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Ahead of World Migratory Bird Day on May 9, 2026, prominent avian organisation BirdLife International has urged greater attention towards migratory bird species, stressing their importance to the health of the planet.
According to BirdLife, 40 per cent of the world’s bird species are now in decline. Migratory birds are very important for the ecosystem, and their decline is causing a drop in the quality of the water, food security, flood protection and less resilience towards the changing climate.
Migratory birds, noted the organisation in a press statement, are essential for maintaining the balance in the ecosystem as they migrate from one region of the world to other. They carry nutrients across oceans, pollinate plants, spread seeds, help keep crops growing and keep diseases in check.
The statement stressed the importance of birds’ natural migration routes, known as ‘global flyways’ to highlight their current situation.
“Birds use these routes as they travel between breeding grounds, feeding areas and seasonal refuges. Around the world, they follow four major flyways on land: the African–Eurasian, East Asian–Australasian, Americas and Central Asian. They also follow six marine flyways. These pathways stretch across borders and oceans, joining habitats that lie thousands of kilometres apart,” noted the statement.
World Migratory Day’s observance is itself timed to take into account these global ‘highways in the sky’. The day, observed in May and October each year, matches the peaks of migration in each hemisphere and invites communities to take part in one of nature’s greatest shared stories. In May, species along routes such as the African–Eurasian Flyway leave the warmth of Africa and travel north to nest.
But now, these routes themselves are threatened, according to the statement.
When one link in a flyway is broken, like a wetland drained or a coastline degraded, whole species can decline. “Some can vanish for good, as the recent extinction of the Slender-billed Curlew reminds us,” the statement read.
This year would be special in highlighting the cause of migratory birds with the Global Flyways Summit taking place at Nairobi this September.
According to Paul Matiku, Executive Director of Nature Kenya, BirdLife’s partner in Africa, the African continent has a key role in keeping these global highways alive.
“Migration is one of the wonders of the natural world. It also carries a very practical lesson,” According to BirdLife International CEO, Martin Harper. “International challenges need international cooperation. Protecting flyways helps bring birds back. It also brings real benefits to people: healthier wetlands, more reliable food, and stronger resilience as the climate keeps shifting.”
