With Indonesia being the number one country worldwide in bird endemism (397
species compared to 71 endemic bird species in the USA) and the number 5 in
total bird biodiversity with 1531 species, the articles below may be
interesting for Indonesian nature conservation institutions and nature
tourism operators.
Best wishes,
Jan
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Dr. Jan H. Steffen
Marine Program Advisor
KEHATI - THE INDONESIAN BIODIVERSITY FOUNDATION
Patra Jasa Building, 2nd Floor, Room II E1
Jl. Jend. Gatot Subroto Kav.32-34
Jakarta 12950
Indonesia
Tel. +62 (21) 522 8031
Tel. +62 (21) 522 8032
Fax. +62 (21) 522 8033
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
website: www.kehati.or.id
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BIRD WATCHING A US $25 BILLION A YEAR INDUSTRY
Bird watching has become a major industry in North America (Canada, the
United States and Mexico). It generates cold, hard cash, and lots of it - -
US $25 billion a year It employs over 60,000 people. It rivals the chemical
industry and the steel industry in economic clout. Bird watching is a
non-consumptive use of renewable resources. It depends upon the protection
of wildlands and wilderness habitat. It thrives and grows on the protection
of biodiversity. Yet the economy and employment provided by bird watching is
being threatened by traditional economic activity, such as forestry
(levelling forests, strip-mining, and chemical industries, that destroy bird
habitat, pollute bird air and water, and reduce biodiversity. Unfortunately,
there is no Bird Watching Industry Association that has matched lobbying
clout of the Mining Associations or the Pulp and Paper Associations. How
often do you hear an orchestrated complaint from the forest industry that
environmentalists are threatening logging jobs and threatening economic
growth? What you don't hear are the bird watching jobs and others like
fisheries jobs are threatened by the clear-cut logging and strip-mining. It
is no longer a matter of forestry, mining, oil extraction versus the
environment. It is no longer a matter of economic engines being stymied by
nature-lovers. It is a matter of economics versus economics. Jobs versus
jobs. There is big money and huge job-creation in environmentally-friendly
jobs such as bird watching. An economic balance must be struck between the
two economies. Part of this balance includes providing a strong lobby on
behalf of bird watching and the environment industries that are being
threatened by unsustainable development. Part of this balance means
modifying tax and fiscal measures to level the playing field between the
competing economies. It also means shifting to a sustainable economic
accounting approach by both governments and industry. Visit the Audubon
Society website at http://www.audubon.org/campaign/ .
NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS ON BIRD WATCHERS
The New York Times in a front-page story stated that, "the quiet,
teeming world of bird watchers and feeders, includes about one- fifth of the
American population, more than 50 million people who outnumber hunters and
anglers combined, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service." The
NYT's reported that, "bird watchers now spend more than US $25 billion
a year on feed, binoculars, travel forays and high-tech innovations like
winterized birdbaths and television "nest cams" to track their
plumed favourites from home or watch penguins caper live on the Internet.
Various birding and wildlife groups are forming an 83-member policy council
through the conservancy dedicated to building political awareness and
translating it into budget and legal muscle to protect the myriad of
non-game birds fluttering under the gaze of this special-interest
public". Hundreds of high-style bird food stores have opened, offering
everything from the Yankee Flipper (a battery-powered feeder whose perch
begins wildly spinning at the touch of an intrusive squirrel to cast him
off) to Under Cover Coffee (purist beans harvested without the usual
denuding of bird habitats). Visit the birdwatchers' Council website at
http://www.abcbirds.org . Also see the American Birding Association website
at http://www.americanbirding.org .
Source, "As Their Numbers Soar, Birders Seek Political Influence to
Match", by Francis X., Clines, New York Times, February 4, 2001
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