Five months after its landmark announcement with the World Bank, BirdLife International’s ambitious flyway conservation initiative is rapidly gaining momentum, translating vision into tangible progress across continents. This collaborative push, aimed at aligning development finance with nature-positive outcomes for migratory birds, is demonstrating the power of strong coordination, strategic partnerships, and robust technical foundations. The partnership, initially built on shared expertise and learning without direct financial transfers between BirdLife and the World Bank, is now showcasing significant achievements across all fronts, signaling a new era for migratory species conservation.
Contextualizing the Global Flyway Challenge
Migratory birds represent one of nature’s most extraordinary spectacles, undertaking epic journeys across continents, often covering thousands of kilometers between breeding and non-breeding grounds. These incredible movements are facilitated by distinct migratory routes known as flyways, which are critical arteries of biodiversity connecting diverse ecosystems. However, these vital pathways and the millions of birds that rely on them face unprecedented threats. Habitat degradation and loss, driven by unsustainable agricultural expansion, urbanization, and infrastructure development, are primary concerns. Climate change alters migratory timings and habitat availability, while illegal killing, pollution, and disease further exacerbate pressures. The ecological importance of migratory birds cannot be overstated; they play crucial roles in pest control, pollination, seed dispersal, and nutrient cycling, contributing significantly to ecosystem health and human well-being. Protecting flyways is not merely about saving birds; it is about preserving the ecological integrity of vast interconnected landscapes and the services they provide.
Recognizing the immense scale of this challenge, BirdLife International, with its global network of over 100 partner organizations, has long championed a flyway approach to conservation. The historic announcement in October 2025 marked a pivotal moment, signaling a commitment from a major multilateral development bank (MDB), the World Bank, to integrate nature-positive solutions into its development portfolio, a move with profound implications for global biodiversity finance and policy. This shift acknowledges that sustainable development cannot occur without healthy ecosystems and thriving biodiversity.
A Historic Partnership Takes Flight: October 2025
The initial declaration five months ago was not merely symbolic; it represented a strategic commitment to embed migratory bird conservation within the highest echelons of global development finance. The World Bank, a leading source of financial and technical assistance to developing countries worldwide, has an unparalleled capacity to influence infrastructure projects, land use policies, and economic development strategies. By aligning with BirdLife International, the world’s foremost authority on birds and their habitats, the Bank signaled a clear intention to move beyond mitigating environmental harm to actively promoting "nature-positive" outcomes. This means designing and implementing projects that not only avoid negative impacts on nature but actively contribute to its restoration and enhancement.
This innovative partnership, initially focused on sharing knowledge and technical expertise, aimed to leverage BirdLife’s scientific data and on-the-ground network with the World Bank’s financial leverage and policy influence. The goal was to develop practical mechanisms to ensure that major development investments consider, and ultimately benefit, migratory bird populations and the critical sites they depend on.
Building the Foundation for Impact: Internal Alignment and Coordination
Immediately following the October 2025 announcement, a core priority for BirdLife International was to establish the necessary internal structures to translate this ambitious vision into concrete impact. Over the past five months, dedicated technical and strategic teams have been established within the organization. This internal coordination mechanism is crucial for ensuring alignment across BirdLife’s diverse regions and thematic programs. It facilitates faster decision-making, clarifies accountability, and strengthens collaborative efforts across the extensive BirdLife Partnership, which spans virtually every country along the major flyways. This strategic internal restructuring ensures that the scientific expertise, local knowledge, and conservation action of BirdLife Partners worldwide are effectively channeled to inform and influence the partnership with MDBs.
Expanding the Collaborative Network: A Multi-MDB Approach
The World Bank partnership is a cornerstone, but BirdLife International’s strategy is inherently multi-faceted, recognizing the diverse financial landscapes across different flyways. In November 2025, building on successful prior engagements, BirdLife and the World Bank formally launched their joint African-Eurasian Flyway Initiative (AEFI). This marked a significant expansion of the collaboration, following earlier successful partnerships with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the East Asian Australasian Flyway and with CAF – the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean – for the Americas flyway.
