Kenya has put its name behind a global pact to save the world’s migratory birds, as new research warns that nearly half of all migratory species are sliding toward extinction.
Governments, scientists, conservation groups and financial institutions signed the Nairobi Flyways Declaration on Friday during the Global Flyways Summit in Nairobi, pledging coordinated action to protect the birds and the habitats that sustain them across continents. The signing coincided with the launch of BirdLife International (2026) State of the World’s Birds: A focus on migratory species and their flyways, the first edition devoted entirely to migratory birds and the flyways connecting their breeding, resting and wintering grounds.
The findings are stark. Forty five percent of migratory bird species are now in decline, and one in nine faces extinction, according to the report.
A Warning From The Sky
Researchers point to the Slender billed Curlew as proof of what is at stake. The wading bird was declared extinct in 2025, last recorded at a lagoon in Morocco in February 1995. BirdLife called it the first confirmed global bird extinction on mainland Eurasia and Africa in recent centuries. Six other migratory species are confirmed or suspected to have vanished over the past 150 years.
Seabirds and shorebirds face the sharpest declines, squeezed by pressure on the marine habitats, forests and coastal wetlands they depend on. BirdLife traces the losses to a familiar set of human pressures: invasive species, intensifying agriculture, climate change and unsustainable hunting.
“Migratory birds are sentinels, and their declines reveal growing pressure on the natural systems that sustain us,” said Dr Stuart Butchart, BirdLife International’s chief scientist. “But the science is equally clear: conservation works, with coordinated action preventing extinctions and helping populations recover. The solutions exist: what is needed now is their implementation at flyway scale.”
The report offers evidence to back that claim. Multi country efforts to protect the Egyptian Vulture have helped halt the decline of its Balkan breeding population, showing that cross border cooperation can reverse losses even for species long in trouble.
Billions Committed To Habitat Protection
The summit’s headline announcement was financial. Three multilateral development banks have mobilised more than 6 billion US dollars in conservation financing through initiatives launched since 2021, money aimed at protecting the wetlands, grasslands and coastlines that keep flyways functional.
| Funder | Commitment | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Asian Development Bank | 3 billion US dollars over ten years | At least 50 priority wetlands on the East Asian Australasian Flyway, benefiting nearly 200 million people |
| Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean | 3 to 5 billion US dollars through 2050 | More than 30 landscapes and seascapes across the Americas |
| World Bank and BirdLife International | Several billion US dollars | Flyways across Africa, Europe and Asia used by more than 2 billion migratory birds |
| Global Environment Facility | 8.97 million US dollars in direct grants, 107 million US dollars in co-financing | Nine million hectares of wetlands through the Global Flyways Grant Mechanism, approved June 2026 |
Africa’s Place At The Table
For Kenya and the continent, the declaration is framed as more than a symbolic gesture. Dr Paul Matiku, executive director of Nature Kenya, said Africa sits at the centre of the migratory bird story rather than at its margins.
“The birds that breed in Europe, Asia and the Arctic depend on our wetlands, grasslands and forests,” Matiku said. “The Nairobi Declaration and finance commitments recognise that African nations are not just stakeholders: we are stewards of solutions.”
That framing matters for a continent that hosts critical stopover and wintering grounds along the African Eurasian Flyway, one of the busiest migratory corridors on earth. Wetlands from the Rift Valley lakes to coastal mangroves along the Indian Ocean give millions of birds a place to feed and rest before they continue their journeys, and their condition increasingly determines whether species elsewhere survive.
Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado of Japan, honorary president of BirdLife International, called the declaration a turning point built on that interdependence.
“Migratory birds do not recognise borders. They connect Asia to Africa, the Arctic to the tropics,” she said. “The Nairobi Flyways Declaration acknowledges this reality. I am proud to see the scientific community, conservation organisations and finance institutions united behind the science. This is the moment we have been waiting for.”
Shifting From Sites To Systems
BirdLife said its Global Flyways Programme will move away from protecting isolated reserves and instead target whole ecological networks, linking partners from breeding grounds through stopover points to non breeding areas. The approach reflects a growing recognition that a single degraded wetland can undo protection efforts thousands of kilometres away, since a bird that cannot rest or refuel partway through its journey may never complete it.
Martin Harper, BirdLife International’s chief executive, said the report leaves no room for complacency but also no excuse for inaction.
“The State of the World’s Birds report is unambiguous: we are losing migratory birds at an alarming rate,” Harper said. “But today’s Nairobi Declaration signals a turning point. We need everyone to step up and play their part.”
What Comes Next
The declaration carries no legal force, and its success will depend on whether governments and banks follow through on the financing pledges made this week. For Kenya, which co-hosted the summit alongside Nature Kenya, the coming years will test whether Nairobi’s role as host translates into stronger protection for the wetlands and grasslands migratory birds rely on within its own borders.
What is clear from the report is the scale of what is riding on that follow through: species connecting continents, economies built on healthy ecosystems, and a shrinking window to reverse declines that, in the case of the Slender billed Curlew, have already tipped into permanent loss.
