The Spirit of BirdLife – BirdLife International

By Shaun HurrellHeader image: With its pole-to pole migration, the Arctic Tern is a symbol of BirdLifes international collaboration Agami/Shutterstock

Every organisation has milestone moments that mark when its ideas first took flight, and BirdLife is no exception. Some may live on as golden anecdotes in the memories of long-term staff who have seen action on the frontline of conservation, but others may now only be documented in old newspapers and history books but even the foreword of the Handbook of the Birds of the World, a full 62 pages that narrate the growth of BirdLife from a council of experts to everybodys global partnership, doesnt quite capture all of BirdLifes history.

Last issue we told the story of how BirdLife was born exactly one century ago. Back then, the visionary conservationists that came together to found the International Committee for Bird Preservation (ICBP) may not have quite imagined the international movement BirdLife would become and what it would achieve for birds, habitats and people. BirdLifes conservation work today can be split into four pillars: species, sites, systems and society key approaches to preserving nature that have been the heart and soul of our conservation work since 1922.

Underlying these are the principles that conservation action must be informed by scientific insight, and that birds see no borders thus international collaboration is key to their protection. And so over the years BirdLife has perfected the art of local-to-global impact with a suite of extraordinary projects and programmes that work towards a vision of a world in harmony with nature.

Some flagship achievements stand out in this ever-evolving story, including BirdLifes first land acquisition in Seychelles, the formation of the European Unions Natura 2000 network (which was in significant part based on BirdLifes inventories of Important Bird & Biodiversity Areas, or IBAs), the launch of the Preventing Extinctions Programme and its pivotal projects to save species, the creation of the Albatross Task Force as a response to seabirds drowning in fishing gear, and the establishment of completely new NGOs such as Asity Madagascar, Burung Indonesia, SAVE Brasil and NatureLife Cambodia, thanks to our capacity building work. It would be impossible to mention all of BirdLifes top moments, so here are just a few that really capture the aforementioned principles, or the spirit of the organisation.

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The Spirit of BirdLife - BirdLife International