The Americas are home to three of the world’s eight major bird migration routes, which extend across 35 countries from the Arctic Circle in the north to Tierra del Fuego in the south. They are also home to more than 540 globally threatened bird species (BirdLife International 2023), with research suggesting that North America alone may have lost as many as 3 billion birds since 1970 (Rosenberg et al. 2019). As excellent indicators of ecosystem health, these declines in bird populations reflect a wider decline in biodiversity, driven by numerous threats that impact species and the habitats they rely on. Given that many species cross multiple national boundaries during their annual cycle, coordinated efforts are needed across borders and along flyways to mitigate these threats and ensure long-term persistence of biodiversity and ecosystem services.

In December 2022, at the 15^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15) in Montreal, Canada, a new partnership was announced between BirdLife International, the National Audubon Society and the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF). The partnership brings together a wealth of skills and knowledge in science, technology, finance, monitoring, and communications. After ten months of planning, the partnership officially presented the Americas Flyway Initiative (AFI) during Climate Week in New York in September 2023. Inspired by a similar initiative launched in 2021 for the East Asian Australasian flyway, AFI is an innovative, hemispheric approach to address the joint biodiversity and climate crises by integrating and scaling up nature-based solutions and infrastructure compatible with biodiversity in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Through the initiative, more than 30 critical landscapes and seascapes along the Americas flyways will be identified for urgent conservation, restoration and management by local partners, communities, and Indigenous Peoples. Projects implemented at these sites will focus on sustainable development that benefits local communities while also safeguarding critical habitats for migratory and endemic threatened resident birds throughout the Western Hemisphere. There are eight solution types to be supported by the initiative: 1. Conservation and restoration of ecosystems, 2. Coastal zone management, 3. Sustainable agriculture and aquaculture, 4. Potable water, sanitation and irrigation, 5. Urban Infrastructure, 6. Linear infrastructure such as electrical transmission lines and roads, 7. Solid waste management, and 8. Clean energy generation. Supported by innovative funding mechanisms from private and public sources, the initiative represents an unprecedented investment in sustainable development in the Americas.