'Doomed' bird species back from the brink

The Mauritius parakeet

The first global audit of threatened species has revealed that 16 species of bird that were on the brink of extinction in the mid-1990s have been saved by determined conservation efforts.

In a stunning illustration of what can be achieved when concerted action is taken by governments and environmental groups, some of the most beautiful and rare types of birdlife have even seen their numbers increase tenfold in a decade.

The majority of the bird species, ranging from the Norfolk Island green parrot to the Mauritius parakeet, had populations of less than 100 in 1994.

Most were tipped for imminent extinction.

Yet conservationists said the findings showed that, with international co-operation and adequate funding, they halt and even reverse a worldwide decline in bird types.

But they also warned that governments around the world are still doing too little to save millions of birds from being lost for ever.

Dr Stuart Butchart, author of the report and an expert with the British-based group BirdLife International, said: "These successes show that preventing extinctions is possible, given political will and concerted action.

"We need to scale up our efforts considerably to prevent wholesale biodiversity loss and many more extinctions in the coming decades."

In his study, published in the journal Oryx, Dr Butchart looked at 27 species of bird that were classed as Critically Endangered - the highest level of extinction threat - in 1994.

The birds were being targeted with conservation efforts in the few places where they were still found.

Dr Butchart looked at the threats facing the birds and, using population modelling, estimated that without the conservation projects, 16 of the 27 species would have become extinct by 2004.

Instead, the population decline had been reversed, and in some cases numbers are now flourishing.

In 1994 the Norfolk Island green parrot had declined to a point where there were just four breeding females and as few as 28 males.

The birds were being threatened by loss of their natural habitat to human building, as well as falling prey to rats, feral cats and disease.

Conservationists began a scheme to protect the birds' nests and control predators, and by 2004 their numbers had grown to at least 300, the study found.

The California condor, which numbered just nine birds in 1994 and was classed as "certain" to become extinct, now has a population of 128, including 44 adults.

The birds had been dying from eating carcasses of animals killed with lead shot as well as from colliding with power lines in their natural habitat of the California deserts.

Protection projects, a breeding programme and a ban on hunting in their habitats helped to save the birds, the researchers said.

Other species such as the northern bald ibis in Morocco, the Bali starling and the Lear's macaw in Brazil, have also been saved from extinction by conservation programmes.

Ana Rodrigues, a conservation scientist at Cambridge University, published a commentary on the study in the journal Science.

She said: "The main thing is we are making a significant impact. Usually we only see the bad picture, which makes us feel that what we are doing is useless."

Pressure from conservationists on international governments means that more than £3bn a year is now being spent on managing areas where there are protected species of birds.

But experts warned that far more needs to be done to protect biodiversity across the world from the threats of human development, hunting and habitat loss.

The 16 species in the study represent just 1.3 per cent of all those threatened with extinction.

Almost half - 45 per cent - of all species under threat have suffered a decline since 1994.

Last month, a study by Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences concluded that without the impact of human exploration and activity, a natural rate of extinction would be around one species of bird a century.

Instead, one species a year is being lost.

If current trends continue, more than 1,200 differenttypes of bird could become extinct during the course of the 21st century.

- INDEPENDENT