By Barbara Nwaiwu
BirdLife International says 45% of migratory bird species are in decline, while one in nine is threatened with extinction, according to its State of the World’s Birds report launched on Friday in Nairobi, Kenya.
The report was launched at the Global Flyways Summit, co-hosted by Nature Kenya, where governments, scientists, conservation organisations and financial institutions also signed the Nairobi Flyways Declaration to strengthen international cooperation in protecting migratory birds and their habitats.
Published every four years, the latest edition is the first to focus specifically on migratory birds and the flyways they depend on. It found that invasive species, agricultural intensification, climate change and unsustainable hunting are among the major human-driven pressures contributing to their decline.
The report said the 2025 extinction of the slender-billed curlew marked the first global bird extinction in mainland Eurasia and Africa in recent centuries, while six other migratory species have been confirmed or suspected to have been lost over the past 150 years.
It said species dependent on marine habitats, forests and coastal wetlands were faring particularly poorly, with seabirds and shorebirds among the most threatened groups.
Despite the declines, the report highlighted evidence that coordinated conservation action across entire migration routes can help populations recover. It cited multi-country action for the Egyptian Vulture as an example where conservation efforts halted the decline of the Balkan breeding population.
“Migratory birds are sentinels, and their declines reveal growing pressure on the natural systems that sustain us. But the science is equally clear: conservation works, with co-ordinated action preventing extinctions and helping populations recover. The solutions exist: what is needed now is their implementation at flyway scale,” said Dr Stuart Butchart, Chief Scientist, BirdLife International, and senior editor of the report.
The summit also saw the signing of the Nairobi Flyways Declaration, which recognises that migratory birds move across borders and depend on interconnected habitats throughout their migration routes, requiring coordinated action by countries and other stakeholders.
The declaration was accompanied by more than $6 billion in conservation finance being mobilised by development banks since 2021. The Asian Development Bank is mobilising $3 billion over the next decade to protect at least 50 priority wetlands across the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, while the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean is mobilising $3 billion to $5 billion through 2050 to safeguard more than 30 landscapes and seascapes.
The World Bank and BirdLife are also mobilising several billion dollars across Africa, Europe and Asia along flyways used by more than two billion migratory birds. In June 2026, the Global Environment Facility approved the Global Flyways Grant Mechanism, providing $8.97 million in direct grants and $107 million in co-financing for conservation and restoration across nine million hectares of wetlands.
Princess Takamado, Honorary President of BirdLife International, said the declaration demonstrated the importance of international cooperation in protecting birds whose migration crosses national and continental boundaries.
“Migratory birds do not recognise borders. They connect Asia to Africa, the Arctic to the tropics. The Nairobi Flyways Declaration acknowledges this reality – that it needs international cooperation and coordination to keep migratory birds safe. I am excited and proud to see that the scientific community, conservation organisations and the financial sector are uniting to make this happen. At last!! We stand at an important turning point. We have been waiting for this moment for a long time,” she said.
Martin Harper, Chief Executive of BirdLife International, described the declaration as a turning point and called for governments, businesses and civil society to contribute to efforts to reverse the decline of migratory birds.
“The State of the World’s Birds report is unambiguous: we are losing migratory birds at an alarming rate. But today’s Nairobi Declaration signals a turning point. We need everyone to step up and play their part. That means governments, business and civil society. Development banks are rising to the challenge.”
“The BirdLife Partnership is prepared to act. We now need others to step up to reverse the declines and save the wonder of migration,” Harper said.
