Bonn,
5 November 2009 – 60 students from the "Eerste
Christelijk Lyceum (ECL)" in Haarlem, The Netherlands
and their German twin school Erasmus-von-Rotterdam-Gymnasium
paid a visit to the AEWA Secretariat at the UN Campus in
Bonn on 3 November 2009.

Accompanied by their teachers and arriving
at the UN Campus in two groups, the students, aged around
15 years, were welcomed by staff members of the AEWA Secretariat
and their Executive Secretary Mr. Bert Lenten as well as
by the Senior Officer of the Common Information Space of
the UN Organizations in Bonn (CIS), Mr. Harald Ganns.

During their 1,5 hour-stay, the students
were informed about the Bonn-based UN agencies in general
and especially about the work of the Convention
on Migratory Species (CMS) and AEWA.

Mr. Ganns began his presentation with a
short film introducing the UN Campus and afterwards explained
its history and the reason why Bonn was selected as the
new UN location after the move of the German Government
to Berlin in 1991 (“Bonn-Berlin-Law”). He also
introduced the 19 UN Bonn-based agencies, which are all
linked by the common theme “Sustainable Development”.
As well as their main tasks, the future development of the
UN Campus were highlighted, particularly the new World Conference
Center Bonn (expected to be ready in 2010) and the reconstruction
of the former German Bundestag in 2011.

Mr. Bert Lenten, the Executive Secretary
of AEWA and the Acting Deputy Executive Secretary of CMS
gave a presentation on the role of CMS and AEWA and the
importance of international cooperation for the protection
of migratory species and their habitats and the threats
migratory birds face along their journeys worldwide. In
addition, two films, one on CMS and one introducing the
work of AEWA were shown during the presentation.