More than half of Earth’s migratory bird species are declining — here’s how we can still save them
A global assessment finds that more than half of the world's 3,380 migratory bird species are in decline, driven by habitat loss, invasive species, hunting, the pet trade, pesticide use, building collisions, and entanglement in commercial fishing nets.
Species highlighted as illustrative of the crisis include the Bobolink (North American grasslands to South American Pampas), the Newell's shearwater (Pacific Ocean routes to Hawaiian breeding grounds), and the spoon-billed sandpiper (Arctic Russia to Southeast Asian tidal mudflats).
Conservation groups are promoting "full annual-cycle conservation" — protecting breeding grounds, non-breeding habitats, and migration stopover sites together, rather than any single season in isolation.
A coordination initiative called Road to Recovery operates more than 50 international working groups developing species-specific conservation strategies, supported by new tracking tools such as miniature GPS tags, genetic analysis, automated radio telemetry, and citizen-science platforms like eBird.
Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS / Bonn Convention, 1979)
The CMS, also called the Bonn Convention, is the only global treaty dedicated specifically to the conservation of migratory species across their entire range — breeding grounds, migratory corridors, and wintering areas. It was signed in 1979 in Bonn and entered into force in 1983. It operationalises the same principle underlying "full annual-cycle conservation": that protecting a species in only one country or one season is inadequate when its survival depends on habitats spread across many jurisdictions.
Key Details
- India has been a party to the CMS since 1983.
- CMS Appendix I lists endangered migratory species (strict protection, range states must endeavour to conserve habitat and mitigate obstacles to migration); Appendix II lists species with unfavourable conservation status that benefit from international cooperation agreements.
- India hosted the 13th Conference of the Parties (CMS COP13) in Gandhinagar in February 2020 — the first time India hosted a CMS COP — where it committed to a Central Asian Flyway (CAF) institutional framework.
- The Central Asian Flyway spans about 30 countries across North, Central, and South Asia and the Trans-Caucasus, linking the Arctic and Indian Oceans; unlike other major flyways, it does not yet have a formal international CMS instrument (Action Plan/Agreement) in the same binding form as the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement.
The article's central conservation prescription — full annual-cycle, cross-border protection — is precisely the institutional logic the CMS was built to deliver internationally, and India's Central Asian Flyway commitments (made at CMS COP13) are its regional application.
Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Migratory Species in India
Domestically, migratory birds found in India are protected under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which assigns species to Schedules with varying degrees of protection irrespective of whether the species is a resident or migrant. Species facing the highest extinction risk (such as several migratory shorebirds) can be placed in Schedule I, attracting the strictest penalties for hunting or habitat destruction.
Key Details
- The Act does not distinguish migratory from resident species for protection purposes — protection is species/schedule-based, not migration-status-based.
- India additionally released a National Action Plan for Conservation of Migratory Birds along the Central Asian Flyway (2018-2023), the country-level administrative counterpart to its CMS commitments.
- Ramsar-designated wetlands (India has over 80, one of the largest networks in Asia) serve as key stopover and wintering habitats for CAF migratory birds.
The habitat-loss and hunting pressures described in the article are the same threat categories the 1972 Act and India's CAF national action plan are designed to address for migratory shorebirds and waterfowl using Indian wetlands.
IUCN Red List — Threat Categories for Migratory Species
The IUCN Red List classifies extinction risk into categories — Least Concern, Near Threatened, Vulnerable, Endangered, Critically Endangered, Extinct in the Wild, and Extinct — based on population trend, range size, and fragmentation. Migratory species are especially prone to being uplisted (moved to a higher-risk category) because threats accumulate across multiple countries along their route, even if any single country's habitat is well-managed.
Key Details
- The spoon-billed sandpiper, cited in the article, is currently classified Critically Endangered, with a global population of fewer than 500 adult birds; it was uplisted from Endangered due to accelerating declines linked to tidal-flat reclamation (notably in the Yellow Sea) and trapping on wintering grounds.
- IUCN Red List assessments are a key data source for CMS Appendix listing decisions and for national Schedule classifications.
The article's headline statistic (more than half of 3,380 migratory species declining) reflects exactly this cross-border accumulation of threats that IUCN assessments are designed to capture and that CMS-style full annual-cycle conservation is designed to counter.
- Total migratory bird species assessed globally: 3,380; more than half found to be in decline.
- CMS (Bonn Convention) signed: 1979, Bonn; entered into force: 1983; India a party since 1983.
- CMS COP13 held in Gandhinagar, India: February 2020 — India's first time hosting a CMS COP.
- Central Asian Flyway (CAF): spans roughly 30 range countries between the Arctic and Indian Oceans.
- Spoon-billed sandpiper: IUCN status Critically Endangered; global population under 500 adults.
- Road to Recovery coordination initiative: operates 50+ international species-specific working groups.