In Albania, climate change is clipping the wings of migratory birds

Climate change, overfishing or urbanization, migratory birds are disturbed and thousands of them are missing in the Albanian lagoon of Divjaka, a spectacular expanse of marshes and islets in the Adriatic where birds usually spend the winter.

Specialists sound the alarm after recently carrying out counts in this region separated from the sea by a strip of sand, as part of a global program aimed at getting to know the populations better.

"We have found that about 9,000 waterfowl are missing compared to the previous year," said Ardian Koci, head of the Divjaka-Karavasta National Park, where the protected wetlands are located.

"The reasons are many, but above all, it is global warming that has disrupted migrations and breeding seasons," adds this specialist in biodiversity. Nexhip Hysolokaj, another expert, points out that this is an underlying trend. "For three years now, we have seen a decrease in the number of migratory birds in Albania, due to climate change."

A deeper study is necessary to know the precise reasons for the modifications of the trajectories and behaviours of the different species. But experts are finding that some migrants no longer need to spend the warm winter in the tiny Balkan country.

"If it's not too cold, there are no extreme temperatures in northern Europe, they prefer not to move or migrate over shorter distances," Mirjan Topi, author of the report, told AFP the first guide to the birds of Albania. For example, “they can stop to spend the winter in neighbouring Montenegro so as not to come to Albania”.

In recent years, several species of migrating geese – including the Greylag Goose, the White-fronted Goose and the rare Lesser White-fronted Goose, which breeds in the tundra of northern Russia and Scandinavia – have largely failed to make their winter pilgrimage to Albania’s marshes.

There are also fewer of them these days and breeding cycles are disrupted by climate change. "The pelicans' breeding season seems to be delayed compared to last year," Sajmir Hoxha, an expert on Albania at the French NGO Noe Conservation said.

Illegal fishing that depletes fish stocks, human activities, and unplanned urbanization that threaten ecosystems also explain population declines. And the situation is not expected to improve with a controversial project to build an airport in the Vjosa-Narta protected region further south, intended to develop tourism but criticized by environmentalists. This project of more than 100 million euros, entrusted to a Turkish-Swiss consortium, "would directly affect wildlife and pose a threat to species that breed there, spend the winter or stop on their way to Divjaka", believes Mirjan Topi.

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