The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change (MECC) organized a joint meeting with a number of state agencies in order to combat the invasive Myna bird, which poses a threat to the countrys environmental balance and biodiversity, within the framework of the executive plan for the national project to reduce and control the numbers of this bird.

The meeting was attended by representatives of: the Directorate of Environment of the Qatar Armed Forces, the Aspire Zone Foundation, Qatar University, the Commercial Registration and Licenses Department of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Municipality's departments of: Livestock, General Cleanliness, Agricultural Affairs, Public Parks, in addition to the public service department of the Katara Cultural Village Foundation, the Private Engineering Office, the General Authority of Customs, and the Qatari Society of Al Gannas.

In this context, Wildlife Development Department director at MECC Mohamed Al Khanji said that the Ministry developed a plan to implement the national project to limit and control Myna bird numbers in the Qatari environment, as well as to raise community awareness in supporting Myna control programs.

At the end of the meeting, participants recommended selecting coordinator from all participating parties to execuse the plan, in addition to establishing a field work team from the parties concerned with monitoring, controlling, and getting rid of this bird, in addition to collecting data on the numbers of birds hunted by the Wildlife Development Department team.

The recommendations also included preparing an inventory of Invasive Alien Species present in Qatar and monitoring them, as well as conducting a study to understand the extent of their impact on local birds and animals, in addition to launching local and international initiatives to provide new scientific solutions to hunt down the invasive Myna bird, developing mechanisms to control its numbers, in line with the public safety protocol and animal welfare standards.

The recommendations also called for activating community participation in hunting Myna birds, and adopting a basic systematic to that end.

The spread of the Myna bird is one of the biggest challenges facing many countries, with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) including it in the 100 of the World's Worst Invasive Alien Species in the year 2000, due to the threat to biodiversity of the local environment that the Myna bird poses, negatively affecting bird reproduction in the local environment.

Source: Qatar News Agency