HKBWS WY

-PRESS RELEASE –

World House Sparrow Day 20th March 2010

The world House Sparrow Day is aninternational initiative by Nature Forever Society in colabration with BombayNatural History Society, Cornell Lab of Ornithology (USA), Eco-Sys ActionFoundation (France) Avon Wildlife Trust (UK) and numerous other national andinternational organisation across the world.
The World House Sparrow Day will becelebrated on 20th March 2010 and will be an annual event not only to celebrate thebeauty of House Sparrows but all the common birds and biodiversity found in andaround us.
The event will be promoted by a dedicatedinteractive website www.worldhousesparrowday.org which will be the nerve centreof the whole event. Organisation and individuals from across the world will beable to register their events and activities on this website.
The website will have information relatedto the event like, press resources, logos, posters, images and press releases.The website will also be useful for organisation’s and individuals as they willbe able to download posters, logos and activity ideas which they can use topromote the event in their region or country.
The WorldHouse Sparrow Day will promote events like common bird watching trips, publicdiscussions, exhibitions, presentations, bird rallies, art competitions,educational and public eventsall aimed at paying more attention to the birds in their neighborhood and theirconservation.

All the events which will be carried out throughout the world will be uploaded on thewebsite.

The event will be getting extensive pressand media coverage as there is immense interest in the media and the masses onthe decline of House Sparrows.
Apart from this regular updates in regardto the event will be circulated on national and international bird groups whichhave thousands of members.

What will the World House Sparrow Day achieve?

The rationale of having this day is notonly to celebrate the event for a day but to use the day to bring together allthe individuals and organisation working on the conservation of House Sparrowsand urban biodiversity on a common platform. With the help of the website weaim to build a network which can result in better linkages of like mindedpeople. In the long term it’s an effective way to carry out advocacy, docollaborative research and form national and international linkages.
It will also help in getting the attentionof government agencies and the scientific community on a whole for moreconservation measures and research on the common bird species and urbanbiodiversity.

House Sparrows and other common birds aredeclining across the Globe

This 20th March 2010, thousands of people around the world will be takingpart in World House Sparrow Day (WHSD) events to draw attention to the declineof House Sparrows and other common birds.
The central theme for the introductory year of World House Sparrow Day will be - “Help House Sparrows” – which aims to highlight reasons for decline like lackof nesting sites, food, effects of pesticides, microwave pollution and how wecan help them in fighting against these odds.

It’s not only that the House Sparrows are decreasing but also the other common birdsand the decline of Common species like House Sparrow which is a bio-indicatorof the environment is a grim reminder of the polluted environment that we alllive in.

Change in buildingArchitecture

With increasing number of match box typebuilding (buildings which have place for birds to make nest) being made HouseSparrows have little nest building opportunity.

Urban Green Desert

Today the gardens are full of exotic species of plants which have of no ecologicalrole to play and are of no use to the birds and insects. These exotic plantsare a stress of vital resources like water and require large quantities ofchemical fertilizers and pesticides. There is a urgent to need to create moreawareness in this regard and replace these species with native species.

Changing attitude and lifestyles

Changing attitude of people towards birds and biodiversity is one of the most importantreason why conservation of so biodiversity becomes so difficult. People todayare to busy in their day to day life and have little time to think about birds.

Once upon a time people did not mind House Sparrows making nests in their homes andalso regularly feed the birds with food and clean water. But with changing lifestyle House Sparrows are not welcomed and feeding the birds is a practice whichhas been forgotten in modern India.Also traditional feeding grounds of House Sparrow like open grain markets havedeclined.

The modern house wife is busy in her daily sas – bahu serials hence also does notlike to sit and clean grains but prefers buying pre cleaned
and packed grains, pulses and flours.

Mobile Towers and cell phones

The advent of other man made threats like increasing numbers of mobile phone towersand microwave pollution is silent killer of House Sparrows.

For more information on the cause of decline of House Sparrows and what can be doneto help them please visit the below mentioned web-link.

So far little attention is given on the conservation, research and practicalconservation measures for House Sparrows and Common birds. We aim to changethis with the World House Sparrow Day, the conservation of common species offlora and fauna is equally important as threatened species because today’scommon species only become tomorrow’s threatened and endangered species. Thebest example of negligence towards common birds is the case of Indian vultureswhich till a decade ago was one of the most common raptor in the world and istoday on the brink of extinction. We don’t want the same thing to happen toHouse Sparrows or any common bird or flora and fauna for that matter.

For more information in regard to the decline ofHouse Sparrows and how you can help please visit www.natureforever.org

Sze

謝謝分享啊! 這個實在是很有意義的活動及組織!
常見雀鳥,如:麻雀及燕子,雖然是很多人眼中不屑一顧的cheap雀!
但任何生物(包括:任何動植物)也有其生存價值,
而且常見雀鳥更是有效的生態環境健康指標!
所以雖然牠們沒有瀕危動物般稀有,但也不要忽略牠們啊!

Sze

Heroes of the Environment 2008
A special report on the eco-pioneers fighting for a cleaner, greener future

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1841778_1841782_1841791,00.html

[ Last edited by Sze at 3/03/2010 01:08 ]

wmartin

Ecosysfun - a co-organiser - was founded by Christian Pilard, who lives in Sai Kung. He's very much driving force, main man; works in a few places around world.

I've told him we don't have house sparrows in Far East; but a key aim is helping common birds, which aren't always common any more.

Christian won't be in HK on sparrow day; but perhaps can arrange something in HK for future days.