It is a fact that the bird population in major cities of the country is declining fast. Even the population of common birds like sparrows, which are often taken for granted, is dropping at a rapid rate, WWF World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) warned in its report.
The world’s wildlife population volumes are plummeted by an average of 69 percent between 1970 and 2018, a dangerous decline resulting from climate change and various human activities, the WWF said. The two most mesmerising things fading away at a rapid pace included early morning views and melodious chirping of birds especially sparrows. Noted wildlife expert Dr. Muhammad Azhar told media that climate change caused by human activities is considered to have negative effects for the majority of species and threaten the survival of a large number of species on the Earth.
Climate change is damaging the abodes of birds because they are widely known to respond to various forms of perturbations to the climate, and their responses are often well documented. Moreover, based on current research, one-eighth of species of birds have a high level of danger of extermination in the recent future decades, and they need humans to take actions and protect them, he added. The research showed that if the temperature increases 3.5 degrees Celsius in 2100, 600-900 species of birds will become extinct, and 89 percent of them would happen in the tropic regions To a question about captive birds, Azhar said that climate change patterns have limited temperature variations and low metabolic rates that are at the most risk from biodiversity degradation. Some tropical mountain birds, such as the northern snowbird, are especially vulnerable to climate change due to their lack of access to higher elevations for increasing temperatures. Birds also play significant roles in ecosystems and are exceedingly subjected to human health and welfare, such as public hygiene, pest control, and the reproduction of plants, Dr. Azhar further said. Unfortunately, in our major cities, both these beauties are fading away at an alarming rate, mostly due to deforestation and rapid urbanization and the factors associated with it, senior journalist Din Muhammad Dard observed. According to a report on sparrows, their populations are already on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, where Greater London lost nearly 70 per cent of its sparrows between 1994 and 2001. It is feared by many ornithologists that the only reason sparrows are not on the Red List in Pakistan yet is that nobody has so far attempted to actually count the number of these birds existing at present, IUCN Country Manager Mahmood Akhtar Cheema told media. Complex changes in climate change have caused numerous changes, such as increasing temperature and a rise in precipitation frequency, representing dynamic environmental changes for birds, he added. Cheema said that climate change has caused advanced spring migration, changes in birds’ habitat, higher possibility of disease transmission, earlier egg-laying time, less food availability, and a decline in the population. Likewise, the situation became so alarming in our neighbouring country, India, that recently, sparrows were declared the state bird of Delhi and countrywide efforts were initiated for their conservation, he added.
