As Pressures Mount on Migratory Birds, These Cities are Becoming Safe Havens

Each spring and autumn, hundreds of thousands of storks follow the narrow land bridge between the Middle East and Europe on which Istanbul sits. Credit: Andalou via AFP/Alper Tuydes 

Twice a year, millions of birds across the Earth embark on epic journeys between their breeding and wintering grounds in one of the natural world’s greatest wonders.

Migratory birds are essential to sustaining the planet’s biodiversity. As seed dispersers and insect controllers, birds help maintain healthy ecosystems. Through their long journeys, they connect distant habitats and foster ecological balance.

They also connect people across the globe, with the return of much-loved species celebrated in many cultures as a blessing and marker of the seasons—and honoured annually on May 10, World Migratory Bird Day.

But the journeys of birds, large and small, are full of danger. The weakest are vulnerable to bad weather, predators and exhaustion. For millennia, people have hunted migratory birds for food. And pollution, power lines, shiny glass buildings, habitat loss and climate change are adding to the human-driven threats.

Many of the perils overlap in cities, which have become a focus for efforts to help birds reach their destinations, especially when urban centres lie on key migration routes, known as flyways. For birds following the African-Eurasian flyway, the Turkish city of Istanbul represents a particular bottleneck.

Each spring and autumn, hundreds of thousands of storks and birds of prey follow the narrow land bridge between the Middle East and Europe on which the city sits; seabirds fly past the huge cargo ships sailing through the Bosphorus Strait; and smaller birds rest and refuel in urban parks and gardens.

Conservationists worry the city’s rapid expansion, mega-projects like Istanbul International Airport and the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, and the degradation of ecosystems, such as Lake Büyükçekmece, a key stopover for wildfowl, are increasing the pressures on both resident and migratory wildlife.

Istanbul takes action

To counter the threat, the municipality of Istanbul has launched a project to boost awareness and conservation of biodiversity, including migratory birds, within the metropolitan area.

The project is part of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP’s) Generation Restoration Cities initiative, which advances nature-based solutions to environmental challenges in urban areas. Through this effort, UNEP is working with 24 cities, 14 of which receive direct financial and technical support to pilot urban nature-based solutions. The initiative is part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a global effort to revive the natural world.

Istanbul has also joined Journeys for Life, a new initiative led by ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, to assist cities and regions in conserving vulnerable migratory species.

To help the residents of Istanbul value the nature around them, the city is running a social media campaign and will use posters and videos at city bus stops to present key facts and eye-catching images of migratory birds. Grasses and flowers will be planted on bus-stop roofs to boost people’s appreciation of native species that support more wildlife.

“Millions of people use these bus stops every day, so it is a great platform for us to help people understand things like the importance of green corridors,” says Nilgün Cendek, Director of the Urban Ecological Systems Directorate at the Istanbul Metropolitan Authority.

To get young people on board, the municipality is designing lesson plans on biodiversity for use in primary schools.

Officials are also organizing a workshop in May where local civil society groups and businesses, as well as experts and government officials, will discuss how best to safeguard green spaces, such as the much-visited Atatürk Urban Forest, and make the city more sustainable.

“With wide involvement and engagement, we hope to channel people’s growing interest, awareness and concern about biodiversity into momentum for conservation action,” Cendek says.

A high point of the campaign comes on World Migratory Bird Day, when the municipality and partners expect thousands of people to join in annual bird counts from vantage points in the city, such as the Büyük and Küçük Çamlıca hills.

Black storks, white storks, and birds of prey, including many species of eagle and hawk, often circle in large numbers over the city as they use warm air currents to gain altitude before continuing their migration.

Bird lovers armed with binoculars, cameras and telescopes already travel to Istanbul to witness the spectacle, highlighting how birds and their migration can support eco-tourism.

Global collaboration

At least 134 migratory bird species are threatened with extinction, noted a 2024 report from the Convention on Migratory Species, a global accord designed to protect animals that travel across borders.

Of the 1,189 species listed under the convention, 44 per cent show population decline, with 22 per cent threatened with extinction.

Initiatives such as Generation Restoration Cities help inspire residents and support municipal and regional authorities around the world in networking and sharing experiences.

In the United States of America, for example, the city of Seattle has worked for years to accommodate the osprey, a fish-eating hawk that was threatened by the extension of pesticide use. The city’s parks department has erected nesting platforms at safe locations for the birds, which return each spring from South and Central America. According to the Urban Raptor Conservancy, a local conservation group, about 20 pairs nest within the city, which is part of the Generation Restoration Cities initiative.

“Seattle and Istanbul may be at opposite ends of the world but they converge on efforts to preserve spaces for birds. The most important lesson they teach us is that restored and sustainably managed urban areas can be havens in a changing world for wildlife as well as people,” says Mirey Atallah, Chief of the Adaptation and Resilience Branch in UNEP’s Climate Change Division.