May 9: World Migratory Bird Day

Every year, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) marks the World Migratory Day on May 9. It is an annual campaign that creates awareness about the need to conserve migratory birds and their habitats. This year the day is being celebrated under the theme

Theme: Birds Connect our World

The theme mainly focuses on ecological connectivity and integrity of ecosystem. The theme also focuses on the tracking technologies that are used to explore the routes of migratory birds in the world.

Highlights

• The World Migratory Day was first introduced in 2006 at the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild animals.

Significance of the theme

• Connectivity has become essential for migratory species. 
• This is because, currently 1 million species are facing risks of extinction due to loss of connectivity. 
• Migratory birds connect different countries and cooperation among them is essential to conserve these species.
• When the birds migrate, they rely upon certain habitats along their pathways. 
• In some countries, the pathways are lost due to lack of conservation steps, urbanization, pollution, global warming, etc.
• Thus, year the theme focuses on these connectivity areas.

Key Issues

• On the World Migratory Bird Day, the UNEP identifies the following as the key issues. 
• The man-made structures pose great threats to more than 350 species of migratory birds, especially at night. 
• The structures that are made of reflective materials such as glass cause death of several migratory birds.
• Apart from the buildings, the wind turbines also pose great threat to these birds.