The range states then broke off into two groups (European flyway and Eastern flyway) for discussions on prioritizing activities outlined in the SSAP for immediate implementation during the next two years. Range states were then encouraged to pick out five activities that were seen as crucial for the species in their country. The level of knowledge of the species and respectively the level of conservation measures being implemented varies greatly between the individual range states. While some countries have National Action Plans in place for the LWfG and are, for example, taking measures to control predation, human disturbance and habitat loss, other countries still lack information on key sites and occurrence of the species.

With the exception of the breeding grounds, hunting
remains the most severe threat to the species in most
of the range states. There is an urgent need for range
states to consider new ways of cooperation with local
hunters, including the banning of hunting of Greater
White-fronted Geese at key LWfG sites. The establishment
of voluntary early warning systems was also discussed,
where information on the movements of migrating LWfG
would be passed on to local hunting organizations urging
hunters in the area to exercise caution. This approach
has worked very well in Finland.

The identified priority activities will serve as the
basis for further work and will also be targeted when
attempting to obtain external funding for conservation
activities. Priority activities will be reassessed at
the next working group meeting based on the implementation
progress made so far.

At the request of several range states, the Working
Group also agreed on its first recommendations, highlighting
amongst other things the need for range state governments
to ensure adequate legal protection of the species, to
establish and implement National Action Plans for the
species and to cooperate with other range states to develop
joint activities for implementation.

The group also had a brainstorming session on monitoring
which produced a broad outline of a common monitoring
scheme which will be further developed by a drafting
group consisting of Finland, Germany, Kazakhstan, Norway,
BirdLife International and WWT.

Funding – or rather the lack thereof - was in general
deemed to be the key to future implementation efforts.
Many range states lack national funding possibilities
for key nature conservation activities such as annual
monitoring and the protection of key sites. It was agreed
that the LWfG Coordinator, based at the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat,
will assist range states in trying to locate possible
sources of funding.

A website for the Working Group is in the making which will include an internal workspace where national representatives, experts and observers can exchange information and discuss working group issues during the inter-sessional periods between meetings. The Secretariat aims to have both website and workspace up and running at the beginning of 2011.
The meeting was hosted by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment and the main funds were made available by the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management.