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AEWA News

EU Expected to Move towards Ban on Lead Gunshot in Wetlands

An estimated one million waterbirds fall victim every year to lead poisoning after consuming spent shot.

Following a four-year-long process conducted under the auspices of REACH, the EU’s over-arching legal framework for the regulation of the use of chemicals, EU Member States voted in favour of a Union-wide restriction to ban the use of lead gunshot in wetlands with an overwhelming 90 per cent majority in early September.

23 September 2020

AEWA Implementation Review Process (IRP) – First Case Closed

Greenland White-fronted Geese in flight © David Stroud

For the first time a case under the AEWA Implementation Review Process (IRP) has been closed following the announcement that the United Kingdom has removed the Greenland White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons flavirostris) from the list of huntable species. Not satisfied that the incomplete statutory protection from hunting throughout the United Kingdom was in conformity with the terms of the AEWA Treaty, the Greenland White-fronted Goose Study supported by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust and the Welsh Ornithological Society in June 2017 submitted information for a possible case for consideration under the IRP.

14 July 2020

Fresh Layout for AEWA Plan of Action for Africa

The UNEP/AEWA Secretariat is pleased to present the refreshed layout of the AEWA Plan of Action for Africa (PoAA) 2019-2027

The UNEP/AEWA Secretariat is pleased to present the refreshed layout of the AEWA Plan of Action for Africa (PoAA) 2019-2027. The Plan was adopted through Resolution 7.1 at the 7th Session of the Meeting of the Parties in South Africa in December 2018. At the PoAA Working Group meeting (Senegal, October 2017), the African Contracting Parties made a request to the Secretariat to give the PoAA, once adopted, a user-friendly and vibrant layout in order to visually reflect the content of the plan. We hope that with its new look, the AEWA PoAA will be a useful tool for the wide range of stakeholders involved in the implementation of the Agreement.

02 July 2020

5th Meeting of the AEWA European Goose Management International Working Group (EGM IWG5)

Taiga Bean Geese in flight © Adobe Stock

Originally scheduled to take place in Helsinki, Finland, the 5th Meeting of the AEWA European Goose Management International Working Group (EGM IWG5) went ahead for the first time in an online conference format from 15 to 18 June 2020.  The meeting was chaired by Ms Camilla Uldal from Denmark, who was succeeded as Chair for the next two years by the UK’s Mr Danny Heptinstall. 

02 July 2020

Armenia – AEWA Party No. 81

Flag of the Republic of Armenia

The Republic of Armenia is acceding to AEWA becoming the 81st Party on 1 July. It has been a Party to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), since 2011. Armenia, whose capital is Yerevan, is a landlocked country situated in the southern Caucasus, between the Black and Caspian Seas, where Europe meets Asia.  Armenia has a population of 3 million people and an area of just under 30,000 km2.  It shares borders with Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan and the Islamic Republic of Iran.

01 July 2020

25 Years of AEWA – Statement by Dr Christiane Paulus, Director-General, Nature Conservation and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources

25 Years of AEWA – Statement by Dr Christiane Paulus, Director-General, Nature Conservation and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources ©ENB/IISD

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety and my Minister, it is my pleasure to congratulate AEWA and its Secretariat to the 25th anniversary of AEWA. We welcome the tireless efforts of AEWA and its Secretariat to improve the conservation status of migratory waterbirds. Among many issues, I would like to highlight in this regard the lead role of AEWA in the international efforts to reduce lead shot in particular in wetlands as well as the ongoing efforts to meaningfully address the illegal killing of birds, in particular in the Mediterranean Region, e.g. through "MIKT".

29 June 2020

25 Years of AEWA – Statement by Carola Schouten, Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Netherlands

25 Years of AEWA – Statement by Carola Schouten, Minister for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, the Netherlands

I would like to congratulate all the people involved in AEWA on the 25th anniversary of the Agreement. These past years we have achieved much concerning the protection and conservation of migratory waterbirds. With all the challenges these birds face, it is good to see more and more countries willing to work together for their protection. As the Dutch Minister for Nature, I am proud that the Netherlands was involved in the creation of this Agreement and that AEWA has grown from 14 Parties then, to 80 Parties today. We can look back proudly at the achievements of the last 25 years and I am excited to look forward to the progress we will make in the next 25 years to offer waterbirds safe flyways and a safe future.

18 June 2020

25 Years of AEWA – Statement by Dr. Akankwasah Barirega, Former Chair of the Standing Committee

25 Years of AEWA – Statement by Dr. Akankwasah Barirega, Former Chair of the Standing Committee

AEWA has over time raised the profile of waterbird conservation on the African Continent. Conservation of birds in Uganda, for example, has benefited immensely from the tools, processes and knowledge-sharing materials developed under AEWA. Birds now receive the same level of attention from policy makers hitherto accorded mainly to mammal conservation.

18 June 2020

AEWA - A Short History

Negotiation meeting: The team coordinating the work at the formal negotiation meeting, June 1995, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague, The Netherlands.

A significant date in the development of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) is 16 June 1995 – twenty-five years ago – when negotiators representing 54 governments signed the ‘Final Act’. The rest is – as they say – history …

16 June 2020

25 Years of AEWA – Statement by Øystein Størkersen, Former Chair of the AEWA Standing Committee

25 Years of AEWA – Statement by Øystein Størkersen, Former Chair of the AEWA Standing Committee

AEWA is a favourite of mine among Conventions, simply because it deals with concrete issues, such as species or concrete sites and it gives strong guidance through obligatory requirements. I am also pleased that AEWA is not afraid of difficult issues or of giving advice on how to solve issues. This is not least thanks to the very active and competent AEWA staff. Due to its ability to rapidly adapt to changing issues, AEWA is increasingly becoming a treaty that aims to make a difference. This has been possible not least to a network of professsional experts and national managers. 

16 June 2020