Bonn, 23 March 2021 - The AEWA Action Plan requires the Secretariat and the Technical Committee (TC) to develop a series of Conservation Guidelines to help the Parties implement the Agreement. As part of this series, guidelines on how to avoid, minimise or mitigate the impact of infrastructure developments and related disturbance affecting waterbirds have been produced. They were endorsed by the 5th Meeting of the AEWA Standing Committee in June 2008 and approved by the 4th Session of the Meeting of the Parties (September 2008, Antananarivo, Madagascar).

Infrastructure developments can have a range of potentially significant impacts on waterbirds and their habitats. It is therefore recommended that each Party should take steps to avoid, minimize or mitigate such potential impacts by applying Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and project Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) as part of a robust and transparent system for planning and implementing sustainable development. 

These guidelines are setting out two sets of steps that may need to be followed. Each country should apply the appropriate steps according to the planning stage that has been reached in the development process. However, the steps should be seen as components of a partly iterative process, such that if necessary steps are returned to and revised in response to new information and decisions. Consultations with stakeholders should also take place throughout the SEA and EIA processes as necessary.

The Guidelines, published as AEWA Technical Series No. 26, were produced by Ecological Solutions and Treweek Environmental Consultants and funded by The Agency for Nature and Forests, Ministry of the Flemish Community (ANF), Belgium.