BIODIVERSITY: Birds Australia 'Engaging Ethnic Communities in Urban Bird Conservation' project

Urban development and sprawl has significantly changed city landscapes, especially over the past 50 years. These changes have favoured larger birds, including parrots, fruit-eating & meat-eating birds, exotic birds, and the larger honeyeaters, while populations of most smaller bird species are in decline.

Restoration of the balance of bird species in urban areas requires the involvement of all sectors of the community, including people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. This is most important in capital cities where a significant proportion of the community (31% Sydney & 28 % Melbourne) speak a language other than English at home. (ABS 2006 Census)

Birds Australia commenced the Engaging Ethnic Communities in Urban Bird Conservation project in July 2007, aimed at increasing the participation of people from CALD community groups in bird appreciation and conservation in urban areas. Twenty bilingual educators from seven different language groups (Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Arabic, Greek, Italian and Spanish) regularly visit community organisations to educate members of their communities on practical ways to live more sustainably.