Here’s how we do it.
Our Conservation Framework
Though the wonder of birds inspires us, we pursue our mission with practicality, recognizing our responsibility to reduce and reverse the damage done to birdlife, bird habitats, and human communities. Science guides our work, pointing the way to the species and habitats most in need — and the best ways to achieve lasting results. Partnerships are foundational to our work — we work with the individuals, groups, and communities who understand what solutions will be most effective where they live. Our unstoppable drive for bird conservation results, even when it’s difficult, is the essential element that motivates our organization to act creatively and with courage. We aim to achieve the greatest scale and scope of positive impact possible for birds and their habitats.
We stay focused on four key outcomes that form our Strategic Bird Conservation Framework:
- Preventing bird extinctions.
- Reversing bird population declines.
- Reducing threats to all birds.
- Building the bird conservation movement.
This framework is a simple and effective touchstone that enables us to achieve conservation results for birds, year after year.
How ABC Prevents Bird Extinctions
Every acre matters for globally threatened birds, which often have small, restricted ranges and dwindling habitat, like Hawaiʻi’s imperiled honeycreepers and Brazil’s Cherry-throated Tanager. At ABC, preventing extinction often begins with supporting protection of remaining habitat in reserves. Local nonprofits, communities, Indigenous people, and governments at all levels play a role in this important work, and we are proud to partner with them to help formally establish land protection and ensure that reserves are sustainably managed. Sometimes protected areas alone are not enough to prevent bird extinctions; habitat restoration, including invasive species control, is often critical.
We study which bird species across the Americas are most in need of protected habitat and take action to create reserves for those species. We are creating refuges free from non-native predators where highly threatened birds can thrive, even moving birds into these refuges when needed to create new colonies. We’re working to curb the impacts of climate change by protecting natural habitats, including forests and grasslands, and planting trees; taking legal action when necessary to protect endangered birds from preventable threats; and building on the idea of kinship to increase the visibility and conservation of seabirds, our long-time companions on oceans throughout the world.
How ABC Reverses Bird Population Declines
We need to work across vast landscapes to reverse the massive decline of migratory birds. Our BirdScapes approach allows ABC and our partners to work on the scale birds and their habitats need, in places from their breeding grounds to their nonbreeding grounds and at key stopovers in between.
To achieve this, we work closely with the Migratory Bird Joint Ventures (JVs) and their partners, engaging hundreds of groups in the urgent work to reverse bird declines — before species become endangered. This work requires effectively engaging people and ensuring that we meet their needs so that we can collectively meet the needs of birds. To create optimal bird habitat, we research, develop, and disseminate best practices that help foresters, land owners, farmers, cattle ranchers, and many others manage land in ways that benefit birds. We learn from Indigenous groups and local people who have been managing land sustainably for millennia. And thanks to the effective application of technology, we track and study the needs of priority bird species as well as the effectiveness of our conservation efforts.
How ABC Reduces Threats to All Birds
While habitat and species conservation are critical, they alone are insufficient to restore all bird populations. ABC makes bird habitats safer by working to reduce the impact of major human-caused threats.
We’re engaging architects, glass manufacturers, and building owners around the world in bird-friendly solutions to reduce bird collisions with glass, and working to advance the adoption of bird-friendly building guidelines. We’re working to address the impacts of invasive species and building support for responsible cat management across the U.S. to reduce bird predation by cats. We’re advocating for restrictions on or cancellation of pesticides that are toxic to birds and which often sicken other wildlife and people, especially farmers and others who work most closely with the land. We work to ensure that renewable energy — essential in the fight against climate change — considers and works to minimize negative impacts on birds and local communities. And we’re pushing for legislation at the national and state levels that supports birds, people, and the planet.
How ABC Is Building the Bird Conservation Movement
We need to work together to address the interconnected crises facing birds. We need more people, more funding, and more awareness of the threats and potential solutions. Underlying all that we do to conserve birds and their habitats lies our commitment to the people and partnerships that make bird conservation possible. By building the bird conservation movement, and helping to make it as inclusive as possible, we inspire more people to take action for birds.
Through Together for Birds, we support and celebrate the bird conservation community across the Americas and beyond.
