Impact of the Gulf War on birds 
MI Evans, C WT Pilcher and P Symens 
The war for Kuwait has had a profound and lasting effect on coastal 
habitats and inland landscapes in the surrounding countries, most 
especially Kuwait itself and Saudi Arabia. We summarise here the 
findings of three teams sent to the Gulf by the International Council for 
Bird Preservation (ICBP) to assess the impact of the Gulf War on bird 
populations. They were supported by and worked with the staff of the 
National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development 
(NCWCD) of Saudi Arabia and the Environment Protection Council 
(EPC) of Kuwait, with financial assistance generously provided by the 
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). 
Roy Dennis (RSPB) and Burr Heneman (ICBP-USA) arrived in Saudi 
Arabia on 28 February, the last day of the war, and spent the first half of 
March carrying out a rapid assessment of oil pollution damage and 
making recommendations to the NCWCD for immediate action. 
One urgent recommendation was that the spring wader migration 
should be monitored because of the threat posed by the huge amounts of 
beached oil along the shores of the Gulf. An international team of eight 
ornithologists, led by MIE, undertook this during 5 April-29 May and 
also censused the breeding seabirds of the offshore islands in June 
together with PS (NCWCD). In Kuwait CWTP and Dave Sexton (RSPB) 
spent 3-28 May surveying the coastal and inland desert habitats for war 
damage. The results of these surveys are summarised below, together 
with other information on war damage known to us. 
Regional round-up 
The longer-term damage of the Gulf War to ecosystems in the region 
cannot be predicted now and will only become clear if there is a concerted 
effort by Gu\( states to monitor the health of these ecosystems over the 
coming years. This article deals only with the short-term, obvious impact 
of the Gulf War on birds. 
Kuwait 
Current estimates are that 7-8 million barrels of oil were spilled into the 
sea during the war in late January/ February, by far the biggest spill in 
history. Kuwait's mainland coastline and offshore islands were 
endangered by two of the three major slicks. That from Mina Al-Bakr in 
Iraq threatened Kuwait Bay and the northern islands, whilst the other. 
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