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Dusky Starfrontlet is an AZE species that is being protected in a reserve created by ABC and it's Colombian partner ProAves. Photo: © Fundación ProAves

(Washington, D.C., April 29, 2010) An article published today in the journal Science cites continued losses of biological diversity worldwide, despite targets set for 2010 by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) intended to stop or at least slow such losses. The publication of the article comes as delegates from 192 nations prepare to convene in Kenya on May 10-21 to discuss progress. The United States will attend the meeting despite having failed to ratify the 2002 Convention.

“The Science article highlights the need for far greater global cooperation in the race to stop the extinction crisis in its tracks,” said Benjamin Skolnik, a Conservation Projects Specialist with American Bird Conservancy, and one of the authors of the study. “One key to furthering that cooperation is the Alliance for Zero Extinction or AZE.”

American Bird Conservancy is a leading partner of the Alliance, a global initiative involving 67 conservation groups working together to save the most at-risk species on the planet. In 2005, AZE members identified 794 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and conifers on the brink of extinction at 595 sites – the rarest of the rare. Since then, American Bird Conservancy and its international partners have created a network of 36 bird reserves that protect 32 of these AZE species as well as many other rare and declining endemic and migratory bird species.

“The Latin American Bird Reserve Network clearly demonstrates what can be achieved with international collaboration, the necessary resources, and the focused energy targeted by means of a clear set of priorities,” said Skolnik. “Governments can play a greater role in achieving future successes by forming their own, national, zero-extinction alliances, and we are greatly encouraged by recent developments in that direction.”

Already, with American Bird Conservancy assistance, several nations have established national AZE alliances, including the high-biodiversity countries of Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil.

The data compiled for the Science article also shows that the area now under protection for all AZE Sites has increased to 42%, and that waterbird populations in North America and Europe have increased by 44 percent since 1980 owing to wetland protection and sustainable management. And since 1988, thirty three birds have been downlisted to lower categories of extinction risk owing to successful conservation action; at least 16 bird species extinctions have been prevented.

Encouragingly, a new CBD draft strategy document released prior to the Kenya Convention meeting directly utilizes AZE sites and species as a means to measure success in saving biodiversity country by country. This indicates a change in course towards more specific, measurable goals, such as the target to halt species extinctions, rather than the previous, vaguer goal of “reducing biodiversity loss.”

“A key problem is that reducing ‘biodiversity loss' depends entirely on how you define that term. Every new subdivision represents a loss of biodiversity at some level. What we need to focus on is not losing the biodiversity that is unique and irreplaceable, and the best way to do that is to focus on preventing species extinctions,” said Mike Parr, Chair of the AZE Steering Committee.

AZE will hold a special event in Kenya to showcase the signing of an MOU with the CBD Secretariat to help promote the work arising from the meeting.

American Bird Conservancy conserves native birds and their habitats throughout the Americas by safeguarding the rarest species, conserving and restoring habitats, and reducing threats while building capacity of the bird conservation movement. ABC is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit membership organization that is consistently awarded a top, four-star rating by the independent group, Charity Navigator.

For more information on the Alliance for Zero Extinction, see: www.zeroextinction.org

For more information on the Latin American Bird Reserve Network, see: www.conservationbirding.org