Climate Change Editor
seigonie.mohammed@guardian.co.tt
“Parrots belong in forests.”
That simple message from BirdsCaribbean president Andrea Thomen carries greater urgency across a region where all 11 endemic parrot species, birds found nowhere else on Earth, are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species.
With habitat loss, poaching, the illegal pet trade and climate-related pressures threatening populations, Caribbean researchers and conservationists gathered in Trinidad and Tobago for the first Caribbean Parrot Conservation Summit, held as part of the 25th BirdsCaribbean International Conference at the Hyatt Regency Trinidad last Friday.
For Thomen, the stakes are particularly high.
“Caribbean parrots, specifically, are even more vulnerable to extinction than any other continental parrots in the world,” she said.
The desire to capture and keep parrots as pets remains among the pressures conservationists are attempting to address.
The summit, part of a conference themed “Birds, People, Prosperity: Harnessing the Caribbean’s Natural Advantage,” brought together researchers and conservation practitioners to share scientific findings, conservation strategies and lessons from efforts to protect some of the region’s most iconic birds.
Trinidad and Tobago provides compelling evidence of what can happen when a species disappears and what it takes to bring it back.
The blue-and-yellow Macaw became locally extinct in the 1960s before a successful reintroduction programme returned the spectacular bird to the country.
Elizabeth Seebaran, president of the T&T Field Naturalists’ Club and leader of its birding subgroup, said the pet trade played a significant role in that loss.
“At one point in time, the blue and yellow macaw populations were totally extirpated,” Seebaran said. “Every blue and yellow macaw you see now is an introduced species.”
While the macaw’s return is a Caribbean conservation success story, threats to T&T’s wider birdlife persist.
Laura Baboolal, Technical Officer II at the Environmental Management Authority, pointed to the combination of pressures confronting birds.
“They face many threats from being poached, facing climate change … and from habitat loss,” Baboolal said.
The consequences extend beyond individual species. Parrots play an important ecological role, including dispersing seeds as they move through tropical habitats, contributing to the health and regeneration of forests.
Those same forests are also becoming increasingly important to the Caribbean’s nature-tourism economy.
Birdwatchers and other nature travellers are drawn to the region precisely because of wildlife that cannot be experienced elsewhere, giving conservation an economic dimension for communities, guides and tourism businesses.
Education is another part of the response.
BirdLife Jamaica’s Justin Saunders told the conference that greater appreciation of Jamaica’s endemic Yellow-billed and Black-billed Amazons comes from connecting people with the birds and the habitats they depend on.
“The appreciation really comes through education and intentional engagement,” he said.
For Caribbean destinations seeking to develop sustainable nature tourism, the conversation is therefore larger than parrots.
Protecting endemic species also means safeguarding forests, biodiversity and natural attractions capable of supporting research, education, community livelihoods and tourism.
T&T has already experienced the cost of losing one of its stunning birds from the wild and the effort required to restore it. The challenge now facing the Caribbean is ensuring other species never reach that point.
As Thomen put it: “‘Parrots belong in forests.’ Keeping them there is the region’s responsibility.”
