Monday 28th of February, Lucien Lux, Minister of Environment
of Luxembourg and President-in-office of the EU Environment
Council received an official delegation of the Secretariat
of the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA).
The Minister Lucien Lux congratulated the Executive Secretary
of the Agreement, Bert Lenten, on the occasion of the 10th
anniversary of the AEWA, coinciding with the Luxembourg
Presidency of the European Union. Mr. Lenten declared the
first International Migratory Waterbird Days (MWDs) to take
place on 9th and 10th of April 2005. "These new Commemoration
days want to draw the attention of the public and the authorities
to the importance of conservation actions at the national
and local level as an integral part of the flyway conservation
of migratory species.
The Secretariat would like to invite the public and the
national authorities to join in the festivities, and encourages
the local communities to organize events and activities
to mark the MWDs. On the occasion of the 10th anniversary
of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian
Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), all the Range States are invited
to consider ratification of the Agreement.
The Executive Secretary of the Agreement thanked the Luxembourg
Presidency for launching the discussion on the "Proposition
for a Council Decision on the conclusion by the European
Community of the Agreement" and for the support she gave
it in the Environment Group. "The discussion is opened and
makes good progress". Finally, the Executive Secretary felicitated
the Minister of Environment Lucien Lux for his specific
engagement. Indeed, Luxembourg, who ratified the agreement
in 2003, supported all the costs for the publication of
the new edition of several outreach materials for the conservation
of the migratory birds: - For the public: posters, stickers
and pins with the new logo and stickers with migratory species
- A CD-ROM with reference documents as well as an Accession
guide for the authorities of range states who did not yet
ratify the Agreement The material can asked for by contacting
the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat
(aewa@unep.de). For Luxembourg, please contact the
Ministry
of Environment Luxembourg.
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