Swallows in Nigeria

Swallows that summer in Europe spend their winters far away in parts of Africa. Migratory birds like swallows are in the unfortunate and vulnerable position of being dependent on not just one isolated habitat, but on large swathes of the earth for their survival. Though their habitat in countries like Great Britain may be improving because of the efforts of conservationists, in other stretches of habitat along their migration routes they are under threat. Recently I was listening to the BBCs Natural History Radio and was struck by how the story of these swallows illustrates the disparity and unfairness in resource distribution among humans in the world today and how this inequality threatens natural systems.

First of all you have the British who, seeing declining populations of the swallows in their region, discovered the source of the decline to be in the winter home of the birds. In Nigeria, a country rich in oil and also the location of many migratory roosts for the birds on their long trip to South Africa, the majority of the population is so poor that these tiny birds have become a food source. An Italian team of ornithologists found that the swallows were being caught and sold as food by poor people in the region where the birds have returned to roost for thousands of years. As many as 200,000 swallows are being captured and killed each year in one small area of Nigeria. This episode of Natural History Radio focused on the success story, how conservationists were able to stop local people from catching and selling the swallows.

The solution was ecotourism. When swallow enthusiasts traveled from the rich world to see and study the roosts of the swallows in Nigeria each would have to pay a tax, the proceeds of which would go to the local population. This would give the locals a reason to allow the birds to live, because the swallows would be more valuable to them alive than dead.