Israel Hosts 13th Meeting of the AEWA Technical Committee
Group Photo of AEWA TC13 in Israel © Simon Nemtzov
Bonn, 24 March 2016 – The 13th Meeting of the AEWA Technical Committee took place from 14 to 17 March at the kind invitation of the Government of Israel. The meeting was held at the Nahsholim Sea Side Resort and was co-organized by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Israel Ornithological Center of the Society for the Protection of Nature. The international meeting was held under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel as well as the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection.
"I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Government of Israel for its excellent hosting of AEWA’s 13th Technical Committee Meeting." said AEWA Executive Secretary, Jacques Trouvilliez. “The meeting was held in the true spirit of flyway cooperation, allowing experts from across our flyway to effectively work together for the benefit of the migratory waterbird species protected under AEWA” said Trouvilliez.
Israel, which joined AEWA in 2002, is located at a major bird migratory crossing point where the West Asia/East Africa and Black Sea/Mediterranean flyways intersect, making it an important Range State for many iconic species covered by AEWA such as cranes, storks, pelicans and waders.
As a reward at the end of a productive three-day meeting, participants were able to witness first-hand the breath-taking migration of thousands of migratory pelicans, white storks and cranes over Israel during a field visit to the Hula Valley, a vital stop-over site for birds migrating from Africa to Europe and back located in the northern tip of the Great Rift Valley. A list of all sighted species can be found here.
The meeting in Israel was the first meeting of the AEWA Technical Committee since the 6th Session of the Meeting of the Parties to AEWA, which was held in Bonn last November. AEWA’s Technical Committee provides the scientific and technical advice and expertise which is essential for the implementation of the Agreement.
The primary focus of the meeting was to review the Technical Committee’s Work Plan for the period 2016-2018 and to set the priorities for the coming three years as well as provide guidance on various conservation activities under AEWA.
Over the course of the three days, the Technical Committee further refined and made plans for the implementation of over 70 individual tasks assigned to eight specialized working groups.
During the meeting, Dr. Saulius Svazas from Lithuania was elected as the Chair of the AEWA Technical Committee for the period 2016 – 2018 and Dr. Ruth Cromie from the United Kingdom as Vice-Chair and the meeting heard reports from its regional representatives and the Secretariat on the status of implementation of the Agreement.
The meeting in Israel was also the first Technical Committee meeting for a number of new Technical Committee representatives, including for: Dr. Pierre Defos Du Rau (France) as the new thematic expert for Game Management, Dr. Philippe Karpe (Cameroon) as the new thematic expert for Rural Economics, Ms Oleysa Petrovych (Ukraine) as the new thematic expert on Communication, Education and Public Awareness (CEPA), Dr. Ruth Cromie (United Kingdom) as new regional representative of North and South-Western Europe, Dr. Sid Imad Cherkaoui (Morocco) as new regional representative of Northern Africa and Mr Mikko Alhainen (Finland) as the new Non-Governmental Organisation representative for the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC).
"I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the “old” and new representatives of AEWA’s Technical Committee for their active contributions to the meeting in Israel. It is the combination of the expertise and the professionalism of the people it brings together, which makes AEWA’s Technical Committee such an effective and important advisory body of the Agreement” said Trouvilliez.
All documents related to the meeting can be accessed here.
Last updated on 17 June 2016