The AEFI, in particular, is a new chapter in the complex relationship between conservation organizations and multilateral development banks. The African-Eurasian Flyway is one of the world’s busiest migratory routes, hosting billions of birds from over 2,000 species, connecting breeding grounds in Europe and Asia with non-breeding grounds in Africa. The challenges along this flyway are immense, encompassing rapid population growth, agricultural expansion, large-scale infrastructure projects, and the impacts of climate change, particularly in the Sahel region. The AEFI aims to address these pressures through a coordinated, cross-sectoral approach, integrating conservation priorities into development planning and investment across multiple countries.
Aligning with Global Environmental Governance: Strengthening Policy Frameworks
The success of flyway conservation hinges not only on financial resources and technical expertise but also on a robust policy and regulatory environment. To ensure alignment with international frameworks, January 2026 saw BirdLife-led consultations with technical representatives of key Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). These included the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), among others.
The Ramsar Convention, with its focus on the conservation and wise use of wetlands, is particularly relevant given that wetlands are often crucial staging and wintering sites for migratory waterbirds. The CMS and AEWA provide specific legal and policy frameworks for the conservation of migratory species and their habitats across national borders. These consultations aimed to integrate the objectives of the BirdLife-MDB partnerships with the mandates and priorities of these international agreements. This ensures that flyway conservation efforts are not isolated but are embedded within the broader global biodiversity and migratory species frameworks, lending them greater legitimacy, sustainability, and impact. By aligning with MEAs, the initiative can leverage existing policy tools and reporting mechanisms, promoting a more coherent and globally coordinated approach to migratory bird protection.
Mobilizing Critical Resources: Fueling Conservation Action
Securing sustainable finance at scale is arguably the most critical component for safeguarding migratory birds across continents. In a significant win, BirdLife International successfully secured a €5.2 million EU LIFE grant. This substantial investment will support the conservation of the Egyptian Vulture (Neophron percnopterus), a globally Endangered species, with partners across Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, North Macedonia, Türkiye, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. This landmark grant underscores growing confidence in BirdLife’s comprehensive flyway approach and its ability to deliver tangible conservation results. The Egyptian Vulture, facing threats from poisoning, electrocution on power lines, and habitat loss, serves as an emblematic species whose survival depends on transboundary cooperation along the African-Eurasian Flyway.
In parallel, BirdLife has developed a £7.5 million restoration and scaling proposal, centered around seven BirdLife Partners strategically located along the flyway. Furthermore, over 30 priority flyway site investment profiles have been prepared to catalyze further funding from diverse sources. To streamline these efforts, a dedicated resource mobilization strategy has been developed, mapping existing donors and proactively scoping prospective supporters.
Perhaps most transformative for long-term financing, a complementary proposal for a Civil Society global flyway grant mechanism is being developed with other multilateral development bank partners. This mechanism would empower local civil society organizations, often the most effective agents of change on the ground, with direct access to funding, bypassing complex bureaucratic hurdles and ensuring resources reach the front lines of conservation. This innovative financing model has the potential to be a game-changer, fostering local ownership and enabling rapid, responsive conservation action.
Elevating Global Awareness and Engagement: A United Front
Effective conservation relies not only on scientific rigor and financial investment but also on broad public and political awareness and engagement. Communications have played a central role in amplifying the flyway initiative’s work. Over recent months, BirdLife International has developed a compelling launch video for the African-Eurasian Flyway Initiative (AEFI), bringing the story of these incredible journeys to a wider audience. A dedicated brand identity and guidelines for the African-Eurasian Flyway have been created, fostering a unified and recognizable image for the initiative. Additionally, a new webpage (www.birdlife.org/globalflyways/) has been launched, serving as a central hub to showcase BirdLife’s engagement with multilateral development banks and to provide updates on the flyway conservation progress.
