The Secretariat of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) is calling for applications for the 2014 cycle of the AEWA Small Grants Fund.
The AEWA Small Grants Fund aims to promote the implementation of AEWA in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The Fund supports AEWA-related conservation activities, for example species and habitat conservation, training and awareness-raising for different target groups, survey and monitoring of species and sites, and livelihood-related activities.

The First UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) opened today at the United Nations Office in Nairobi, Kenya, and will continue until 27 June 2014. The conference marks a historic milestone in UNEP’s 43-year history and is being attended by over 1,200 high-level participants from government, business and civil society making UNEA the highest-level UN body ever convened on the environment. The overarching theme of the first UNEA is “A Life of Dignity for All - Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Post-2015 Development Agenda, including sustainable consumption and production” and the conference is expected to deliver a number of outcomes that will result in actions to address key environmental challenges faced by the world today.

In May 2014 a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat and BirdLife Botswana was signed to address the urgently needed international conservation measures for the globally threatened Slaty Egret (Egretta vinaceigula). The priority activities under the MoU relate to the servicing and coordination of the AEWA Slaty Egret International Working Group (SEIWG) and the overall coordination of the international implementation of the AEWA International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Slaty Egret, which is due for revision in 2022.

The first ever AEWA International Species Expert Group has been set up for the Eurasian Spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia) by strengthening the affiliation of the longstanding International Spoonbill Working Group with the Agreement. The main focus of the group will continue to be the implementation of the AEWA International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Eurasian Spoonbill, adopted at the 4th Meeting of the AEWA Parties in 2008. To this end a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the AEWA Secretariat and the Werkgroep Lepelaar in the Netherlands and the Instituto de Ciencias Marinas y Limnológicas of the Universidad Austral de Chile (ICML-UACh). The Werkgroep Lepelaar (Spoonbill Working Group) is a Dutch NGO with the specific mission to improve the conservation of the Eurasian Spoonbill and with 30 years of national and international experience in the research and conservation of wetlands for spoonbills and associated waterbirds.