Could we soon be living in a world with empty skies and silent springs? Nearly half of the bird species on the planet are in decline. For years, researchers and amateur scientists have been sounding the alarm on the disappearance of large swathes of bird populations worldwide — most of which has been the result of human-led habitat destruction and climate change. Beyond the aesthetic and sentimental gloominess of a world with fewer and less diverse bird species in our skies, shrinking avian populations also pose serious challenges to the healthy functioning of natural ecosystems and our urban lives.

Bird populations have been rapidly plummeting for years now: Since 1970, 29% of bird populations (or some 2.9 bn birds) in North America have been destroyed. In Europe, populations have shrunk by some 19% (or 600 mn birds) and even species that were once abundant — like the common swift, common snipe and rook — are hurtling towards extinction. These declines are most significant in rural areas in Europe, where 57% of bird populations have disappeared. While some species have actually seen their numbers recover in recent years, the broader picture is still dire: About 1 in 8 bird species face extinction worldwide.

Unsurprisingly, human activity is to blame: Modern agriculture and development has meant less natural space is available for birds and other species to safely live and hunt. Development overtaking wetlands — where many species of birds are best suited to thrive — is a significant phenomenon, but is only part of the problem. The use of pesticides in modern agriculture — which makes it more difficult for birds to put on weight ahead of their annual migration — and collisions with communications towers, power lines, and glass buildings are also driving up bird fatalities every year. There’s of course also hunting, which can near instantaneously decimate bird populations, and climate change-driven extreme weather events like more frequent droughts, heatwaves, and floods that undermine their ability to find food.

Here in Egypt, migratory birds are often faced with some of the deadliest challenges: In Egypt, tradition and lax enforcement of environmental regulations has led to the overexploitation of migratory birds and sent populations plummeting over the past decade. Hunters have long set up nets along our Mediterranean coasts to catch tired and weary birds like the Common Quail, House Sparrow, Warbler and Golden Oriole migrating south from Europe. Bird catching was, for most of our history, an activity that was primarily geared towards sustenance, which meant that its impact on global populations remained fairly limited.

From sustenance to industry: In recent years, the sale and export of migratory birds has provided hunters living in coastal areas additional income streams and further incentive to scale up their operations. How handsomely hunters are compensated for the birds they catch varies widely. A pair of quail birds sells for about EGP 70, while rare and more in-demand species like the Peregrine falcon could go for as much as USD 10k.

This is taking place at an increasingly large scale: Previous reports have suggested that nets intended to catch migratory birds line some 700 km of our coastline during the fall and have been estimated to catch at least 140 mn birds a year according to one biologist’s estimate. These figures do not include the many other means of bird hunting in Egypt that utilize rifles, traps and tree nets — which are in many instances violations of our existing environmental regulations.

Without them our food and ecosystems suffer. Birds help control pests, they pollinate flowers, spread seeds and regenerate forests — and natural habitats absent of birds often start to decline. Seabirds help cycle nutrients between land and sea and contribute to the health of our coral reefs. Insectivorous birds eat about 400-500 mn tons of insects every year and help keep their populations from exploding. Without birds, we could see a 46% decline in fruit and seed production worldwide, according to one study.

Expanding conservation efforts is crucial to keeping our bird populations intact: From a global perspective, expanding protected areas, where hunting and development remains prohibited and working on restoring wetlands locations that have become damaged are widely accepted as a crucial first step. Additionally, restricting chemical use in agriculture and redesigning buildings to reduce the likelihood that birds collide with glass windows is also important. Some conservationists also argue that restricting cats -– which often prey on birds — from roaming outdoors could also help.

Many of these solutions have worked before, but they are costly: Between 1993 and 2020 some 48 species of birds and mammals were successfully brought back from the brink of extinction thanks to the efforts of conservationists that have mobilized political campaigns and financial donations necessary to protect vulnerable species. Without some of these efforts — which includes USD bns in spending — extinctions may have been three to four times greater.

Domestic conservation efforts here are limited for exactly this reason: Despite previous efforts by the Environment Ministry and environmental groups in Egypt to protect migratory birds, limited resources, financing restrictions and weak enforcement have muted conservation efforts. Organizations like Nature Conservation Egypt (NCE) and BirdLife international have put out several specific recommendations for how to keep populations from collapsing but hunting in Egypt has been hard to get a good handle over, mainly because of how lucrative hunting is in the absence of alternative sources of income. But still, initiatives like the Environment Ministry’s Migratory Soaring Birds Project persist.

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