New Impetus for Cameroon’s Efforts to Accede to AEWA

Bonn/Yaoundé, 5 December 2016 – The Republic of Cameroon is re-energizing the process of its accession to AEWA with a multi-stakeholder consultation workshop taking place in Yaoundé from 7 – 8 December 2016.

The workshop, which is being co-organized by the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) of Cameroon and the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat, with financial support from the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) in Switzerland, is contributing to the implementation of Target 5.1 of the AEWA Plan of Action for Africa which aims to increase membership of AEWA. It will bring together some 35 participants, who are members of Cameroon’s AEWA Committee (“Comité de suivi du processus de la signature de l’AEWA”), as well as other key stakeholders concerned with waterbird conservation. Established under MINFOF in 2007, the Committee includes representatives of several Government Ministries and non-governmental organizations, directly or indirectly involved in the process of Cameroon’s accession to AEWA and the eventual implementation of the Agreement in the country. These include, among others, the Ministries of Forestry and Wildlife, of External Affairs and of Environment as well as the national representatives for BirdLife International, the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

“Cameroon is an important transit country for millions of migratory waterbirds on their annual journeys between Africa and Eurasia. The country holds wetlands such as the Logone flood-plain, Lake Maga and the transboundary Lake Chad which are critical for migratory waterbirds covered under AEWA, such as the Black-tailed Godwit, Black-crowned Crane, Collared Pratincole or Garganey, but also essential for the livelihood of many local communities which live around these sites. By becoming a Party to AEWA, Cameroon will join a growing network of nations committed to working cooperatively to ensure the conservation of these species beyond their national borders and across flyways, for the benefit of future generations. The workshop will be a great opportunity to highlight the many benefits Cameroon’s accession will bring to both waterbirds and people in the present and in the future,” said Jacques Trouvilliez, Executive Secretary of the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat.

The consultation workshop will provide an opportunity for these key stakeholders to discuss the implications of joining AEWA for the country, compile a road map of the next steps required to accelerate and complete the accession process, and determine their organizations’ roles in the process. It will be preceded, on 6 December, by bilateral talks between representatives of the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat and government representatives.

 

Background information

Of the 254 migratory waterbird species covered under AEWA, Cameroon plays host to 111, 14 of which are classified as globally threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Often described as “Africa in miniature” due to its large diversity and representativeness of the continent in terms of climate, vegetation, landscape and culture, this central African country has 33 Important Bird Areas covering an area of 42,056 km2. A detailed country profile is available in the BirdLife Data Zone.

Cameroon is also home to one of Africa’s leading wildlife management schools, the Garoua Wildlife College. In 2015, the college signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the College of Wildlife Management in Mweka, United Republic of Tanzania and Kenya Wildlife Service Training Institute in Naivasha, committing itself to including in its curriculum the training kit on the flyway approach to waterbird and wetland conservation. The kit was developed in the framework of the UNEP/GEF African-Eurasian Wings Over Wetlands (WOW) Flyways Project, which included AEWA as one of its key partners.

AEWA currently has 76 Contracting Parties, 35 of which are African countries.

Last updated on 06 December 2016

Type: 
News item
Country: 
Cameroon
Region: 
Africa
Species group: 
Birds