January 13, 2009 - New Secretariat arrangements and call for Chair nominations for EAA Flyway Partnership
The Chairman of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership, on behalf of the Partners, accepted a generous offer by the Republic of Korea to take over the hosting of the Partnership Secretariat from the interim Secretariat in Australia.
In order to effect a smooth transition of the Secretariat from Australia to the Republic of Korea a memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is to be developed by the Partnership Management Committee, and endorsed by all Partners by about mid March 2009. This is to enable the Republic of Korea sufficient time to appoint an executive Secretary and other necessary staff prior to 1 July 2009, the proposed date at which the new Secretariat will be fully effective.
The current Chairman, in his letter, called nominations for a new Chair and Vice Chair of the Partnership in line with an agreement at the third Meeting of Partners in November 2008. Nominations should be sent to Vicki Cronan (vicki.cronan@environment.gov.au) by 13 February, so that the new Chairs can be preferably appointed by the time the Secretariat MOU is agreed.
December 25, 2008 - Asian Waterbird Census update
The AWC is one of the longest datasets of waterbird counts in the world, initiated in the Indian sub-continent in 1987 within the framework of the International Waterbird Census. With the decline in so many of our migratory and threatened species, nowhere more severe than the Asia Pacific region, a reinvigoration of the AWC is perhaps due. With the appointment of a new AWC Coordinator, Bharat Jethva, a new landmark may have been reached pointing the AWC in the right direction to take on the challenge. However this challenge will not be met without the involvement of more shorebird and waterbird enthusiasts and specialists from throughout the region. The latest AWC Newsletter can be read on their web page at…
www.wetlands.org/Portals/0/publications/Newsletter/AWC_Newsletter_No_16.pdf
Asian Waterbird Development Strategy 2007-2015 can be downloaded at:
www.wetlands.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=lqXBjwKzBJc%3d&tabid=1071&mid=3084
Status of Coastal Waterbirds in South East Asia:
www.wetlands.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=pfZvNPMxDUA%3d&tabid=1071&mid=3084
December 26, 2008 - Ongoing threats to Japan’s coastal wetlands
Long after the loss of Tokyo Bay, when the opinions of everday Japanese didn’t matter, the fight to save coastal wetlands in Japan has been waged for many years with some victories like Fijimae bay (saved from becoming a rubbish tip) and some losses such as Isahaya Bay in Kyushu (an environmental disaster that never reached the goals of its engineering proponents). This might be surprising considering the small size of Japan and the importance of any remaining coastal wetlands for waterbird habitats and for the traditional fishing and mariculture of the country. Not surprisingly, engineers are meeting the challenge to find uses of what in their eyes are still wastelands.
The focus is currently on Awase Bay in Okinawa. Although the Naha District Court issued an injunction to stop Okinawa Prefecture and the City from appropriating public funds for the reclamation project in the Awase tidal flat, both the Governor and Mayor filed an appeal against it.
November 3, 2008 - Ramsar Resolution on collaboration for migratory waterbirds conservation in all flyways
Delegates at the Ramsar Convention agreed in a resolution passed today to recognise the importance of promoting international cooperation for the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitats in all flyways, this is particularly important in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. more »
October 30, 2008 - Ramsar report warns of shorebird extinctions
The results of three years survey work clearly show that there have been massive falls in shorebird numbers at Saemangeum as a result of the world’s largest reclamation project. Saemangeum used to support the largest-known congregations of Critically Endangered Spoon-billed Sandpiper Eurynorhynchus pygmeus and Endangered Spotted Greenshank Tringa guttifer, and its destruction could be a major factor in driving these birds towards extinction. more ». more
August 29, 2008 - Surprise findings from Bar-tailed Godwit satellite tracking
Recent work involving the satellite tracking of Bar-tailed Godwits from Australia to their breeding grounds in Siberia have confirmed results of work by workers in the East Asian Australian Flyway that Australian Bar-tailed Godwits breed in eastern Siberia while New Zealand birds breed in Alaska. more
July 30, 2008 - Bird Banding Position Vacancy
WCS Global Health Programs is seeking a qualified bird ringer (bander) to assist with wild bird capture and sample collection as part of emerging disease (such as avian influenza) surveillance in Asia. more
May 30, 2008 - New Global Flyway Network
A new global flyway network (GFN) has been formed for scientists devoted to long-term studies of migratory shorebirds. more
May 11, 2008 - Spoon-billed Sandpiper Recovery Team update
A Spoon-billed Sandpiper Recovery Team raise hopes for this endangered species but also identify hunting as a major threat in Russia. more
May 11, 2008 - "Grand Canal" project threat in Korea
The South Korean Government plans another massive infrastructure which threatens Upo Wetlands and Threatened bird species. more
May 11, 2008 - First male satellite-tagged godwit arrived in Alaska on World Migratory Birds Day
This year's satellite tracking program between New Zealand and Alaska is well underway via the Yellow Sea. more
May 11, 2008 - AWSG Launches new website for World Migratory Birds Day
The Australasian Wader Studies Group has recently updated and moved its website, which is launched to commemorate today, World Migratory Birds Day. more
April 7, 2008 - Australian Satellite-tagged Bar-tailed Godwits join New Zealand birds on migration
Today the first satellite transmission was received from a satellite-tagged Bar-tailed Godwit en route for the Yellow Sea from north Western Australia. H3 (a female) is now well on her way flying past the western side of Sulawesi and should be joining New Zealand satellite-tagged birds already in the Yellow Sea in the next few days. more
April 7, 2008 - World's oldest Bar-tailed Godwit
A Bar-tailed Godwit caught at Broome, north Western Australia, in November 2007 caused some excitement for the banding team when one of the birds had an old metal band on its leg which, when banding records were consulted, turned out to be more the 27 years old. The bird was first banded on the very first expedition to Broome by the Australasian Wader Studies Group in September 1981. This is six years older than any previous record for this species.
March 4, 2008 - New discoveries about non-breeding grounds of Spoon-billed Sandpiper
In January members of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Recovery Team, working in two groups, discovered major non-breeding grounds of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper in the state of Arakan in the Bay of Bengal and Martaban Bay, near the border of Thailand. more