrestrial and Avian Wild Meat of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, Improving Ways of Addressing Connectivity in the Conservation of Migratory Species, Climate Change and Migratory Species, Infrastructure Development and Migratory Species and World Migratory Bird Day.
In addition, three resolutions that deal with emerging global issues that also impact on migratory birds were adopted:Light Pollution Guidelines for Wildlife, Insect Decline and its Threat to Migratory Insectivorous Animal Populations, and Impacts of Plastic Pollution on aquatic, terrestrial and Avian Species.
Focussing on waterbirds, Single Species Action Plans were formally adopted for Baer’s Pochard, Far Eastern Curlew, Dalmatian Pelican & White-headed Duck that all affect this region. The Indian Skimmer is prioritised for rapid development of a single species action plan & implementation recognising its rapid decline.
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Final draft Action Plan for the Dalmatian Pelican
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A significant development is the official recognition by the Prime Minister of India in his opening statement to the Central Asian Flyway. This is reflected in operatives and decisions adopted that call for action during this triennium. From this, the Indian Government clearly views developing conservation action and international cooperation in this flyway as a high priority.
Wetlands International organised a side event on the tools to support waterbird conservation, with a focus on waterbird monitoring through the International Waterbird Census, the Waterbird Population Estimates and launch of a new Portal (planned for late 2020) and the Critical Site Network Tool. We are pleased that many AWC coordinators were able to attend this session.
Here the AWC India 10 year report was officially released by Mr Rakesh Kumar Jagenia, Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Government of India. More here.
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The State of India's Birds 2020 report was launched at CMS COP
This is the first comprehensive assessment of the distribution range, trends in abundance, and conservation status for most of the waterbird and other species that regularly occur in India. The report uses over 10 million observations uploaded to the eBird platform by more than 15,500 birdwatchers to evaluate the distribution range size of 867 Indian birds, and their trends in abundance in both the long term (over 25+ years) and currently (past 5 years). A set of maps per species has been recently launched, see here.
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Waterbirds in the spotlight: AWC India 2020
A new webpage to brings together some of local language and national news coverage of the census highlights the growing interest on waterbird and wetland conservation issues.
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May 2020 – World Migratory Bird Day
A range of interesting local and national events have been organised this year around the theme of Birds Connect our World.
These including a special 17-minute online performance celebrating World Migratory Bird Day video titled "Invisible Connections" organised by the Bowerbird Collective & Bird Conservation Society of Thailand (the AWC National Coordinator). The title is based on a classic photographic publication on the wonder of shorebird migration in the Yellow Sea and East Asian - Australasian Flyway produced by Wetlands International & Jan van de Kam.
See here for a round up of events on the EAAFP website. View Wetlands International's statement here.
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EAAFP News
The latest newsletter for the EAAFP packed issue was recently issued, see here.
See also the latest newsletter on Spoon-billed Sandpiper.
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