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In Memoriam Zoltán Czirák (1970-2021)

Zoltán Czirák a passionate conservationist and the AEWA National Focal Point for Hungary passed away on 23 March 2021.

It is with great sadness, that we have learned, that Zoltán Czirák, National Focal Point for AEWA in Hungary and a member of the AEWA Standing Committee, passed away tragically and quickly on 23 March 2021 following COVID-19 complications. Zoltán Czirák was a passionate conservationist, who dedicated his whole life to species conservation. Up until recently, he worked as a biodiversity expert and advisor and was the head of the Unit of Nature Conservation Agreements in the Biodiversity and Gene Conservation Department of the Hungarian Ministry of Agriculture.

30 March 2021

AEWA Technical Committee Paves Way for the 8th Meeting of Parties

Common Eider (Somateria mollissima)

The 16th Meeting of the AEWA Technical Committee (TC16) was held virtually from 25 to 29 January 2021, with a record attendance of 61 participants from over 30 countries. The meeting brought together experts from a wide spectrum of fields as well as 14 Party Observers, several MEAs and partner organisations, making it the largest TC meeting ever conducted in the history of the Agreement.

03 February 2021

25 Years of AEWA – Statement by Bert Lenten, Former AEWA Executive Secretary

25 Years of AEWA – Statement by Bert Lenten, former AEWA Executive Secretary © Sergey Dereliev, www.dereliev-photography.com

Celebrating this anniversary is a good time for reflection on what has been achieved since AEWA was concluded in 1995. Twenty-five years ago, I was working for the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries of the Netherlands and, to be honest, I was not even aware that a species treaty for migratory waterbirds had been developed by my own ministry. I was working at the regional level and probably did not receive information on this important event that took place in The Hague, the Netherlands.

08 January 2021

Turkmenistan Accedes to AEWA

Flag of Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan has acceded to the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) bringing the number of Parties to that Agreement to 82. Turkmenistan has also acceded to the Convention becoming the 132nd Party.

31 December 2020

EU Takes Historic Decision to Ban the Use of Lead Shot for Hunting in Wetlands

New EU legislation will put a halt to the annual death of an estimated one million waterbirds © Colin Butters, WWT

In a historic decision, the use of lead gunshot in wetlands will be banned in all European Union Member States under REACH, the EU’s framework regulation for chemicals. This decision is in response to the provisions of AEWA and marks one of the greatest conservation achievements in the 25-year history of the Agreement. No other single measure implemented under AEWA to date will have had such a wide-reaching impact on the overall well-being of the migratory waterbirds AEWA was conceived to protect.

27 November 2020

New Lesser White-fronted Goose Flyway Project Approved under EU LIFE

Lesser White-fronted Goose © Tomas Aarvak/NOF

A new five-year flyway project ‘Providing a climate resilient network of critical sites for the Lesser White-fronted Goose in Europe’ (LIFE19 NAT/LT/000898) has received final approval under the EU LIFE funding mechanism, and is expected to provide a considerable boost to the implementation of coordinated conservation action for this globally threatened species.

18 November 2020

East Atlantic Flyway Webinar Held to Mark World Migratory Bird Day

A BirdLife webinar entitled “Birds connect people along the East Atlantic Flyway” took place on 8 October 2020 and attracted over 100 participants.

As part of the global celebration of this year’s World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD), the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat joined several national BirdLife partners in a special webinar organized by BirdLife International focussing on the East Atlantic Flyway. The East Atlantic Flyway, which extends from Arctic regions of Canada, Greenland, Iceland and the Russian Federation to the southern tip of Africa is an important migration pathway covered by the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA).  

09 November 2020

Emilia – the Story of a Red-breasted Goose

Red-breasted Goose © Nicky Petkov

To mark World Migratory Bird Day on 10 October, the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (BSPB/BirdLife Bulgaria) and AEWA Red-breasted Goose International Working Group (AEWA RbG IWG) are presenting a new  video, telling the story of Emilia, a satellite tagged Red-breasted Goose.  Emilia was fitted with a satellite tag as part of the “LIFE for Safe Flight” project in 2019 while in Kazakhstan on her migration north towards her breeding grounds in the Russian Arctic.  Her long stay there suggested that she and her mate had successfully bred.

07 October 2020

Join the global celebration!

© Michelle Risi

Birds can be found everywhere: in cities and in the countryside; in parks and backyards, in forests and mountains, and in wetlands and along the shores.  They connect all these habitats and they connect us, reminding us of our own connection to the planet, the environment, wildlife and each other.  Through their seasonal movements, migratory birds also remind us of nature’s cycles.

06 October 2020