As the human population continues to increase, overlap between human activities and shorebird habitat – coastal beaches, bays, estuaries, mudflats, inland lakes, lagoons and dams - intensifies.

Eastern Curlew and Whimbrel

Great Knot

The loss and degradation of breeding, feeding and roosting habitats for shorebirds are the key issues faced by conservation practitioners in Australia and along the flyway.

Threats to shorebird habitat include:

• loss (reclamation) of coastal and inland wetlands
• changes to wetland hydrology
• invasive weeds
• introduced predators
• human-related disturbance
• climate change

Facts

• Over 80% of wetlands in east and south-east Asia are classified as threatened, with over half under serious threat (International Wader Study Group Conference, Cadiz, Spain 2003).
• 20% of the shorebird species (19 species) that regularly use the East Asian Australasian Flyway have been officially classified as globally threatened with substantial population decline (Milton 2003).
• 48% of migratory shorebird populations with sufficient data are in decline (International Wader Study Group Conference, Cadiz, Spain 2003).

Reference
Milton, DA. (2003) Threatened Shorebird Species of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway: significance for Australian Wader Study Groups. Wader Study Group Bulletin. 100:105-110