Posted by: travadmin on May 08, 2003 – 06:06 PM
ecotourism By Tesia Rolle of the Nassau Guardian
Bird-brained. It may not be nice, but it is an apt term for the nine-member board of the Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds.
Eric Carey, President of SCSCB, was joined this past weekend by the eight other members of the Board of Directors, hailing from across the region, for a three-day priority-setting marathon.
The meeting coincided with the 2nd annual Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival…
The month long regional festival began on Earth Day, April 22 and will end on International Biodiversity Day, May 22, with each participating island holding different activities.
The festival was launched to highlight the fact that Caribbean islands are now recognized as one of the top three areas on the planet for biodiversity conservation.
“Conservation International has identified the 25 richest places on the planet for biodiversity, and the Caribbean is actually ranked third on the list,” said Leo Douglas, vice president of SCSCB.
There are only 2 other places on the planet more important for birds and plants, Mesoamerica and the Andes Mountains.”
Douglas, who hails from Jamaica, studied the relationship between bird populations and nesting sites and came up with some hard ammunition for conservation efforts.
In his studies, Douglas determined that while the number of birds in rural-residential areas and forest areas are relatively the same, the kinds of birds are different. He found that migratory birds, birds that winter in the Caribbean, are dominant in residential areas, while endemic birds, those who breed and reside year long in the Caribbean, are dominant in natural forests. These findings imply that if you remove the natural forests, you are removing the habitat for endemic species.
Using The Bahamas as an example, this means that if we destroy our natural forests, the only three bird species in the world that can call themselves Bahamian, the Bahama Swallow, the Bahama Yellowtail and the Bahama Woodstar, would die. This has already happened with Brace’s Hummingbird, the only other Bahamian hummingbird next to the Bahamas Woodstar. It has not been seen for over one hundred years and is now feared extinct.
“Statistics show that in the Caribbean, about 11% of the natural vegetation is left,” said Douglas. His lyrical Jamaican accent did little to dampen the harsh realities of his statement. “That means that 89% of what was there when Columbus came has been cut down.”
It’s not really seen as important in the region and one of the main reasons why is that it is not known to be something that is unique.”
Douglas referred to the well-known link between reggae and Jamaica. “I tell people Reggae has come about in the last 50 to 60 years, but these birds have been here for thousands, maybe even millions of years.” He emphasized the need to recognize species of birds as real Caribbean things.
Carolyn Wardle, coordinator of The Bahamas National Trust’s Ornithology group, concurs that habitat loss is the greatest threat to birds.