Conservation of Colonial Waterbirds in the Caribbean Basin: Summary of a Panel Discussion

Abstract

The Caribbean region, including northern South America, is an important wintering area and migratory pathway for migrating birds. During the past 30 years especially, a great deal of habitat alteration has occurred because of human population growth. Of most significance to waterbirds has been the drainage of many wetlands in the region. A panel discussion on the issue of waterbird conservation was held at the seventh annual meeting of the Colonial Waterbird Group (CWG) in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The discussion was aimed at 1) describing what local, national, and international programs are currently underway pertaining to waterbirds, 2) reviewing major threats to species and their habitat in certain areas, and 3) identifying specific types of actions that could be taken through cooperation with such organizations as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP), and the International Waterfowl Research Bureau (IRWB). Although some discussion of South American countries occurs in the following text, we focused mainly on the Caribbean region. Summaries of the presentations and discussion follow: Canadian Wildlife Service (I. M. Price). -A new Canadian Wildlife Service initiative is the Latin American Program (LAP) whose scope includes all of the Caribbean region, Central and South America. Its primary objective is to promote the conservation of birds that spend part of the year in Canada and winter in Latin America. After several months of consulting people with first-hand ecological experience in Latin America, CWS concluded that Latin American problems are similar to those of North America but that the scales differ. Habitat destruction, the use and abuse of agricultural chemicals, and industrial pollution were the gravest problems identified. The next step was to visit some Latin American countries to introduce the CWS and the LAP. We found Latin American wildlife agencies willing to work with us to promote the conservation of shared birds. We plan to meet our primary objective by sponsoring projects relating to surveys, shorebirds, waterbirds, toxic chemicals, wetland evaluation, and habitat loss. All projects should be jointly planned, carried out, and funded by us and one or more Latin American wildlife agencies or their designates. This latter point is important as joint funding increases the level of commitment by all parties. We also fund projects relating to training and professional development of Latin American biologists and technicians and are particularly interested in seeing measurable results at the end of a project. The first major project, headed by R. I. G. Morrison, was a survey of the northern and eastern coastline of South America to identify shorebird concentration areas and to obtain a preliminary assessment of the distribution and characteristics