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        Special Topics 特別主題 >> Wild Birds & Avian Flu 野鳥與禽流感 >>  Misguided focus on migratory birds 不應誤將措施集中在候鳥上
        
(Message started by: HKBWS Project on Dec 14^th, 2005, 12:58pm)

Title: Misguided focus on migratory birds 不應誤將措施集中在候鳥上
Post by HKBWS Project on Dec 14^th, 2005, 12:58pm

BirdLife International:

http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2005/11/flu_cms.html

Misguided focus on migratory birds risks diverting effort from effective control of avian influenza, BirdLife warns

30-11-2005

BirdLife has again stressed that the evidence that migratory birds are spreading H5NI Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is weak at best, and getting weaker as each outbreak is investigated.

BirdLife voiced its concern at the close of the eighth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (“COP8”, November 20-25), during which an “Avian ‘Flu Early Warning system” was announced.

The proposed system would map and monitor the movements of migratory waterbirds, making the information available especially to developing countries. According to a CMS spokesperson, "the exact workings of the system have yet to be ironed out".

BirdLife International agrees that better data, and better integrated data, on bird migrations are badly needed, but primarily for reasons of conservation, not public or veterinary health. BirdLife is concerned that a focus on monitoring wild birds must not distract Governments from taking effective control measures for avian flu. The key steps are to improve bio-security, by keeping wild birds apart from poultry, enhanced monitoring and control of poultry movements and markets, and swift culling of infected flocks. Countries currently free of the disease should consider a ban on imports of domestic poultry and wild birds for the pet trade from affected regions.

Back in October, the CMS’s own newly-convened International Scientific Task Force on Avian Influenza warned against premature assumptions about the role of migratory wild birds. "We are wasting valuable time pointing fingers at wild birds when we should be focusing on dealing with the root causes of this epidemic spread which are clearly to be found in rural poultry practices, the movement of domestic poultry, and farming methods which crowd huge numbers of animals into small areas where they are much more susceptible to disease, and where the physical conditions provide ideal conditions for a virus like H5N1 to spread and mutate," Task Force observer William Karesh, Director of the Field Veterinary Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society, said at the time.

COP8 closed with a call from closer collaboration between scientists, conservationists, veterinarians and public health experts, to investigate questions such as how long the virus can survive in wetland environments –and whether infected birds are capable of migration at all. All infected wildfowl found to date have been dead or dying, and Prof Chris Feare, a consultant to the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) has asserted that "avian flu currently seems to be quickly self limiting in wild populations".

BirdLife and the Convention on Migratory Species
For many years, BirdLife has sent its own delegations, drawn from around the BirdLife Partnership, to the three-yearly Conferences of the Parties (COPs) to the CMS. BirdLife has always regarded the Bonn Convention as a valuable tool for the conservation of birds, which fits very well with BirdLife’s own objectives. BirdLife’s data sets on globally threatened migratory species and Important Bird Areas (IBAs) are a key source of reference.

BirdLife co-operates closely with the Convention, and has sought to take an increasing role in its work. At the global level, BirdLife has obtained seats on the Standing Committee, which runs the business of the Convention between COPs, and the Scientific Council, which advises the Convention on technical matters. Our work in these areas continues to expand, helped by our excellent working relationship with the Secretariat in Bonn.

These notes were taken from an article by John O’Sullivan, International Treaties Adviser with the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK), and is global co-ordinator of BirdLife’s work on the Bonn Convention. The article can be found in full here: