The study is the new red list for European birds. Red lists are lists of which animal species are endangered and to what extent.
35 bird species found in Denmark are on the list.
– We are in a natural crisis, where thousands of animal, plant and fungal species are in danger of extinction. This puts a thick line under the new European red list for birds, says Minister of the Environment Lea Wermelin (S) in a comment to Ritzau.
17 Danish bird species have become more endangered, compared to the list that was published six years ago. Conversely, 21 Danish bird species have gotten better – they are either no longer endangered or have become less endangered.
– At the same time, it is good news that a number of bird species such as kingfishers and red kites have been removed from the European Red List. It shows that it is possible to reverse the decline of species, the Minister of the Environment adds.
Carsten Rahbek, professor of biodiversity at the University of Copenhagen, emphasizes that the red lists are important.
– It is one of the most important tools to see which species we need to pay special attention to, he says.
He also believes that the list of endangered bird species in Denmark can be read as roughly the status quo.
Knud Flensted, a biologist and nature policy employee at the Danish Ornithological Society, sees both positive beats and alarm signals in the new list.
– That is also the whole purpose of the red list – to show where things are going badly and where things are going well, he says.
He highlights the bird group the meadow birds as some of the species that are having a hard time in Denmark and at European level.
– It is, for example, brush cocks and red legs that breed on our beach meadows and fresh meadows. They are really upset in Denmark, and they are doing so at European level as well. So it is alarming, he says.
He points out that it is, among other things, the overgrowth of meadows and forests and cultivation that make life difficult for the meadow birds in Europe.
Some of the birds that have been on the list since last are wall sailors, rooks and quail.
But there is also good news, for a number of birds have flown off the list. This applies, for example, to kingfishers, steppe hawks and herring gulls.
– A number of birds of prey have become less endangered. This is partly due to the fact that we have made an intensive effort to limit the threats against them, says Knud Flensted.
It has been a bonus for a strip of bird of prey species that it has been possible to limit the illegal control of them, he explains.
The assessment of the condition of the birds is based on more than 50 countries and territories in Europe. There are also red lists for, for example, Denmark and worldwide.
The lists are important for conserving biodiversity, assesses Professor Carsten Rahbek.
– The loss of biodiversity is often about species disappearing. And the red lists go in and look at which species are at risk for it, he says.
The Danish Ornithological Society encourages the authorities to focus on the red lists.