In Lithuania, over the past 20 years, the number of birds breeding in the agricultural landscape has decreased by almost half, and the rate of their disappearance has accelerated five times.
At the same time, the state of biodiversity in all rural areas is deteriorating, the Ministry of Environment reported.
Compared to 2000, the population of observed bird species decreased by 49,1 percent, compared to 2014, by 31 percent.
The extent of their decline over the past seven years has accelerated by 21 and 4,4 percent, respectively, compared to the 2,3-year period. point per year.
Population monitoring of 14 bird species is carried out in Lithuania every year: white stork, pampas, shrike, barn swallow, ground squirrel, yellow warbler, meadow shrike, porcupine, brown wagtail, common woodpecker, starling, warbler, dachshund and yellow star.
According to the Ministry of Environment, the rapid decline of birds is associated with the decline of mixed agriculture, excessive use of fertilizers and plant protection products, land reclamation, the increase in the area of cultivated fields, and the decrease in the diversity of cultivated crops.
According to the data of the Lithuanian Ornithological Society, the populations of the white stork, shrike, swallow, common woodpecker and dagile are decreasing most drastically, while the condition of the pempes, meadow pipit and porcupine populations is deteriorating.
"In our country, as animal husbandry takes the place of grain farming, perennial meadows and pastures are constantly decreasing, and the structure of the fields is changing. Due to the increased use of pesticides for birds, natural food in the fields - invertebrates and wild plant seeds - which are very important for birds in the cold season, has decreased," the report reads.
The Ministry of the Environment says that it is necessary to change some agricultural rules and support practices to be more environmentally friendly.
"For example, to ensure that the area of meadows and pastures does not decrease, to encourage farmers to restore lost landscape elements, to farm using as few chemicals as possible, to set aside more areas where pesticides are not used, allowing wild vegetation to establish, to support the restoration of lost wetland areas and the proper management of existing ones" , - said Algirdas Klimavičius, head of the Nature Protection Policy Group of the Ministry of the Environment.
