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  UNEP website 20 Nov 05
Avian Flu Early Warning System Given Green Light

PlanetArk 21 Nov 05
INTERVIEW - UN to Set Up Bird Flu Early Warning System baed on migratory birds
Story by Nita Bhalla

NAIROBI - The United Nations is to set up a bird flu early warning system to alert countries of incoming migratory birds which could be carrying the deadly virus, a UN official said on Friday.

The system, which will take one to two years to become operational, will provide precise details of the types of wild birds, arrival times and destinations -- giving countries enough time to prepare.

"Migrations don't all occur on the same day or even at the same time as they are sometimes affected by either local or seasonal variations in climate," said Robert Hepworth, a UN official who heads the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS). "So we would need to have a system whereby there was sufficient warning."

World leaders are trying to control a growing outbreak of the HSN1 avian influenza, which has spread to poultry in several Asian and European countries, killing 67 people since late 2003.

In a Reuters interview, Hepworth said scientists, governments and experts across the world had information about migratory birds, but it was inaccessible and not shared.

He said all the information would be collected and centralised in a global computerised system which would constantly update and monitor bird migration patterns, warning countries of any potential threat.

"I think what you'll get is a system whereby there are several stages of alert and warning where we'll be able to provide generic information about particular species which will be arriving at this particular time and may be carrying the virus," Hepworth said. "We would like to be able to give countries as much warning as possible -- it could be weeks, it could be months."

The system is being set up by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and CMS, a treaty concluded under the aegis of UNEP. The project will gather a team of experts to collect information, maps and charts from national governments, conservation and wildlife bodies.

Hepworth said the main beneficiaries of the system would be developing countries, many of which do not have enough resources to take countrywide preventative action. "The problem we have in Africa and other developing countries is that the kind of measures that may be appropriate in Europe such as locking up poultry and separating them from wild birds are not practical in these countries," he said.

"The early warning system will actually pinpoint where the higher risk areas might be, so developing country officials can target those specific areas," he said, adding this would be more cost-effective a more general countrywide approach.

The cost of setting up the bird flu early warning system is expected range between $200,000-$300,000, which UNEP and CMS officials say is a small amount compared to the budgets being spent on containing the virus.

They add the challenge is not in the financial resources required but in the commitment from stakeholders to devote the time and energy in providing the required information.

UNEP website 20 Nov 05
Avian Flu Early Warning System Given Green Light

Conference of the Convention on Migratory Species
Nairobi, Kenya, 21 to 25 November 2005

Nairobi/Bonn: An avian flu early warning system, able to alert countries and communities to the arrival of potentially infected wild birds, is to be developed by an alliance of organizations led by the United Nations.

The system will be designed to alert authorities on different continents that migratory water birds are on their way.

Special maps are to be developed for individual countries pin pointing the precise locations such as lakes, marshes and other wetland areas where the birds are likely to go.

Armed with such information, local health and environment bodies on continents like Africa, Asia and in Latin Americawill be better able to prioritize their planning and response.

This may include the issuance of advice to vulnerable groups in potential "hot spot" areas. Advice may include recommending that farmers move poultry away from key wetlands so as to minimize cross transmission with migratory birds up to hygiene advice to licensed hunters on handling harvested birds.

The warning system, details of which were announced at an international wildlife conference taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, is to be developed by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) with support and funding from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Experts from other leading organizations such as Wetlands International, Birdlife International and the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation are also expected to be part of the scheme.

Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director of UNEP which is hosting the meeting, said: "Precise information on the places where migratory birds go including their resting sites and finally destinations is currently scattered across a myriad of organizations, bodies and groups. It is absolutely vital that this is brought together in a way that is useful to those dealing with the threat of this pandemicbacked up by high quality, precision, mapping".

"There are also important gaps in our scientific knowledge about 'fly ways' and migratory routes for some species. We need to urgently bridge that gap too. In doing so I believe this initiative can make a valuable contribution to the world-wide effort to deal with this threatened pandemic," he added.

Robert Hepworth, Executive Secretary of CMS, said: "We will, with UNEP and other partners, be treating the development of this early warning system as a matter of priority. To fully realize it may take two years. But we know that it is needed and we know that the issue of avian flu and similar infections is likely to be a long term one. So such a system should be useful not only over the short but over the long term too. We hope it will be particularly useful in developing countries which are under particular pressure to make the best use of limited resources."

He said the UNEP-CMS initiative would also be holding talks with other bodies who have expressed interest in the need for such a system, including the European Commission, so as to dovetail efforts and avoid duplication.

The exact workings of the system have yet to be ironed out. However, the timing of migrations can vary from year to year and from season to season depending on numerous factors including weather and climatic conditions.

An efficient early warning system will have to feed in observations from sites throughout the world on when water birds are starting their migration and relay this onto countries likely to receive these populations.

News of the system comes as hundreds of delegates have gathered in Nairobi for the eighth conference to the parties to the CMS including the UK environment minister Jim Knight.

Other issues at the conference, which runs until 25 November, include plans for a new agreement among 13 countries to conserve the West African elephant; a new report on threats to dolphins, porpoises and other small cetaceans and studies assessing the conservation status of African and Eurasian birds of prey.

The first ever award of a new Euro 10,000 prize for a Doctoral thesis on migratory species is being made to an American scientist, Dr Zeb Hogan, for his work on the critically threatened giant Mekong catfish: the world's largest freshwater fish.

Two special sessions also took place over the weekend on relationships between climate change, animal diseases and migratory species.

On Sunday delegates attended an informal event to hear presentations on migratory species from many of the CMS convention's partners including the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, the World Wide Fund for Nature and IUCN: The World Conservation Union.

Migratory species, creatures that travel across frontiers and territorial waters, face an increasing range of existing and emerging threats to their survival including poaching, habitat loss and pollution up to climate change andanimal diseases.

The conference will consider several species for new protection measures and conservation listings including three species of African bats, the basking shark and gorillas.
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