The Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks (ORTPN) has launched a national campaign to safeguard rare bird species.The drive was launched over the weekend in Akagera National Park at Nyirabiyora Island in Lake Ihema, home to thousands of migratory birds.

Fidel Ruzigandekwe, the ORTPN’s director of wildlife said on Monday that the campaign will continue in other areas outside the gazzetted sites.

"This is a challenge to the general public to make sure that the birds are accorded value they deserve,” Ruzigandekwe said.

He called for public engagement to save the 650 birds species in the country he said are being driven away by a variety of human-induced threats such as habitat loss and degradation.

The campaign comes ahead of a global conference on birds’ safety slated later this month in Scotland. 

The conference, aimed at helping save rare birds, is expected to bring together experts from 60 countries to develop an international agreement to conserve endangered migratory birds around the world.

The aim is to bring together expertise from around the world to monitor and protect the birds that generate revenue to the respective countries from tourists. 

According to a recent study by UK’s Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), more than 50 percent of birds are threatened either at the global or regional level. 

The activists will discuss the geographical boundaries of the proposed agreement, the species to be covered, and whether it should be legally binding.

The agreement is expected to be finalised at a meeting in the United Arab Emirates in early 2008.

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