Official opening ceremony:

Preceded by a colourful and swinging Senegalese dance performance, His Excellency Thierno Lo Ba, Minister of Environment and Nature Protection of Senegal, joined the meeting to chair the official opening ceremony.

Mr. Bakary Kante, UNEP Director of Environmental Conventions, said that although CMS and AEWA are among UNEP’s smaller conventions, they are considered no less important.

Mr. Kante then conveyed a message from Dr. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of UNEP. In this message, Mr. Töpfer commended AEWA on its 10th anniversary, which he called a true landmark. Bird migration across country borders can be regarded as symbolic, as the birds unite countries with political and economical differences. This calls for an international approach.

Presentation of the AEWA Awards:

Mr. Bert Lenten (Executive Secretary) introduced the AEWA Waterbird Conservation Award. He said it will be presented triennially at each MOP to recognize and honour institutions and individuals within the Agreement area that have contributed significantly to the conservation and sustainable use of waterbirds.

Mr. David Stroud, the winner in the individual category, is an internationally respected ornithologist who has been involved in the development of AEWA from the beginning. He has supported its development and implementation significant contributions for example to the Action Plan and species listings, and has been untiringly active in his role as observer to the Technical Committee during the last ten years.

The Government of the Netherlands, the winner in the institutional category, played a major role in the establishment of AEWA and has since then strongly supported the Agreement, not least financially. Mr. Chris Kalden, Secretary-General of the Netherlands Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Food Quality, accepted the Award on behalf of the Government of The Netherlands. He announced that his Government would multiply the monetary Award by ten and invest it in local conservation projects in Senegal.

Dr. Gerard Boere was declared Honorary Patron of AEWA for his crucial role in the process of drafting and negotiating the Agreement.

A video named "AEWA in Full Swing" showed education and awareness activities in two tidal regions in the western part of the Eurasian flyway: on the tidal mudflats of the Dutch island of Terschelling, and in a mangrove forest along the Senegalese coast which is currently being reforested.

His Excellency Thierno Lo Ba, Minister of Environment and Nature Protection of Senegal, welcomed all delegates to Senegal, and outlined Senegal’s longstanding tradition in conserving waterbirds, despite heavy human and ecoclimatic pressures. He pledged Senegal’s full support and implementation of any recommendation resulting from this MOP. He then officially opened the meeting.

Other matters:

Mr. Bert Lenten (Secretariat) outlined work on an online reporting format that would facilitate the process of national reporting. Advantages of such a system include the possibility to upload new information at any moment and to enquire about other countries’ projects. Most importantly, online reporting would make it possible to harmonise reporting within the CMS family.

Regarding the preparation of international reviews for MOP4, Mr. Lenten recalled that the Secretariat is to prepare seven different reviews on technical matters, such as the status of introduced non-native waterbird species and hybrids. Due to a lack of human and financial resources, only one of these reviews has been carried out so far: the report on the status of waterbird trends and populations. Some of the remaining reviews are linked to the Flyway GEF project, but substantial additional funding will still be needed.

On behalf of the Technical Committee (TC), Mr. David Stroud (UK), elaborated on a proposed shared funding partnership to create a more sustainable basis for conservation policy-relevant outputs derived from the International Waterbird Census (IWC). The IWC, which is a process managed by Wetlands International, results in a triennial report including trends analyses. Despite the obvious importance of such extensive long-term monitoring schemes, they are still largely undervalued.

Mr. Ward Hagemeijer (Wetlands International) gave a presentation on the occurrence of avian influenza (AI) and its potential impact on waterbird populations. He highlighted the establishment of an International Scientific Taskforce on this issue, and referred to a press release issued today by CMS on behalf of the Avian Influenza Task Force which comprises AEWA, CMS, Ramsar and scientists from several specialist bodies including Wetlands International. He noted that although AI is mostly a poultry problem, there is increasing evidence that waterbirds can carry and transport the influenza virus. Stressing that the World Health Organisation has declared that there is currently no significant risk to public health, he cautioned against overreactions and actions that might threaten waterbird populations unnecessarily.

Dr. Helen Baker (UK) introduced a draft resolution on implementing the conclusions of the "Waterbirds around the World" Conference, held in Edinburgh in April 2004.

Dr. Baker then introduced a draft resolution on climate change and migratory waterbirds. She highlighted that the effects of climate change are likely to be most pronounced in the Arctic region. As many populations of migratory waterbirds bred in the Arctic, the potential effects of climate change on AEWA species should not be underestimated.

Snapshots of the day:

Snapshots of the MOP3 Team "behind the scenes"