Bonn, 6 February 2018 - The UNEP/AEWA Secretariat is pleased to announce that it has launched the national reporting cycle for the 7th Meeting of the Parties (South Africa, 4-8 December 2018) with a technically enhanced version of the MEA Online Reporting System (ORS) first used in the run-up to AEWA MOP5.

Credentials and passwords have been sent to all AEWA national focal points and correspondents, and the deadline for submitting the reports is 7 June 2018.

The AEWA MOP7 reporting template can be accessed via the Online Reporting System (ORS). There is also an updated user guide and further assistance can be obtained from the Secretariat by phone (+49) 228 815 2454 or at the following email address: aewa.nr@unep-aewa.org.

The online template for AEWA has been further improved in order to enhance reporting to AEWA MOP7.  One of the new features, which we hope will make the task of the national respondents easier, is that the species and populations of waterbird species specific to each AEWA Party have been pre-filtered, allowing a large quantity of irrelevant material to be eliminated.

The ORS was originally developed by UNEP-WCMC in close collaboration with AEWA and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).  In 2015, the ORS was technically improved and developed further, working with UNEP’s Division of Environmental Law and Conventions and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) as part of EU funded ACP MEA Phase II project. 

The latest enhancements, for example those on the “species per country filtering” for the AEWA MOP7 reporting cycle have been made possible thanks to improvements made to the Critical Site Network (CSN) Tool (Version 2.0) and the collective work of AEWA’s Science, Implementation and Compliance Unit and the Joint Communications and Information Management Unit of the CMS and AEWA Secretariats.

More information on the background to the ORS and the pioneering role played by AEWA in its early development can be found here.

For more information or assistance on anything relating to the current AEWA MOP7 reporting cycle please contact Ms. Dunia Sforzin (Information Assistant) at +49 228 815 2454 or aewa.nr@unep-aewa.org.