Looking ahead, a major event is planned for September 11, 2026, when BirdLife International will host its second Global Flyways Summit in Nairobi, Kenya. This high-profile gathering is expected to convene a diverse array of stakeholders, including governments, financiers, conservation experts, and civil society representatives, all united around shared solutions for migratory bird conservation. The summit will serve as a crucial platform for knowledge exchange, policy dialogue, and forging new commitments. A highlight of this milestone event will be the premiere of a brand-new series of short films on the flyways, featuring the crucial work of BirdLife Partners on the ground, bringing to life the challenges and successes of conservation efforts.
Shaping Policy and Practice for Sustainable Development
The long-term impact of this initiative lies in its ability to fundamentally reshape how development projects are conceived and executed. BirdLife International is currently scoping the development of "bird-inclusive investment principles and guidelines" for multilateral development banks. These practical tools will help mainstream nature-positive approaches into infrastructure and development finance, ensuring that ecological considerations are integrated from the project’s inception rather than being an afterthought. This could involve guidelines for site selection, impact assessment, mitigation hierarchies, and the promotion of nature-based solutions.
Furthermore, strategic engagements are planned at key international forums. These include the 15th Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), where BirdLife will engage with the Energy Taskforce to address threats posed by power infrastructure. Participation in London Climate Action Week and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) COP will ensure that flyway conservation is linked to broader climate and biodiversity agendas. The initiative is also exploring options for regional and sector-specific capacity-building workshops to strengthen implementation on the ground, empowering local practitioners and decision-makers with the knowledge and tools to enact nature-positive development. These engagements aim to influence policy at global and national levels, ensuring that flyway conservation becomes an integral part of sustainable development paradigms.
The Scientific Bedrock: Data-Driven Conservation
Underpinning all these ambitious efforts is rigorous science. BirdLife International’s long-standing expertise in bird monitoring and habitat assessment provides an invaluable evidence base. In recent months, the organization has meticulously assessed and ranked more than 5,680 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs) and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) across the flyway for their significance to migratory birds. IBAs and KBAs are globally recognized sites critical for the persistence of biodiversity, identified using standardized, science-based criteria.
Partner consultations have further refined this data, identifying 256 priority flyway sites along the eastern side of the African-Eurasian Flyway, with parallel consultations underway for the western side. This comprehensive evidence base will be instrumental in guiding the AEFI’s inception phase, helping to pinpoint the specific priority sites, countries, and landscapes where early investment among BirdLife’s over 80 Partners in the flyway can deliver the greatest impact for migratory birds. Once initial priority countries are confirmed, BirdLife will reach out to governments, local civil society organizations, and research institutions to ensure strong alignment and mutually beneficial approaches. With pilot countries established, the methodology and successes will then be scaled across the entire flyway, ensuring a systematic and impactful approach to conservation.
At the same time, consultations with the World Bank are exploring how BirdLife International can integrate its unparalleled knowledge and expertise as the world’s global authority on birds into the Bank’s project pipeline. This involves providing technical advice to mainstream nature-positive solutions directly into development investments, such as advising on dam construction, road development, or agricultural projects to minimize harm and maximize benefits for migratory birds and their habitats.
Looking Ahead: A Transformative Vision
The direction has become remarkably clear and rapid: by combining cutting-edge science, unparalleled partnerships, and innovative finance mechanisms, BirdLife International and its allies are fundamentally reshaping how development works for migratory birds. The task ahead remains immense, requiring sustained effort and adaptability in the face of evolving environmental and socio-economic challenges. However, the foundations for a truly transformative change are firmly in place. The accelerating momentum, robust partnerships, significant financial commitments, and strong scientific backing indicate that the nature-positive flyway future envisioned by BirdLife International is closer than ever, promising a safer passage for the world’s migratory birds and healthier ecosystems for all. This initiative represents a powerful model for global conservation, demonstrating that through collaboration, even the most daunting environmental challenges can be addressed with hope and efficacy.