Bonn, 6 May 2021 – The 16th Meeting of the AEWA Standing Committee (StC) took place from 4 to 6 May and was held in a completely virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the request of the Standing Committee an extraordinary Meeting of the Standing Committee was held on 30 June 2021 and another meeting is planned for end of July. 

The three-day meeting of the 16th Standing Committee was chaired by Simon Mackown of the United Kingdom, who opened the meeting with a moment of silence for three people close to AEWA who had passed away over the course of the year: Nick Williams (former CMS Raptors MoU Coordinator), Robert Vagg (Editor and Writer at the Joint CMS + AEWA Communications Unit) and Zoltán Czirák (Member of the AEWA Standing Committee and AEWA’s National Focal Point for Hungary).

At the start of the meeting, regional reports on the status and challenges relating to the implementation of the Agreement were given from Europe and Central Asia, Eastern and Southern Africa and the Middle East and North Africa region.

The busy meeting agenda included a review of the outputs of the AEWA Technical Committee 2018 – 2021 Workplan, which comprised the 8th edition of the Report on the Conservation Status of Migratory Waterbirds in the Agreement Area, a flagship publication which will be released ahead of the next AEWA Meeting of the Parties.

Other key documents amongst the long list of TC outputs that were examined by the meeting included: a draft International Single Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Common Eider (Somateria mollissima), draft revised Format and Guidelines for AEWA International Single and Multi-species Action and Management Plans, a document outlining Monitoring Priorities for Waterbird Species and Populations of AEWA as well as a draft Monitoring Framework for the AEWA Flyway Site Network.

The StC meeting was also invited to review a number of AEWA Conservation Guidelines, including on topics such as preparation of national species action plans, managing waterbird disturbance, ecosystem services of waterbirds and on how to address the risk of accidental shooting of look-alike species of waterbirds in the Agreement area.

The Standing Committee reviewed all documents for submission to AEWA MOP, including those on the implementation of the AEWA Plan of Action for Africa and the new format for AEWA National Reports as well as draft documents on AEWA’s Contribution to the Aichi Targets (2011 – 2020), The Relevance of AEWA to Delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well Opportunities for AEWA to Support the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

A report on the Joint CMS and AEWA Information Management, Communication and Awareness-raising (IMCA) Unit was presented to the Standing Committee, which showcased the World Migratory Bird Day campaign as a primary awareness-raising activity conducted. The Standing Committee was also informed that a new Russian translation of the Agreement text provided by the depositary was now available on the AEWA website.  

A closed session to discuss ongoing cases of AEWA’s Implementation Review Process (IRP) also took place during the meeting and it was decided to hold an extraordinary Meeting of the Standing the Standing Committee on 30 June 2021.

Extraordinary Meeting of the Standing Committee (StC17)

During the extraordinary meeting (StC17) on 30 June 2021, the StC members examined a revised budget proposal and requested that the document would be further revised to show how the staffing of the Secretariat reflects the core mandates originating from the text of the treaty.  The revised document will be published on the 7th of July on the MOP8 website.

The Committee also used the extraordinary meeting of the Standing Committee, to discuss the venue, format and date of the 8th Session of the Meeting of the Parties (MOP8) to AEWA in light of the developing situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the discussion, it was concluded that a final decision concerning MOP8 would be taken by 28 July 2021, when the Committee will convene again for its 18th Meeting (StC18).  In order to better understand the situation in each Party, the Standing Committee decided to launch a consultation process involving a questionnaire sent to all national focal points of AEWA to aid the decision regarding the MOP.

MOP8 is currently scheduled to take place on 5 – 9 October 2021 in Budapest at the kind invitation of the Government of Hungary. The Standing Committee will continue to closely analyze the development of the situation caused by the pandemic and take a decision whether MOP8 will be held in a physical format in Budapest as planned, or whether it will take place in a virtual format or be postponed to a later date during its 18th Meeting (StC18) scheduled for end of July.