World Migratory Bird Day 2014 - Destination Flyways: Migratory Birds and Tourism

Bonn, 19 March 2014 – Each year on the second weekend in May, dedicated organizations and people around the world plan events to mark World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) celebrating migratory birds and raising awareness about the need for their conservation.  Since World Migratory Bird Day began in 2006, events have been held in 130 countries and this year we hope to reach even more people and organizations to connect and work together towards conserving migratory birds worldwide.

The 2014 Theme - Migratory Birds and Tourism

With the theme “Destination Flyways: Migratory Birds and Tourism”, WMBD 2014 will highlight the links between migratory bird conservation, local community development and wildlife watching tourism around the world.

Every year, more than one billion tourists cross international borders. A thriving wildlife is a key tourism asset, and the spectacular movements of the world´s migratory birds are important parts of wildlife’s natural wonder. Properly managed, popular bird-related tourism activities such as bird watching or bird photography can serve as the foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship between people and migratory birds.

For the 2014 Campaign, World Migratory Bird Day is partnering with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) to highlight the Destination Flyways project. By channeling tourism revenue back into conservation of the sites, the project aims to safeguard the birds’ habitats, while creating resilient and green job opportunities for local communities.

Register an Event to Support Migratory Birds

Join the celebration of a great natural wonder on World Migratory Bird Day! We invite everyone to join us to celebrate, conserve and raise awareness of migratory birds on 10-11 May 2014 by holding bird-watching activities, educational programmes, lectures, art exhibitions, competitions and other public events. However you decide to participate, your contribution will help make a difference!

We encourage all event organizers to register their events on the dedicated World Migratory Bird Day website so we can add them to the global Event Map at: www.worldmigratorybirdday.org

Order Free Posters, Postcards and Stickers

We are pleased to offer this year’s World Migratory Bird Day poster in English, French, Spanish and German. Free poster packages can be ordered by organizers to help promote their events. The poster and other materials are also available in electronic format on the World Migratory Bird Day website. You can download the materials in different formats (including the original design files) and use them to print and customize the materials for your local context and use.

We encourage everyone to design and translate their own World Migratory Bird Day Posters into local languages to support their events. If you translate or make your own World Migratory Bird Day Poster, please send it to us at [email protected] so we can share it further with the World Migratory Bird
Day community to help others in your region and language.

Join World Migratory Bird Day on Social Media

We would like to encourage everyone to connect with our growing Social Media Community and share what they are doing for World Migratory Bird Day. Through the World Migratory Bird Day Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Youtube pages you quickly find updates, videos, event photos and the latest developments and news
relating to the campaign:

www.facebook.com/worldmigratorybirdday
www.twitter.com/wmbd
www.youtube.com/WMBDcampaign
www.flickr.com/worldmigratorybirdday

We have started a World Migratory Bird Day Thunderclap. A Thunderclap is a way to join our voices on our Social Media to make a greater impact.

Our Social Media Hashtag: #WorldMigratoryBirdDay

The World Migratory Bird Day Social Media Hashtag is #WorldMigratoryBirdDay. Please add it to your Facebook and Twitter posts to connect with the WMBD Social Media community. You can also search for it to see what others around the world are doing for World Migratory Bird Day!

Background Information

World Migratory Bird Day was initiated in 2006 and is an annual awareness-raising campaign highlighting the need for the protection of migratory birds and their habitats. World Migratory Bird Day is jointly organized by the Secretariats of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the
Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) – two international wildlife treaties administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – and a growing number of partners, including UNWTO for the 2014 campaign.

This year’s campaign is financially supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), which we acknowledge with great gratitude.

Contact us at: [email protected]

Last updated on 11 April 2014