刷卡助白鹳

刷卡助白鹳

意大利的鸟盟成员与银行的联手发信用卡协议，每发一张鸟会就获得三欧元的捐助。（其实一点都不新，我用了十年的信用卡就是用款总额里的一个百分比，由信用卡公司捐助日本鸟会的，每年都收到鸟会的感谢信，说明这一年我又为他们带来多少捐助）

内地的鸟会也可以从这方面动动脑筋。

http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2009/06/lipu_credit_card.html

Help the storks while shopping!

24-06-2009

Recently, LIPU (BirdLife in Italy) and Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, one of the main Italian banks, set up a credit card that helps nature. This topped-up card is safe and easy to use, both in Italy and abroad, and LIPU receives 3 Euros for every card issued.

So far this initiative has been a great success, with 1,800 credit cards activated. "The idea behind the card to help nature is a great initiative", says Sara Orlandi, Fundraiser at LIPU. "The nature credit card is also cheaper than other cards and you can easily top it up with the home banking system. But most importantly it supports LIPU’s work in protecting our environment".

Created in 1965, LIPU was the first Italian association dealing with environmental and bird protection. Displayed on the front of each credit card is a pair of White Storks Ciconia ciconia. This species migrate from their breeding grounds in the warmer parts of Europe and northwest Africa to spend their non-breeding period mainly in tropical Africa, down to the bottom of South Africa.

During their long migrations, White Stork glide between areas of rising hot air – a technique known as soaring. This method, which cannot be used over large water bodies or high mountains, limits their potential routes and concentrates birds into narrow geographic corridors and through tight ‘bottlenecks’.

This concentration makes soaring migrants highly vulnerable to localised threats. White Stork suffer from habitat loss through habitat change, hunting, collision with man-made structures such as power lines and wind turbines, and secondary poisoning.