Every time we turn on our lights, electrical pulses make their way into our homes through barely visible wires that criss-cross our skies, threatening some of our most majestic soaring birds. But this doesn’t have to be the reality for our planet’s migratory birds.

Just five days before the start of Climate Week NYC, BirdLife International, supported by DEG Impulse, a subsidiary of the German Development Finance Institution DEG, has rolled out AVISTEP, an energy planning tool, in four new countries including Egypt, Kenya, Laos and Uzbekistan. This open-access tool, which has been in use in India, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam since 2022, helps developers and regulators identify areas where renewable energy infrastructure could impact birds. Equipped with this information, they can then ensure that facilities are developed in the most appropriate locations.

From floods in Poland, to droughts in the Amazon, the world is now at a tipping point for climate disasters. Simultaneously, the planet is facing an interlinked biodiversity crisis. It’s clear that a swift transition to renewable energy is vital.

However, if renewable energy is sited solely to maximize energy production, then millions of hectares of nature could be lost globally. This could impact the ranges of many hundreds of threatened species. The resulting loss of natural habitat would release almost 415 million tons of stored carbon, massively undermining the climate change benefits associated with a transition to renewable energy.

BirdLife’s Tris Allinson, who has led the development of AVISTEP, notes, “renewable energy is not truly ‘green’ unless efforts have been made to limit negative repercussions for biodiversity”.

Across the major flyways of the world, BirdLife and our partners have witnessed the threats that energy infrastructure poses to these birds. Each of the newly added countries – Egypt, Kenya, Laos and Uzbekistan – are experiencing rapidly expanding energy infrastructure, and have significant populations of potentially sensitive bird species.

Central Asian Flyway species at risk

In Uzbekistan, BirdLife partner Uzbekistan Society for the Protection of Birds (UzSPB) has worked to survey the Central Asian Flyway species that could be impacted by poorly placed renewables. Here, powerlines pose a major threat to bustards, while turbines impact raptors like the Steppe Eagle and Egyptian Vulture.

“Large soaring birds are extremely vulnerable to human-made structures through collision and electrocution. The latter is the major cause of death in Saker Falcon and the other 45 raptor species that migrate across the Himalayas.” – David Callahan, ‘From Mountains to Mangroves’, BirdLife Flyways Magazine

Ensuring the safety of migratory soaring birds in the African Eurasian Flyway

With their proximity to the Red Sea and Great Rift Valley, both Egypt and Kenya are important countries for tens of thousands of migratory soaring birds. Surrounded by bodies of water that are difficult for birds to cross, this area becomes a bottleneck for soaring birds that are avoiding the cold winters of Northern Europe and Asia by traveling to the African continent.

“Soaring birds minimise effort by moving slowly- a behaviour that leaves them vulnerable to hunting and collisions with power lines and wind turbines. As species near the apex of their ecosystems, any declines have a severe knock-on effect on other animals, plants and habitats” – David Callahan, ‘Flight Lines’, BirdLife Flyways Magazine

Vultures and other raptors already face threats of poisoning and hunting along their passage, so being able to minimise the threat of energy infrastructure will improve the outlook of these birds in the long term. Nature Conservation Egypt (BirdLife in Egypt), and NatureKenya (BirdLife in Kenya) have both been instrumental in providing the data necessary to address this issue using the AVISTEP platform.

Protecting storks in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

As a landlocked country outlined by the mighty Mekong River, the type of renewable energy that is expanding most rapidly in Laos is hydropower. While the migratory birds may not face the threat of collision with these riverine structures, the birds may collide with the many power lines that emanate from them to the neighbouring countries. Many storks, like the Asian Openbill, cross these landscapes during their migrations. AVISTEP is intended to keep their migration routes clear from new power lines and prevent these birds from being electrocuted.

AVISTEP allows anyone interested in planning on and offshore wind energy, solar energy, or powerlines, see the exact impact upon species across the entirety of each country. By zooming into a specific region, the user can see a green/amber/red colour coded map that shows whether an 5×5 km area is protected, contains high-risk species, or has wildlife rich habitat. Through the straightforward tool, the user can then easily share their findings as a pdf.

AVISTEP is now publicly available for use in Egypt, India, Kenya, Laos, Nepal, Thailand, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, and will be expanding to more countries in the near future. You can check it out now at AviStep- BirdLife International.

To read more passages from the special Flyways edition of the BirdLife Magazine, click here.