Bonn, 23 March 2009 - A delegation
from the Russian Federation headed by Dr. Amirkhan M. Amirkhanov,
Deputy Director at the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environmental Protection and joined by Mr Vladimir Ivlev,
Deputy Director at the Department of International Cooperation
at the same ministry, visited the CMS Secretariat and its
co-located Agreements (AEWA, EUROBATS and ASCOBANS) at the
UN Premises in Bonn, while in Germany for German-Russian
consultations on nature conservation projects.
The meeting was organised by the CMS Secretariat
in close cooperation with the German Federal Ministry for
the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety
(BMU) and was attended by representatives from the Russian
Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection,
UNDP/GEF, WWF Russia, BMU, BfN and the CMS, AEWA and EUROBATS
Secretariats.
Dr. Aline Kühl (CMS Secretariat) gave
a short presentation highlighting the importance of the
Russian Federation for a large number of migratory species
covered by CMS and its specialized Agreements and Memoranda
of Understanding (MoU). Russia is an important breeding
area for many Palearctic waterbird populations covered by
the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA)
and is an important range state for various species that
are listed on the CMS Appendices such as the endangered
Snow Leopard, the Saiga Antelope and the critically endangered
Slender-billed Curlew. (
www.slenderbilledcurlew.net )
In total, the Russian Federation is a range
state to five of the seven binding international Agreements
developed under CMS (being: AEWA, ACAP, ACCOBAMS, ASCOBANS
and EUROBATS) and five MoUs currently in force (MoU's for
the Siberian Crane, Slender-billed Curlew, Aquatic Warbler,
Saiga Antelopes and the recently concluded African-Eurasian
Raptors). To date, the Russian Federation has signed the
MoU on the Siberian Crane and has benefited from its involvement
through a major GEF project for this species - The
Siberian Crane Wetland Project.
Following the presentation, the group engaged
in an open discussion focusing on the question of Russian
Federation accession to CMS and its other relevant Agreements
and MoUs. Bert Lenten (AEWA) speaking on behalf of the CMS
Family proposed - and the meeting agreed - to establish
an informal working group between the CMS Family and the
Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry
of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection to support
the accession of the Russian Federation to CMS and its relevant
Agreements.
Last updated on 16 June 2014