Millions of birds at risk from Italy’s planned Messina Strait Bridge

Rome: Every spring and autumn, millions of birds cross the Strait of Messina, a narrow channel between Sicily and mainland Italy that forms one of Europe’s most important migration bottlenecks.

This passage is a key part of the African-Eurasian flyway where species like European Honey Buzzards, Western Marsh Harriers, Black Kites, and European Bee-eaters funnel through after journeys of up to 2,700 km across the desert and 140 km over open sea. Besides being internationally important for bird migration, the area is home to habitats and species protected under the EU’s Natura 2000 network.

The Italian government has now given final approval for the construction of the Messina Strait bridge. It’s set to be the longest single-span bridge in the world at 3.7 km, with two towers nearly as tall as the Empire State Building. The bridge will place massive structures directly in the path of one of the busiest migratory routes, increasing the risk of collisions with towers and cables, and placing a deadly obstacle for countless birds. Its lighting will disorient birds, exhausting them and leading to more deaths. Over time, migration patterns might be disrupted.

The Strait’s rich and fragile marine habitats, including a protected kelp forest, will also be under threat from construction and associated infrastructure, which will have enormous impacts on the resting and feeding habitats used by the migratory birds on their long journeys.

Ariel Brunner, Director of BirdLife Europe & Central Asia, says: “Placing a giant bird trap across Europe’s third most important bird migration bottleneck is completely irresponsible. We cannot jeopardise the ecological health of large chunks of both Europe and Africa for an ill-conceived vanity project that makes no economic, engineering or security sense in the first place.”

Alessandro Polinori, President of LIPU, BirdLife’s Partner in Italy, says: “The Strait of Messina hosts several Natura 2000 sites, but the Appropriate Assessment was conducted in a biased manner, disregarding the provisions of the Habitats Directive. For this reason, LIPU, Legambiente, Greenpeace and WWF Italy sent a complaint to the European Commission.”

While the Italian government has given the green light, the project still requires validation from the Italian Court of Auditors and both national and EU environmental agencies.

We urge the Italian and EU governments to halt this project before construction causes irreversible harm to bird populations and the unique ecosystem of the Strait.