First published on 10/01/2014, and last updated on 03/11/2018
By: Wim Hiemstra
Ria Oevering holds a young godwit chick, about 3 weeks old. The bird hatched in May 2014 on their dairy family farm, where the Oevering’s maintain biodiversity-rich meadows. Chicks eat insects in the herb-rich grasslands, gain enough weight to be in a good condition to migrate in July. The godwit is given a set of rings so that she can be recognized from afar as she travels to southern Europe or even to West Africa to escape the northern winter. Hopefully, in one of the coming years this bird will return to their farm in Fryslân, a province in the north of the Netherlands.
In Fryslân, some groups of cooperative farmers are concerned about migratory birds. Birds are intimately connected to our cultural heritage. They feature in songs and poems. We could consider these farmer groups as ICCAs, even though the terminology is not used. The Oevering farm is becoming increasingly unique as many dairy farmers replace herb-rich meadows with more productive grasses. Whereas herb-rich grasslands are less productive, they do contribute to cow health.
A group of farmers, citizens, artists, musicians, nature museums, ecologists, scientists, educational institutions started an initiative, King of the Meadows, to dialogue on deteriorating biocultural diversity and jointly develop solutions. This summer 2014 there was an open-air theatre: The king loses its kingdom. We are eager to connect to ICCAs that have thriving bird biodiversity, communities of people that struggle to maintain this deep soft value. In Europe we seek contacts to jointly develop a European Citizen Manifesto on Biocultural Rights and influence policy makers. In Africa, we are told that the godwit may connect us with ICCAs in Casamance… Migratory birds connect us across the world!
More information on this dedicated website, in Dutch; and on this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcbMDLDLK6s&feature=youtube_gdata_player
