A “superhighway” for birds is in line to become the first World Heritage Site of its kind after winning the backing of the Government.
The East Atlantic Flyway is one of seven locations that have been nominated for consideration as Unesco prepares to update its famous list.
It has been added to a “tentative list”, finalised by an independent panel, which is updated every decade or so with the places that are deemed to have the best chance of success.
Used by around 90 million coastal and wild birds every year, the East Atlantic Flyway starts at northeast Canada and runs as far south as South Africa.
Running along the east coast of England, its route takes in wetlands located in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Kent.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said the Flyway had been added to the list “in recognition of its vital importance to bird populations and wildlife”.
“The area sees huge transient bird populations pass through every year as the seasons change,” the department added.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has long campaigned for what it calls “the UK’s wild bird superhighway” to be made a World Heritage Site.
More than one million overwintering birds fill British wetlands each winter, according to the charity, with 200,000 migrating and breeding birds arriving in spring before 700,000 birds flock to these areas in the autumn.
Some of these birds stay in Britain, while others travel through southwest Europe into Africa. The RSPB has described the east coastal wetlands as both a “key destination and pit stop” for birds flying to and from Scandinavia, northern Europe and the Canadian Arctic.
Michael Copleston, the director of RSPB England, said the organisation was “absolutely thrilled”, adding: “The east coast is an essential refuge for over 155 bird species as well as a world-leading example of how we can manage our coastlines in the face of a changing climate, with true value for nature and people.”
There are already hundreds of Marine Protected Areas, Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation dotted across the British parts of the Flyway.
If made a Unesco heritage site, it would go on to receive additional international legal protections across the board, and could also be eligible for cash from the World Heritage Fund in future.
More than 155 species of international significance use the area of the Flyway spanning from the Humber to the Thames, a report found last year, of which 29 use the east coast in “internationally important” numbers — meaning the wetlands are crucial to their survival.
Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay, the Heritage Minister, said: “Today we are confirming our support for some of the most enchanting heritage sites and breathtaking landscapes in the UK and its Overseas Territories as they bid for Unesco World Heritage Site status.
“All the locations being put forward would be worthy recipients of this accolade – and we will give them our full backing so they can benefit from the international recognition it can bring.”
While there are already two sets of bird sanctuaries, in Senegal and China, included in the 1,157-strong list of World Heritage Sites, the Flyway would become the first ever bird route to be recognised.
The Banc d'Arguin nature reserve, in Mauritania, and the Wadden Sea, the largest tidal flats system in the world, are also World Heritage Sites. Both play vital roles in the migration of millions of birds every year and are situated on the path of the Flyway.
In 2003, Egypt nominated one of its own bird routes, which runs from North Sinai to the south of the country via the eastern desert. However, glacial progress during the intervening two decades it has spent on a tentative list suggests the Egyptian proposal may never take flight.
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Bird 'superhighway' may become first World Heritage Site of its kind - The Telegraph
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