Climate Resilience for Critical Sites for Migratory Birds and People along the East Atlantic Flyway

The East Atlantic Flyway is a migratory route used by millions of waterbirds. It connects breeding areas in the Arctic and sub-Arctic with staging and non-breeding sites along the western coast of Europe and Africa all the way to South Africa. Along the flyway there is often conflict between the needs of birds and people and the ways resources are managed, as people also rely on the ecosystem services provided by this network of critical coastal sites. Climate change will further accentuate this conflict in the absence of effective mechanisms that incorporate biodiversity, ecosystem services and people into climate adaptation responses at landscape scale. Lasting co-existence between people and biodiversity requires effective, large scale and coordinated planning and management. This programme will identify existing and potential climate change driven threats, demonstrate (nature based) solutions and build capacity for their implementation, for the benefits of both birds and people.