In Article III, paragraph 2 (c) of the Agreement, Parties are required to encourage the protection, management, rehabilitation and restoration of sites and habitats for migratory waterbirds, occurring within their territory.

More specifically, in Paragraph 3.2.1 of the Action Plan, Parties are required to endeavour to continue establishing protected areas to conserve habitats important for the populations listed in Table 1 of the Action Plan, and to develop and implement management plans for these areas. These guidelines set forth the basic procedures for the design and implementation of management plans, with special reference to sites of importance for migratory waterbirds.

The present guideline includes a detailed summary of procedures for the development of site management plans. Presenting eight major steps, the reader receives an overview of the most important actions which should be taken by each country to manage the key sites for migratory waterbirds. These include, for example, the prioritisation of sites in need of urgent management, the assessment of the type of management required or the implementation of the management plan itself.

So far, a series of twelve different Conservation Guidelines has been developed to assist the Parties in the implementation of the AEWA Action Plan. These guidelines deal with inter alia, species and habitat conservation, management of human activities and others. For more information please visit:

http://www.unep-aewa.org/publications/conservation_guidelines.htm

Overview of all AEWA Conservation Guidelines
Guideline No. 1	Guidelines on the preparation of National Single Species Action Plans for migratory waterbirds.
Guideline No. 2	Guidelines on identifying and tackling emergency situations for migratory waterbirds.
Guideline No. 3	Guidelines on the preparation of site inventories for migratory waterbirds.
Guideline No. 4	Guidelines on the management of key sites for migratory waterbirds.
Guideline No. 5	Guidelines on sustainable harvest of migratory waterbirds.
Guideline No. 6	Guidelines on regulating trade in migratory waterbirds.
Guideline No. 7	Guidelines on the development of ecotourism at wetlands.
Guideline No. 8	Guidelines on reducing crop damage, damage to fisheries, bird strikes and other forms of conflict between waterbirds and human activities.
Guideline No. 9	Guidelines for a waterbird monitoring protocol.
Guideline No. 10	Guidelines on avoidance of introductions of non-native waterbird species.
Guideline No. 11	Guidelines on how to avoid, minimize or mitigate impact of infrastructural developments and related disturbance affecting waterbirds
Guideline No. 12	Guidelines on measures needed to help waterbirds to adapt to climate change