In launching this year's Festival, Andrew Dobson [5], President of the SCSCB, remarked that the imminent threat of global climate change is a new destructive force that compounds the many threats that the region's biota is already experiencing. According to Dobson and leading conservation voices on Caribbean natural history, the very fabric of the life-supporting Caribbean environment is at risk.

"With climate change, our forests, watersheds, coastal wetlands, coral reefs and beaches are all expected to take yet another turn for the worst in ways we cannot even fully appreciate,” Dobson said. “The only thing we are certain of is that native species, such as the wild birds of the Caribbean, are today faced with a suite of threats greater than they have ever confronted in their history."

The annual Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival, which attracted over 20,000 participants in 2006 [6], has been described as an unprecedented initiative of regional unification for heightening environmental education and awareness. Festival activities include a diverse array of public events including bird-watching excursions, lectures, seminars, photographic exhibitions, school-based art competitions, church services, media campaigns, and theatrical productions all in recognition of the region's rich bird life and natural heritage.

The international conservation community has praised the Festival as a crucial stewardship initiative towards ensuring the continued survival of the Caribbean’s unique natural beauty and heritage, and fostering sustainable development from the grassroots upwards. David Wege, BirdLife International Caribbean Program Manager, said, “Biodiversity and people are both being adversely affected by climate change. Highlighting global warming in this year’s festival will help promote conservation actions that benefit all life.”

According to the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) [7], Caribbean islands are at great risk from the projected impacts of climate change. Sea level rise and an increase in the frequency and intensity of storms and hurricanes will likely cause serious damage to marine and coastal ecosystems. Climate change is expected to precipitate more frequent bleaching episodes of corals reefs (from warming seas), compromising regional fisheries, while beach erosion and coastal land loss, flooding, and salinization of coastal aquifers will be widespread.

Eric Carey, Executive Director of the Bahamas National Trust, an organization committed to biodiversity conservation in the Bahamas, commented, “Our coastal mangroves and wetlands are vitally important in protecting us from storm surges and flooding—all the more reason to conserve our remaining wetlands as well as restore damaged ones.”

Caribbean forests will also suffer from climate change, especially hurricane damage and increased drought, and the biodiversity they harbor will be among the most exposed to the ravages of climate change. Dobson remarked “With over 85% of Caribbean natural forests already destroyed, our biodiversity, literally tens of thousands of our collectively uniquely Caribbean species, will be trapped. They don’t have many options of places to move. As sea levels rise, stronger hurricanes and droughts damage remaining wild places, more species will likely face the gallows of global extinction.”

Dobson notes that we must accelerate the regional dialogue and planning around the issue. He says that this must start with the education of our peoples at all levels. “If we are going to be successful at conserving the region’s biodiversity, we must educate ourselves about what we can do to stop global warming. The Festival provides an excellent opportunity to do this.” 

To raise awareness about this year's theme local volunteer festival coordinators in each Caribbean country will facilitate showings of Al Gore’s Academy Award winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” and display a specially-produced festival poster on global warming and birds. Sheylda Díaz-Méndez, Regional Festival Coordinator remarked, “We are excited about the continued growth of the Festival and will, as in the past years, celebrate with many fun activities designed to get people outdoors to enjoy birds and learn about nature [8]. But we will also be mindful of the fact that the Caribbean's natural beauty, its birds and their habitats are at risk of being lost. For one month we will work to underscore this message.”

In support of Festival activities, the SCSCB will again provide small grants for Festival activities based on a competitive evaluation of proposals.  Previous grants have been used to launch public awareness drives, construct conservation signs for protected areas, and publish posters and booklets, to name but a few winners. 

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For more information, and to arrange an interview, please contact:

Sheylda N. Díaz-Méndez, Coordinadora, Festival de aves endémicas del Caribe (Regional Coordinator, Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival), Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds, Tel: (787) 458-5406, Email: otoarina77@yahoo.com.
or
Leo Douglas, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027 USA.  Email: lrd2107@columbia.edu.  Tel: 917-569-0820.

NOTES TO EDITORS:
1. The Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds (SCSCB) is the largest single regional organization devoted to wildlife conservation in the Caribbean. It is a non-profit organization whose goals are to promote the scientific study and conservation of Caribbean birds and their habitats, and to promote greater public awareness of the bird life of the region. For more details, see: http://www.scscb.org. To learn more about the festival, click on “Programs” and “Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival.”

2. Earth Day was first celebrated in the USA in 1970 and takes place annually on April 22nd.  The theme for Earth Day 2007 (37th anniversary of Earth Day) is “A Call for Action on Climate Change.”

3. International Biodiversity Day is held on May 22nd, the date when the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted the resolution on the Convention on Biological Diversity. The theme for this year’s celebration is “Biodiversity and Climate Change.”

4. BirdLife International data show that 56 species of birds found in the Caribbean are at risk of global extinction, 11 of them are in danger of imminent extinction. More information, including background information on all of the Caribbean's threatened bird species, can be found at: www.birdlife.org/datazone/search/species_search.html

5. Andrew Dobson is also Past-President of the Bermuda Audubon Society. He is the author of 'The Birdwatching Guide to Bermuda' published by Arlequin Press in 2002. He is a member of the Bermuda Zoological Society's Honorary Council, and has been a core committee member involved in the Bermuda Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan.

6. Countries taking part include: Anguilla, Antigua, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, St. Maarten, Tobago, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The initiative is supported across the region by a variety of organizations including schools, churches, environmental NGOs, government conservation departments, private sector organizations, universities, and concerned groups and individuals.

7. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by the World Meteorological Organization and UNEP to assess scientific, technical and socio- economic information relevant for the understanding of climate change, its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation. It is currently finalizing its Fourth Assessment Report "Climate Change 2007." The report provides a comprehensive and up-to-date assessment of the current state of knowledge on climate change. http://www.ipcc.ch/

8. For a full report and photos of the 2006 Caribbean Endemic Bird Festival, for downloadable Festival resources, and for updates on ongoing and planned activities, kindly visit the Festival website under the “Programs” link at: www.scscb.org.