An international meeting was held in Minsk, Belarus, from 29 to 30 April 2003, to negotiate and adopt a "Memorandum of Understanding and Action Plan Concerning Conservation Measures for the Aquatic Warbler" under the auspices of the Convention on Migratory Species. Conservationists see this as a huge milestone in the protection of this globally threatened bird and its habitat. What connects Dakar, Senegal in West Africa with Minsk, Belarus? Why have representatives of governments and non-governmental organisations in 13 European and African countries been meeting in Minsk? The answer - a little brown bird, migrating up to twelve thousand kilometres from Eastern Europe to sub-saharan Africa. This bird is a "star" species of Belarus: the globally threatened Aquatic Warbler. Over half of the world population of this species is breeding and spending part of the year in the marshes and fen mires of Belarus. The Aquatic Warbler is also an important component of global biological diversity which is, and will remain, the living basis for humans. It is an alarming indicator for the state of the environment of a vast area covering two continents, since the number of birds and their habitats have been shrinking in recent decades.

The two-day meeting was hosted and chaired by the Belarussian Minister of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Leonty I. Khoruzhik, in cooperation with the CMS Secretariat, BirdLife International, Achova Ptushak Belarusi (the BirdLife International Partner in Belarus), the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (UK) and the United Nations Development Programme. The meeting finalised a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed by delegates on Wednesday. The MoU expresses countries' intentions to identify, protect and manage sites where Aquatic Warblers breed (central Europe and Western Siberia), rest on migration (western Europe) or spend the winter (central west Africa). Annexed to the Memorandum is a detailed Action Plan which summarises the distribution, biology and threat status of the Aquatic Warbler, and describes precise actions to be taken by relevant countries. "Belarus, for instance", Minister Khoruzhik stressed, "is going to restore 720,000 hectares of drained peatlands, and thus to regain a lost homeland of the Aquatic Warbler and the wonderful natural environment represented by this small bird". Others expressed great satisfaction with the conclusion of the MoU. Norbert Schaffer of BirdLife International said "The level of agreement was exactly what we hoped to achieve, for the benefit of this species and its habitat". Arnulf Muller-Helmbrecht, CMS Executive Secretary, agreed: "This very successful event represents a positive example of the voluntary commitment of many countries to act together for coordinated conservation, and an example of cooperation between governmental and non-governmental organisations. I congratulate the Republic of Belarus on the strong leadership it has given to these joint efforts."

Press Release Released by

Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species; BirdLife International; Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection of the Republic of Belarus