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The Wings Over Wetlands - African-Eurasian Flyways Project
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The Wings Over Wetlands - African-Eurasian Flyways Project
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Panel Participants of the 1st WOW Press Conference from left:  Dr. Tobias Salathe (Ramsar Convention on Wetlands),  Bert Lenten (UNEP/AEWA), Dr. Elsa Nickel (BMU), Dr. Leon Bennun (BirdLife International), Ward Hagemeijer (Wetlands International), Edoardo Zandri (UNOPS/ UNEP-GEF)Bonn, 20 November 2006 - Launched today, the Wings Over Wetlands (WOW) Project is the largest international wetland and waterbird conservation initiative ever to take place in the African-Eurasian region. This 12 million US dollar project aims to conserve the critical areas needed by waterbirds migrating across these continents.

Key international organizations involved in the study and conservation of waterbirds are joining forces to improve understanding and flyway-scale protection of migratory waterbirds across Africa and Eurasia. Waterbirds migrate vast distances, and the project is designed accordingly, covering the entire African-Eurasian area, including Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago.

The German Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel congratulated with the words: “Without the wintering areas for the white stork in Africa or the breeding areas in Siberia for the geese hibernating in the Wadden Sea, all protection efforts in Europe are useless. Acknowledging the need for wide ranging international flyway cooperation I welcome the international support of this project including an important German contribution of one million Euros”

The WOW Project is sponsored by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) through the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the German Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the Secretariat of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (UNEP/AEWA Secretariat) and several other donors. The project will help foster international collaboration along the entire flyways, build capacity for monitoring and conservation, and demonstrate best practice in the conservation and wise use of wetlands in 12 selected countries.

Click map to enlarge!Full press release: [English] [French] [German]

WOW Project - Fact Sheet
Photos from the Press Conference: [01] [02] [03] [04]
Overview of Initial Press Coverage - Running List

Other WOW Project Pages on the AEWA Website:

UNEP/AEWA Website Announcement: Start of the Wings Over Wetlands - African-Eurasian Flyways Project
The Project Partnership - Overview
WOW Demonstration Projects - Map of Project Area with Demonstration Sites

WOW PROJECT NEWS, UPDATES and DOCUMENTS:

WOW PROJECT WEBSITE: www.flywaysproject.org (under construction)

FIRST WOW UPDATE: English | Français

GEF PROJECT DOCUMENTS: HTML | MS Word

For more information please also consult the following websites:

Wetlands International WOW Project Page: www.wetlands.org/wow

BirdLife International WOW Project page: www.birdlife.org/action/ground/wow_project/index.html

Ramsar Convention WOW Project Page: www.ramsar.org/wn/w.n.wow_launch_press_e.htm

http://www.wetlands.org/
http://www.birdlife.org/
http://www.unep-aewa.org/
http://www.ramsar.org/
http://www.unep-wcmc.org/
http://www.gefweb.org/
http://www.unep.org/
http://www.unops.org/unops/

 

 

 

 

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