This year, the Gorontalo region in Indonesia hosts two events which are particularly relevant for World Migratory Bird Day. Indeed, it is the location where WMBD 2016 official trailer was shot, and where a registered activity is taking place on the 10 May for the first time in this area. No profit society “Gorontalo Biodiversity Forum” (GBF) created and promoted both the winning video and the registered event: in this article we highlight and describe them separately. So far this year, World Migratory Bird Day registered events are 23 in Indonesia only, improving the trends registered in the past years (15 events in 2014, 17 in 2015) and confirming this Country’s will to raise awareness on WMBD themes.
 

The winner of the video competition – Pictures from Limboto Lake

Bonn, 9 May 2016 – The winner of the WMBD video competition 2016 is Iwan Hunowu, from Indonesia. Thanks to the active collaboration of his team of friends, Iwan was able to create a video which perfectly combines music and pictures, following the year’s theme of illegal killing, taking and trade of migratory birds. The idea for the video came only five days before the deadline in front of a coffee together with his friends, and it was quite easy to develop. The scenario of Limboto Lake could easily fits with the WMBD theme of 2016, being a theatre of different threats for birds, specially hunting. They used a drone for capturing the wide view of the landscape and a camera for capturing the birds, and later, joining all together with a video editing program.

As stated above, the place chosen for the video-making was the Limboto Lake, which is the greatest lake in the Gorontalo region. Even if it wasn’t chosen as one of the most important habitat for migratory waterbirds in Indonesia, the Limboto Lake in the last years became very popular among birdwatchers and photographers, which are visiting this place and start documenting and monitoring different species of birds. For example a member of the group of Gorontalo Biodiversity Forum (GBF), Idham Ali, managed to get photographs of Little Curlew (Numenius minutus) which have been used for a paper published in the Australia Birdlife volume 3 No. 4 in December 2014. So far, have been identified 49 species of migratory birds at Limboto Lake, including one protected species by Indonesian Law, the Asian Dowitcher (Limnodromus semipalmatus).

Iwan wants to thank all the people who participate in the realization of the video. Most of them belong to the no profit society Gorontalo Biodiversity Forum, which include people who have interest and passion in biodiversity conservation especially in Gorontalo region. GBF members have a wide range of backgrounds, and share their interest in nature, environment and birds. They are:  Debby Mano (photographer and journalist), Idham Ali (wildlife photographer), Rosyid Azhar (photographer and journalist), Danny Rogi (conservation practitioner), Panji A Fauzan (Burung Indonesia), Fajar Kaprawi (Burung Indonesia), Nur S. Bone (Burung Indonesia), and Dessy Rahmayanti (Bappeda Gorontalo Province). A special thanks also to Dion Pramana and Mohamad Nofal Taliki who have done a great job with drone operation and video editing.

Celebrating World Migratory Bird Day 2016 in Limboto Lake, Gorontalo

9 May 2016 - The location seen in the winning video in the World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) trailer competition is the stage of one of the events taking place in Indonesia. In particular, Gorontalo Biodiversity Forum is celebrating WMBD for the first time in Gorontalo region of Sulawesi. The main goal of this event is raising public awareness concerning migratory birds and actions taken to ensure their conservation especially protecting their habitat in Limboto Lake, one of the important spots for migratory birds and other endemic fauna in Gorontalo.

On 10 May Gorontalo Biodiversity Forum organized a birding event at Limboto Lake in the morning and then educational activities and media trip. Specifically, the Forum is visiting a school in the area, giving a presentation on birds migrating over the Limboto Lake and distributing WMBD posters and stickers to students. Moreover, media from Gorontalo are encouraged to attend this event.

Gorontalo Biodiversity Forum initiated their activities in the area of Limboto Lake, in the east part of Indonesia, and have voluntary worked to promote biodiversity conservation in the area and to raise awareness on several biodiversity issues.

Thanks to WMBD 2016, the Forum is acting together with other institution and local villagers to campaign against bird poaching across the area. They already have support from several village leaders and government (Natural Resource Conservation Agency/BKSDA Sulawesi Utara) to prevent poaching activities in several villages. This event represents a strong message to bird poachers and the whole community.

This article was written by Paolo Capurro and Luigi Capano Raineri during their internship at the Common Information Management, Communication and Outreach Team of the UNEP/CMS and UNEP/AEWA Secretariats.