Island leaders gathered in Curitiba, Brazil to address island biodiversity at the Eighth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and announced significant conservation commitments to protect the future of islands. The President of Palau, H.E. Tommy Remengesau Jr., hosted the event, and with the support of leaders across Micronesia announced the Micronesia Challenge: to protect 30 percent of near-shore marine and 20 percent of terrestrial resources on islands by 2020. The Micronesia Challenge is a shared commitment by the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Territory of Guam. The announcements by Micronesia generated enthusiastic responses, including new conservation commitments and actions from Fiji, Indonesia, New Zealand and others. The CBD is expected to adopt a Programme of Work that will lay out guidance for island nations and nations with islands for integrated conservation and management of their vital natural resources. (BirdLife 29.03.2006; see also Convention on Biological Diversity 29.03.2006).

(Editors note: Oceania supports 9.6% of extant columbid species (29) but with 12 (41.4%) of these species listed as threatened, it supports a fifth of all threatened species.)

The Near Threatened Madeira Laurel Pigeon Columba trocaz, is endemic to the Mediterranean island of Madeira (Portugal). Loss of its' laurel forest habitat and over-hunting has led to a severe decline in the species population, which is thought to number no more than 8000 birds. One particular threat arises from the damage it causes to crops on the boundaries of its natural habitat, which results in many birds being illegally killed and a negative influence on the enforcement and management actions undertaken by the authorities. A new scientific paper reports the findings of research that provides strong evidence that bird movements and shifts in abundance are related to fruit usage and availability. The use of crops is not associated with lack of natural foods, but is connected to the existence of predictable food sources in close proximity to the forest; the use of the agricultural fields may be mostly opportunistic and governed by the birds’ movements in the forest. The authors hypothesise that fruit phenology will influence the use of agricultural areas only to the extent that it governs such movements to the proximity of such areas, but that there was no strong evidence that crops are attacked only when the availability of natural foods is low. They suggest that the conservation value of forest edges should be redefined.

Oliveira, P. (namaste "at" netmadeira.com), Menezes, D., Jones, M. and Nogales, M. (2006). The influence of fruit abundance on the use of forest and cultivated field habitats by the endemic Madeira laurel pigeon Columba trocaz: Implications for conservation. Biological Conservation 130(4): 538-548.

Scientists have warned that city centres and urban areas could become major health hazards if feral birds become infected and are killed by the H5N1 strain. Dr Bob McCracken, former president of the British Veterinary Association, confirmed that all wild birds would pose a threat. "In the event of the infection being present in our wild bird population there is a danger to all avian species, wild, feral and domestic - and that includes pigeons." The pigeon population could potentially present a serious health risk to humans as people could inhale faecal dust from infected birds. However, to what extent pigeons are able to carry and spread the virus is not yet known, although if H5N1 was confirmed in British wild birds, all species should be considered at risk (24dash.com 03.03.2006).

The H5N1 strain of bird flu virus was confirmed in a pigeon found in an isolated part of Constanta province in southeastern Romania."This pigeon was found dead in a field, a few kilometres from Topraisar where bird flu was detected on February 14," the agriculture ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. The highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of the virus, which can be transmitted to humans, was first confirmed in Romania in mid-October 2005 (TODAYonline (Singapore) 23.02.2006).

Red-tailed Monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) have been observed hunting African Green Pigeons (Treron calva) in Uganda. Takeshi Furuichi, a scientist at the Meiji-Gakuin University in Japan, observed two cases of successful hunting and one case of unsuccessful hunting during just over two and a half hours of observations at a fruiting fig tree (Ficus saussureana). Red-tailed Monkeys stalked the pigeons until they were within 2–3 m, and then jumped and caught them. This is the first record of cercopithecoid monkeys hunting birds that are outside of the nest and moving freely, and also the first record of Red-tailed Monkeys hunting vertebrates. However rare it may be, the repeated hunting attempts using similar techniques suggest that this type of hunting was not a one-time event that happened by chance.

Furuichi, T. (furuichi "at" k.meijigakuin.ac.jp) (2006). Red-tailed monkeys (Cercopithecus ascanius) hunt green pigeons (Treron calva) in the Kalinzu Forest in Uganda. Primates 47(2): 174-176.

A pigeon seller who died in southern Iraq on the 05/02 after suffering flu-like symptoms owned a pigeon found to have the deadly H5N1 virus. Adel Muhajir al-Maliki, governor of the southern town of Amara, said "We suspect he died of bird flu as our investigations revealed that he had birds at home and one of the pigeons was infected by H5N1". Dawood Mohammed Sharif, head of Baghdad's veterinary laboratory, said samples from the pigeon had tested positive for H5N1. Iraq already has two confirmed human deaths from the bird flu virus in the northern Kurdish provinces and two teams from the World Health Organization are currently in the country to assess the situation (TODAYonline (Singapore) 07.02.2006).

On Wednesday 08/02, police cars and ambulances drove through the streets of Amara using loudspeakers to warn residents of the southern city to kill their birds amid fears that bird flu was spreading in Iraq (Reuters 08.02.2006).

In northern Iraq, more than 200,000 birds have been culled to stem the spread of avian flu that has killed a teenage girl. Veterinarian Sam Yingst of the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit in Egypt who led an investigation into the virus in the region said that tens of thousands of birds had been culled in the region's capital, Arbil, and 200,000 in Sulaimaniya, but the deadly H5N1 strain had been found only at one site so far (Reuters 12.02.2006).