| Montreal and Mexico, 12/02/2001 – A continent-wide strategy to reverse the decline of bird populations across North America will begin to take shape when over a hundred bird conservationists and representatives of governments and funding agencies from Canada, Mexico and the US meet in Querétaro, Mexico this week. The strategy session is a key milestone in the evolution of the North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI), launched by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (NACEC), the Montreal-based body established by the NAFTA environmental side accord.
"At the heart of NABCI is the recognition that saving birds in any one of the countries of North America requires work in all three countries, given the ecological and economic interrelationships across the continent, not to mention the migratory patterns of many of the species," says Jurgen Hoth of NACEC's Biodiversity Conservation Program. "And it is now clear to everyone who cares about birds that we are going to have to pool all the talent and resources we can muster across the three countries to do this," he added.
According to Hoth, the loss of bird species across North America is now taking on alarming proportions, with several hundred species designated as vulnerable and many others undergoing widespread population declines. Efforts for the protection of birds and their habitats are being carried out in each country of North America, but significant gaps still exist. "The only way can close these gaps is to make a strategy that addresses the needs of birds cohesively across the continent," says Hoth, "and that is what we we're going to begin to do in Querétaro."
In their roles in insect pest control, plant pollination and seed dispersal, birds are an integral part of dynamic ecosystems and provide services worth hundreds of millions of dollars to agricultural and forest industries each year. The tremendous interest in birdwatching is a cornerstone of the rapidly growing ecotourism industry, which represents billions of dollars in revenue across the continent.
North America, with its extensive biodiversity, is home to nearly 20 percent of the world's birds. More than 1,100 species are found in Mexico, 700 in the United States and 575 in Canada. Hundreds of these species are shared among all three countries, and many are only found in North America.
The meeting will take place on 14 and 15 February 2001 at the Hotel Hacienda Jurica, Querétaro, México (México-San Luis Potosí Highway km. 229, Fraccionamiento Jurica C.P. 76100). Tel: (52) 4 218-00-22 Fax: (52) 4 218-01-36 <http://www.hoteljurica.com.mx>
For more information, contact Christine Larson at <clarson@ccemtl.org> or tel: (514) 350-4331. |
