Celebrating 60 years of counting birds for conservation
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Biodiversity - Flyways
Since 1967, tens of thousands of people have headed to wetlands every year around the world, taking part in the International Waterbird Census (IWC). From coastal areas in northern Europe to tropical estuaries in Asia and Africa, volunteers and professionals alike join this global citizen science effort.
Many waterbird species gather in huge numbers at wetlands in January and February, giving us a great opportunity to monitor the sizes, trends and changes in the distribution of waterbird populations, and to identify their key sites. Every January, thousands of volunteers head out to wetlands to take part in the IWC. Over the last 60 years, the IWC helps us monitor the health of our wetlands and waterbirds and take actions to manage them sustainably. It has now grown into one of the world’s largest and longest-running biodiversity monitoring programmes.
