KARACHI: Apart from causing economic loss and physical damage to infrastructure, this year's monsoon rains bring hope for migratory bird species in Pakistan, the WWF-Pakistan said on Saturday.

The widespread rains in Sindh and Balochistan have helped improve freshwater bodies where thousands of birds come to visit in the winter season, it added.

Marking the World Migratory Birds day, it showed worries over a range of problems from plastic pollution to habitat loss and the impacts of climate change, saying that the migratory birds are increasingly under threat from human activity.

The statement said that migrating birds face many dangers along the way, however, they bring multiple benefits to humans such as seed dispersal, pollination and pest control.

WWF-Pakistan believes that "the rapid fall in population of migratory birds in the country is most likely one of the factors causing a rise in locust swarms, which destroyed crops in many areas in Sindh and Punjab. These birds not only help control the populations of insects and some fish species but improve habitat for other wildlife".

It requested that the federal government must resume the Annual Winter Fowl Survey, which was conducted every year in the country to ascertain the number of migratory birds and their migration patterns.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020