Nairobi Flyways Declaration calls for coordinated conservation efforts across countries and continents as threats to migratory birds intensify.
Nearly half of the world’s migratory bird species are declining in number, while one in nine faces the threat of extinction, according to the latest State of the World’s Birds report released by BirdLife International.
The report, launched on September 11 at the Global Flyways Summit in Nairobi, warns of accelerating losses among migratory birds but also points to evidence that coordinated conservation action across borders can reverse population declines.
According to the report, 45 per cent of migratory bird species are in decline while one in nine is threatened with extinction. The latest edition of the report is the first to focus specifically on migratory birds and the flyways the routes connecting breeding, stopover and wintering grounds on which they depend.
The State of the World’s Birds is published every four years.
The report highlights the disappearance of the Slender-billed Curlew as one of the most significant recent losses. The species was last recorded at a lagoon in Morocco in February 1995, and its extinction in 2025 represents the first confirmed global bird extinction in mainland Eurasia and Africa in recent centuries, according to BirdLife International.
Six other migratory bird species have also been confirmed or are suspected to have disappeared over the past 150 years.
Birds dependent on marine environments, forests and coastal wetlands are experiencing particularly severe declines. Seabirds and shorebirds are among the groups facing the greatest conservation pressures.
The report attributes the declines largely to human driven pressures, including invasive species, agricultural intensification, climate change and unsustainable hunting.
However, BirdLife International said the factors driving the decline are well understood, meaning that targeted and coordinated action can still make a difference.
Migratory birds travel across multiple countries and continents during their annual movements. Conservation efforts limited to individual sites or national boundaries therefore cannot adequately address the threats they encounter along their migration routes.
The report points to the Egyptian Vulture as an example of how coordinated action can produce positive results. Conservation measures implemented across several countries have helped halt the decline of the Balkan breeding population of the species.
The experience demonstrates the importance of addressing threats linked to farming, fishing, land use and other human activities across entire migration routes rather than focusing only on individual protected areas.
The Global Flyways Summit also saw governments, scientists, conservation organisations, NGOs and financial institutions sign the Nairobi Flyways Declaration committing to stronger international cooperation to protect migratory birds and their habitats.
The declaration recognises that migratory birds routinely cross national borders and that their conservation requires coordinated action throughout entire flyways.
More than $6 billion in conservation finance has been mobilised by development banks since 2021 according to BirdLife International. The organisation said the financial commitments, alongside the Nairobi declaration, could mark a significant shift towards coordinated global action for flyway conservation.
“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,” said Princess Takamado, Honorary President of BirdLife International.
She added that the coming together of the scientific community, conservation organisations and financial sector represented an important turning point for migratory bird conservation.
Martin Harper, Chief Executive of BirdLife International, said the report showed that migratory bird populations were declining at an alarming rate.
“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,” Harper said.
He called for governments businesses and civil society to strengthen their efforts to reverse the declines.
The findings underline the increasingly interconnected nature of biodiversity conservation, with the survival of migratory species depending not only on protected habitats in individual countries but also on coordinated action along the entire flyway.