At the 19th CITES Conference of Parties (CoP 19 CITES) held in November 2022 in Panama, it was agreed that the status of White-rumped shama and Straw-headed bulbul (Pycnonotus zeylanicus), which were originally in Appendix II, would be upgraded to Appendix I. This means that these two songbird species are no longer allowed to be traded across borders. It took a year for the status to be upgraded, which was initiated by a proposal from Malaysia and Singapore.
TRAFFIC, a non-profit wildlife trade monitoring organization, noted that over a 10-year period (2008 - 2018), 15,480 stone magpies were seized from the illegal songbird trade, two-thirds of which came from the international illegal bird trade. Indonesia is on the top of the list with 7,373, followed by Malaysia and Thailand.
This rampant bird trade has led to calls to raise the CITES status of the magpie and catacomb to Appendix I. Achmad Ridha, a researcher from Burung Indonesia Foundation, said that the current condition of the White-rumped shama population in nature is already rare. He took the example of Java Island, which also has a population of White-rumped shama, but now this bird can only be found in forest areas, which are already very small in number.
Hunting and forest conversion are the main causes of the extinction of this lowland forest-dwelling songbird. "The remaining forest areas on the island of Java are mostly conservation areas such as National Parks," said Achmad. According to Achmad, if the population of stone magpie and other songbirds become extinct in nature, it will certainly have a negative impact on the environment. "These songbirds are generally insect predators. If they become extinct in nature, the insect population will be uncontrollable, putting agriculture at risk," said Achmad. Apart from being insect population controllers, birds also play an important role as plant seed dispersers so that they can help regenerate forests.
Until now, the forestry ministry has not included White-rumped shama in the list of protected animals. "Improving the conservation status of the White-rumped shama is not urgent because improving the conservation status is not a guarantee that this bird will not become extinct," said Achmad. According to him, if breeding can be encouraged so that the number of White-rumped shama increases so that it can meet demand and can increase the population in nature, this bird will remain sustainable.
