The AEWA Secretariat is pleased to announce that Latvia will be the 53rd Contracting Party to AEWA as of 1 January 2006.

Bordered by Estonia to the north, by Russia and Belarus to the east and south-east, and by Lithuania to the south, Latvia has a Baltic Sea coastline of approximately 500 km. Coastal waters and lagoons, but also river flood-plains in the lowlands, lakes and reserves, large bogs and fish-pond areas serve as breeding and stop-over sites for significant numbers of waterbirds, numerous of them having an unfavourable conservation status and being covered by AEWA such as the Great Bittern (Botaurus stellaris), the Black Stork (Ciconia nigra), the Common Pochard (Aythya ferina), the Corncrake (Crex crex), the Little Gull (Larus minutus), the Common Crane (Grus grus) and the Black Tern (Chlidonias niger).

Latvia is already Party to a number of other international environmental Conventions such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD), the Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

The AEWA Secretariat welcomes Latvia to the "AEWA Family"!