World Migratory Bird Day celebrated at Marievale Bird Sanctuary

The theme of the event was “energy – make it bird friendly” with the aim to highlight the need to protect migratory birds and their habitats.

WMBD is annually celebrated by the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (GDARD) in May, but they decided to move it to October after most migrating species have returned to South Africa.

Among the 300 guests were learners from Dan Radebe and Duduza Primary schools, Justin Donaldson, (chairperson of the Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa (WESSA), Stan Madden, (chairperson of the Marievale Bird Sanctuary), Simon Gear (known as SA’s weatherman) and local DA councillor Wally Labuschagne. Other dignitaries included the MEC for GDARD Lebogang Maile and head of the department: GDARD, Thandeka Mbassa-Sigibi.

After interacting with learners during a bird watching expedition, minister Molewa delivered a key note address to guests. She started by saying that in times of ever-increasing global demand for energy, developing new and expanding existing renewable energy technologies, are key when striving towards a low carbon future. Energy can however, not be truly sustainable and nature-friendly unless it fully takes biodiversity and, more specifically, migratory birds into consideration. “We need to protect and conserve our birds and the best way to do that is by educating young people,” the minister said. She added that the latest figures have shown that Marievale Bird Sanctuary house nearly 300 bird species. “Birds have to exist just as humans do. The department is at the forefront of ensuring that they work together with several wildlife organisations, not only to protect our wildlife, but our birds too.”

The message throughout the event was that birds suffer the effects from habitat loss, degradation and other disturbances from the deployment of hydropower, bio-energy, ocean-, solar-, wind- and geothermal energy technologies, which have to be addressed not only from a human prospective, but also by government involvement.

Guests were also urged to initiate regular visits to wildlife societies such as Marievale Bird Sanctuary in order to promote awareness. Entrance is free of charge and more information is available from Stan Madden on 011 734 3661.