Negotiation meeting: The team coordinating the work at the formal negotiation meeting, June 1995, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands.
In the early days of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) proposed a regional agreement covering a range of species across the Western Palearctic. At the same time, several other initiatives were under way in the field of wildlife conservation, such as in 1979 the EU Birds Directive and the Council of Europe’s Bern Convention. At the first Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CMS (CMS COP1 in Bonn, 1985) a working group was established on ducks and geese, and the Netherlands’ Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Fisheries (LNV) undertook to take the discussions forward.
At CMS COP2 (Geneva, 1988) the first steps were taken towards establishing what was then being called the Western Palearctic Waterfowl Agreement (WPWA). Article 4 of CMS had already paved the way for the development of Agreement on the Conservation of Populations of European Bats (EUROBATS) and Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS). As a result, CMS was considered a more suitable vehicle than Article 5 of the Ramsar Convention for bringing together all the stakeholders across flyway spanning two whole continents. Therefore, Ramsar COP4 (Montreux, 1990) adopted a recommendation supporting the WPWA and encouraging similar initiatives for other flyways.
During the early stages of the negotiations proposals for a separate instrument dedicated to the White Stork were subsumed within the broader draft agreement and several alternative names for the treaty were considered with the current title - Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds, short AEWA - eventually being adopted.
An informal negotiation meeting was convened in conjunction with CMS COP4 in Nairobi (1994). The formal negotiation meeting, which was held in The Hague was attended by representatives from 64 out of the 119 Range States, one regional economic integration organization and a number of observer organizations. The “Final Act” was signed on 16 June 1995 by representatives of 54 governments.
Today, after 30 years of existence, AEWA counts 39 Contracting Parties from Africa and 46 from Eurasia– a total of 85, including one regional economic integration organization - the European Union. As the Dutch Government had taken the lead in the negotiation process and had hosted the meeting in The Hague, the Netherlands became the Agreement’s ‘depositary’. The treaty text entered into force on 1 November 1999 after the required seven signatures from each of the two regions – Africa and Eurasia – had been obtained. The CMS Family welcomed a new member!
In 2006, AEWA together with CMS, launched World Migratory Bird Day - a global awareness-raising campaign uniting governments, organizations, and individuals around a shared conservation theme each year. Now celebrated twice a year, on the second Saturdays of May and October, World Migratory Bird Day has become a flagship global awareness-raising campaign highlighting the importance of international cooperation for the conservation of migratory birds.
A significant step forward in the implementation of the Agreement was the adoption of a Strategic Plan to guide and coordinate Parties’ efforts in migratory waterbird conservation across flyways. The first version adopted by Resolution 4.7 covered the period 2009-2017 and was later extended to 2018 by Resolution 6.14. The current AEWA Strategic Plan covers the period 2019-2027 and was adopted at the 7th Session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP7), in Durban, South Africa, in 2018.
The AEWA Strategic Plan 2019-2027 sets a number of ambitious targets. These relate to:
The AEWA Plan of Action for Africa (PoAA) 2019-2027, also adopted by AEWA MOP7, is the operational guideline for the implementation of the AEWA Strategic Plan in the African region. Following a consultative process, the initial plan was adopted at the 5th Session of the Meeting of the Parties and covered the period of 2012 to 2017, later extended to 2018 by Resolution 6.14. The AEWA PoAA 2019-2027 identifies a range of concrete actions and processes to be conducted at the national or international level and designed to help translate the objectives and targets of the AEWA Strategic Plan into tangible results on the ground.
In 2016 AEWA launched the European Goose Management Platform (EGMP) - a groundbreaking intergovernmental initiative dedicated to the sustainable management of migratory goose populations. The initiative balances conservation goals with objectives of diverse stakeholders - including governments, researchers, NGOs, hunters, farmers, and aviation authorities - addressing challenges like agriculture impacts and flight safety. Acting as a science-policy interface, EGMP compiles monitoring data from stakeholders, uses expert assessments to guide international decisions, and monitors outcomes annually to adapt management as needed. The most recent milestone in the history of the Agreement was the 8th Session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP8), which took place from 26 to 30 September 2022 in Budapest, Hungary. MOP8 marked another important step in advancing the implementation of the AEWA Strategic Plan 2019–2027.
Parties adopted new and updated conservation guidelines, new Single and Multi-species Action Plans, and a revised format for national reporting. The meeting also reinforced the importance of addressing key threats to migratory waterbirds, such as habitat loss, climate change, and illegal killing, reaffirming AEWA’s critical role in supporting international cooperation along the African-Eurasian flyway.
In a historic decision, the European Union and European Economic Area have enforced a ban on the use of lead shot in or within 100 meters of wetlands as of 15 February 2023, following a 24-month transition period under EU Commission Regulation 2021/57. This regulation aims to reduce the estimated one million waterbird deaths annually caused by lead poisoning from spent ammunition.
The decision aligns with long-standing international conservation efforts, including AEWA's legally binding commitments since 1995. Notably, AEWA played an active advisory role in the process, with the Chair of its Technical Committee participating in the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) expert group that recommended the ban. The regulation also builds on precedents set by countries like Denmark and the Netherlands. Additionally, scientific evidence increasingly shows that lead shots also affect terrestrial wildlife, predators, and human health. As a result, a broader EU ban on lead ammunition and fishing weights is underway to address these wider environmental and health risks.
The decision to ban the use of lead gunshot in wetlands by the EU marks one of the greatest conservation achievements in the 30-year history of the Agreement, as no other single measure implemented under AEWA to date will have such a wide-reaching impact on the overall well-being of the migratory waterbirds AEWA was conceived to protect.
More information about AEWA's history:
Last updated on 13 June 2025