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.