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The Albatross and Petrel Agreement has chosen the theme “Climate Change” to mark the third World Albatross Day, to be celebrated on 19 June 2022. This follows the inaugural theme “Eradicating Island Pests” in 2020 and “Ensuring Albatross-friendly Fisheries” last year. The featured species chosen for 2022 are two of the three species of albatrosses that breed in the North Pacific: the Black-footed Phoebastria nigripes and the Laysan P. immutabilis. These two Near Threatened albatrosses have most of their breeding populations on the low-lying atolls of the USA’s North-Western Hawaiian Islands, where they are at risk from sea level rise and increases in the number and severity of storms that together result in the loss of breeding habitat and flooding of nests leading to loss of eggs and chicks, both considered a consequence of climate change.
Kitty Harviill signs her artwork for ABUN Project #39 in her studio
For the third year running the Albatross and Petrel Agreement has collaborated with Artists and Biologists Unite for Nature (ABUN) to produce artworks to help raise awareness of World Albatross Day in the cause of the conservation of ACAP-listed albatrosses, petrels and shearwaters (click here). ABUN’s 39th Project produced artworks depicting these two Northern Pacific albatrosses over the extended period of January to March (click here). No less than 38 ABUN artists participated, using photographs supplied to ACAP as inspiration. All these artworks are available for viewing in a photo album on ACAP’s Facebook page. Already some of them have been used to illustrate posts to ACAP Latest News, including two that feature participating artists, Flávia Barreto from Brazil and Grisselle Chock in the USA.
The Agreement now takes pleasure, fittingly on Earth Day, in releasing a collage poster depicting 76 #39 artworks put together by ABUN co-founder, Kitty Harvill. Soon to follow will be the Project #39 music video, produced as in 2020 and 2021 by Kitty and musician John Nicolosi. Next month ACAP will release eight posters chosen from #39 artworks and designed by Michelle Risi to add to the 12 WAD2022 photo posters she produced that are already available on this website and via Facebook
With grateful thanks to Kitty Harvill, the contributing ABUN artists and the photographers whose pictures offered inspiration.
John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 22 April 2022