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With the Czech Republic and Italy as of 1st September 2006
and Algeria as of 1st October 2006 the African-Eurasian
Migratory Waterbird Agreement counts three new Contracting
Parties.
The Czech Republic
 The
Czech Republic is a landlocked country bordering Austria,
Germany, Poland and Slovakia. Despite its comparably small
size of about 79,000 km², the Czech Republic contains
a relatively high biological diversity. The majority of
Important Bird Areas (IBA) in the country are wetlands,
areas of special ornithological interest being situated
especially in the lowlands along the rivers Elbe, Oder,
March and Thaya.
390 bird species are recorded as occurring in the Czech
Republic, of which 186 regularly breed, 133 regularly winter
and 184 are regularly observed in passage. A number of these
species are covered by the Agreement, e.g. Ferruginous Duck
(Aythya nyroca), Corncrake (Crex crex),
Bean Goose (Anser fabalis), Night Heron (Nycticorax
nycticorax) and White Stork (Ciconia ciconia).
Italy
 Italy
is situated on the Apennine Peninsula surrounded by the
Mediterranean Sea in the centre and south of the country,
giving it a coastline of about 5000 km in length. It shares
borders with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia in
the North, and surrounds the independent countries of San
Marino and Vatican City. Four major ecological zones are
identifiable in the mainland: the Alps in the north, the
Po Valley in the north-west, the Apennine mountains, which
include most of mainland Italy, and the coastal zone. A
number of islands in the Mediterranean Sea belong to Italy,
the largest being Sicily, Sardinia and Elba.
About 192 nature sites in Italy are currently marked as
IBAs, a total of 137 bird species of European conservation
concern are reported as breeding regularly in the country.
A number of them are covered by the Agreement, e.g. Ferruginous
Duck (Aythya nyroca), Corncrake (Crex crex),
Audouin's Gull (Larus audouinii) and Slender-billed
Curlew (Numenius tenuirostris).
The People’s
Democratic Republic of Algeria
 The
People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria shares borders
with Morocco and Mauritania to the west, with Mali and Niger
to the south and with Libya and Tunisia to the east, while
the entire northern boundary is formed by the Mediterranean
Sea. With an area of 2,381,741 km² the country is the
second largest in Africa, after Sudan. More than 85% of the
country is covered by the Sahara desert, the remaining area
can be divided into three distinct topographical and climate
regions: at the coast the Tell region including the Tell Atlas,
close to the Sahara desert the Saharan Atlas, and the ‘Hauts
Plateaux’ or High Plateau with huge, shallow wetlands
and saltflats between these two parallel mountain ranges.
Particularly important for migratory and resident waterbirds
are the wetlands along the coast and on the plateau south
of Constantine, which support very large numbers of wintering
birds. Algeria’s coastline and offshore islands are
of considerable significance for breeding seabirds. Currently
406 bird species are recorded as occurring in Algeria, of
which 214 are confirmed breeders. A number of them are covered
by the Agreement, e.g. White-headed Duck (Oxyura leucocephala),
Marbled Teal (Marmaronetta angustirostris), Ferruginous
Duck (Aythya nyroca), Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii),
Corncrake (Crex crex) and Bald Ibis (Geronticus eremita).
All three countries are already Party to the Convention
on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals
(CMS),
the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD),
the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES),
the Convention to Combat Desertification (CCD),
the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC),
the Ramsar
Convention on Wetlands, and others.
The UNEP/AEWA Secretariat is very pleased to welcome Italy,
the Czech Republic and Algeria as Contracting Parties on
behalf of the Contracting Parties to the growing AEWA Family,
and looks forward to strengthening the cooperation between
the Governments of the new Contracting Parties and the Agreement’s
Secretariat.
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