Bonn, 12 August 2015 – The UNEP/AEWA Secretariat organized a Preparatory Meeting for National Focal Points (NFPs) from the AEWA African Contracting Parties, in the run-up to this November’s 6th Meeting of the Parties (MOP6). The Pre-MOP6 meeting took place from 25 to 27 August in Cape Town and was hosted by the Government of South Africa. It was preceded by a one-day workshop on preventing poisoning of migratory birds, jointly organized by the Secretariats of CMS, AEWA and the Raptors Memorandum of Understanding.

The primary purpose of the AEWA African Pre-MOP6 meeting was to familiarize National Focal Points with relevant documents and issues prior to MOP6, encourage collaboration among NFPs in the African region and enable them to advocate regional interests at MOP6. Participants learned in detail about important MOP6 documents including on the development of waterbird monitoring along the African-Eurasian Flyways, potential impacts of marine fisheries on migratory seabirds within the Afro-tropical region and guidelines on national legislation for migratory waterbird conservation. Another focus of discussion was the current financial and administrative matters, including several proposed budget scenarios relating to the operation of the Agreement over the next triennium. In addition, major draft Resolutions to be discussed at MOP6 were examined.

The AEWA Pre-MOP6 meeting was possible thanks to a generous financial contribution received in the framework of the Thematic Programme for Environment and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources including Energy (ENRTP) Strategic Cooperation Agreement between DG Environment of the European Commission and UNEP under the project "Effective Implementation of CMS, AEWA and other CMS Family instruments across various regions and languages through capacity building”, as well as co-funding from the Government of the Republic of South Africa.  

The 6th Session of the AEWA Meeting of Parties (MOP6) will take place in November 2015 in Bonn, Germany.