Launch of Waterbirds around the world Ramsar welcomes major new
assessment of threats facing the world's waterbirds Monitoring
waterbirds in Sudan. Photo: Niels Gilissen - MIRATIO. A major
new publication on the status of the world's waterbirds was
welcomed today by Ramsar's Deputy Secretary-General Dr Nick
Davidson at its launch by the Dutch and UK Environment Ministers
in The Hague, Netherlands. The work to publish Waterbirds around
the world commenced at the Global Flyways Conference in
Edinburgh in April 2004. It is a landmark assessment: comprising
264 papers and reviews relating to 614 waterbird species from
162 countries. It has new data on 170 globally and near-
threatened species and their habitats. Its 960 pages contain the
work of 452 authors from 59 countries, and gives a telling
insight into the current status of the world's waterbirds. Its
content is available at www.jncc.gov.uk/worldwaterbirds. The
studies reported demonstrate widespread declines of waterbird
populations in most regions of the w