300 Asian bird species face extinction

NEW DELHI - Some 300 Asian bird species face extinction because of the destruction of their habitat through such acts as deforestation and wetland clearance, said worldwide conservation group BirdLife International.

Large waterbirds, such as the Black-faced Spoonbill, are in danger of extinction.

That figure is up sharply from 1981, when the number of Asian bird species facing extinction stood at 51, the group said.

'Our research shows there has been a serious rise in the number of species becoming extinct,' BirdLife International spokesman Richard Thomas told Reuters.

Mr Rudyanto, a researcher at BirdLife's Indonesian office, said: 'The biggest threat to the birds comes from losing their habitat due to human activities like illegal logging and wetland clearance for agriculture or exotic timber plantations.'

Said Mr Noritaka Ichida, head of the BirdLife Asia Council, in a statement: 'We need to act urgently and on a scale greater than anything previously achieved if we are to avert the extinction crisis facing Asia's threatened birds.'

Many large waterbirds, like the Siberian Crane and Black-faced Spoonbill, are already close to extinction due to the disturbance or conversion of their habitat.

Be prepared to say goodbye to the Rhino Hornbill, unless conservation action is taken.

The report, compiled by over 160 experts in 23 Asian countries, showed that 323 species out of a total of 2,700 in Asia face extinction, and 41 are listed as critically endangered with only a 50-per-cent chance of survival over the next decade, if no conservation action is taken.

Indonesia has the highest number of threatened species within Asia with 115, followed by China with 78, India with 73, and the Philippines with 69.

The report also showed that tropical moist forests are particularly important for 70 per cent of threatened forest species.

The continuing loss and damage to lowland moist forests in the Sundaic region of Indonesia and Malaysia had resulted in many changes harming the birds.-- Reuters