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  Yahoo News 10 Aug 07
EU rare bird conservation policy works: study
By Michael Kahn

Yahoo News 10 Aug 07
Research reports good environmental news
By Randolphe E. Schmid, AP Science Writer

For a change, there's some good news from the world of the environment. Several rare and vulnerable birds are rebounding in Europe.

Conservation efforts in Peru are reducing damage to the Amazon rain forest. And black-footed ferrets are making a comeback in Wyoming.

The three positive trends are reported Thursday in a series of papers in the journal Science. Researchers led by Paul F. Donald, of Britain's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, report that European Union policies designed to protect vulnerable species and their habitat seem to be working.

In 15 European countries studied, there was a significant increase in population trends for protected birds between 1990 and 2000, compared to 1970-1990, the team found.

They said the protected birds also showed an increase compared to birds not on the list.

Species doing particularly well include the barnacle goose, white stork, spoonbill, little egret Slavonian grebe and white-tailed eagle.

On this side of the Atlantic Ocean, the once endangered black-footed ferret is repopulating its Wyoming homeland, according to researchers led by Martin B. Grenier of the University of Wyoming.

The last seven known ferrets of this type were removed from the wild in 1987 and placed in a captive breeding program. They have produced 4,800 juveniles, many of which were returned to the wild.

At first they continued to suffer losses and extinction seemed likely when they were down to five animals, but by 2003 the wild population had grown to 52 ferrets and researchers estimate the current wild total at more than 200.

And in South America, satellite monitoring indicates that the rate of deforestation is declining in the Peruvian rain forest.

Researchers led by Paulo J. Oliveira of the Carnegie Institution report that while deforestation is continuing, it is occurring mostly in designated logging areas and not in protected regions set aside by the government.

They concluded that the government's program intended to set aside land for indigenous people is also having an effect in protecting the forest.

The European bird research was supported by the European Bird Census Council and the European Union. The ferret study was funded by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Peruvian forest analysis was funded by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Yahoo News 7 Aug 07
EU rare bird conservation policy works: study
By Michael Kahn

A European Union policy of protecting rare birds is working, according to British researchers who said their study shows the benefits of global agreements to save endangered species.

The study is the first to test the impact of one of the 20 international pacts seeking to protect endangered species and their habitats, said Paul Donald, of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, who led the research.

"The premise we started from is the future protection of the planet's biodiversity is going to rest on the success of these international agreements," Donald said in a telephone interview.

"The scale of the problem is well beyond what non-governmental organizations are able to address."

The study, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, measured bird populations in European Union member countries going back 30 years.

A country was considered outside the EU if it was not a member in 1979, when the trading bloc established its bird protection policy that did things like place limits on hunting, protect habitats and provide funding, Donald said.

The researchers tested how about 140 species of birds on a protected list such as ospreys, avocets and a number of water birds fared in comparison with other species within the European Union and similar species in non-member nations.

In both cases, populations of the protected birds increased at a faster pace than non-EU populations, demonstrating the success of the 1979 EU Bird Directive, Donald said.

Because the EU directive did not set specific targets, the researchers used the census to gauge broad changes and improvements in bird populations, he added.

"This is the first time an international conservation agreement has been tested in this way," he said. "We were surprised to find what the data supported."

The study also found that birds fared better the longer they were on the protected list, bolstering evidence that the policy has paid off, Donald said.

The research also suggests that monitoring is crucial and that during the next census researchers would see healthier bird populations in countries that have recently joined the European Union, he said.

"When we collect this data again we would hope to see the same pattern being created in these new member states," Donald said.
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