An avian flu early warning system, able to alert countries and communities about the arrival of potentially infected wild birds, was to be developed by an alliance of organisations led by the United Nations.
Sources said here on Saturday that "The system would be designed to alert authorities on different continents that migratory water birds were on their way. Special maps were to be developed for individual countries pinpointing the precise locations such as lakes, marshes and other wetland areas where the birds are likely to go," they added.
According to them, armed with such information, local health and environment bodies on continents like Africa, Asia and in Latin America would be better able to prioritise their planning and response.
This may include the issuance of advice to vulnerable groups in potential 'hot spot' areas. Advice might include recommending that farmers move poultry away from key wetlands so as to minimise cross transmission with migratory birds up to hygiene advice to licensed hunters on handling harvested birds.
The warning system, details of which were announced at an international wildlife conference taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, is to be developed by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) with support and funding from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
However, the timing of migrations could vary from year to year and from season to season depending on numerous factors including weather and climatic conditions. An efficient early warning system would have to feed in observations from sites throughout the world on when water birds were starting their migration and relay this onto countries likely to receive these populations," they added.