On Saturday 11th, 2019, the Organisation pour le Développement Durable et la Biodiversité (ODDB for short) will organise an awareness program toward local communities of the village of Sô-Ava, in South Benin, to spread the word about World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD), and specifically address the need of beating plastic pollution for these species conservation. Actually, Sô-Ava is a village located about twenty kilometers in the north of Cotonou (the economic capital of Benin). That village was established on a vast river-lagoon complex, which originates through the Sô River and the Lake Nokoué, the largest body of lake water in Benin and directly led into the Atlantic Ocean. Moreover, it represents a Ramsar site (Area 1018). In fact, two categories of birds are found on this site: migratory birds (Palaearctic migratory bird species and inter-African migratory water bird species) and sedentary birds. There are also hunters of insects, such as the Collared Pratincole, scarlet bee-eaters, dwarf or white throat, terns, swallows or countless wading birds from northern Europe. Our Objectives: This World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) celebrations in Sô-Ava aim to recall people to take action for the conservation of migratory birds and to encourage local and national authorities, non governmental organizations (NGOs), clubs and associations, universities, schools and individuals to keep taking action in that sense, as to go in the same frame with what has been settled nine years ago, precisely in 2010, within the same area with local communities.
This year 2019, the focus will be more on the need to protect migratory birds by being the solution to plastic pollution. And it aligns perfectly with the 2018 World Enironment Day’s theme on beating plastic pollution. Our Activities on this World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) will mainly tackle: • raising public awareness among local communities in the town of Sô-Ava on the function of migratory bird species and the importance of protecting them, as well as the risks related to plastic pollution for those species survival; • conducting birdwatching and field trip activities to get those communities close to the richness they do possess in their area, by also taking into account official elected of the town; and finally • getting media (TV, Radio, Internet, print-media) involved in spreading the word beyond that little area of Sô-Ava to a larger or bigger target in the whole country. The expected number of participants to this awareness program will range from 50 to 150 people. And hopefully by the end of that day, we would have addressed a great point in sewing a conservation thought within those communities mindsets, as far as plastic pollution linked to migratory bird well-being is concerned.