Waterbird populations across the African-Eurasian flyway are on a downward trend, with declining populations outstripping growing ones by almost 50 per cent, shows the latest conservation status report compiled for the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) – an inter-governmental treaty administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

First reports indicate that it appears to have been a record-breaking breeding season for the Fennoscandian Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus) population. As reported by members of Birdlife Norway conducting the yearly monitoring on the main staging grounds at Porsanger Fjord in Finnmark in northern Norway, a total of 126 individuals were counted on Sunday the 23rd of August. Of these birds, 70 were identified as juveniles born this season belonging to 22 separate broods.

Two natural World Heritage Sites - the Wadden Sea shared by Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands - and the Banc d’Arguin in Mauretania are two critically important sites for millions of migratory birds along the Eastern Atlantic Flyway.

The 39th Session of the World Heritage Committee is meeting in Bonn, a stone’s throw from the headquarters of the Convention on Migratory Species and several of its associated agreements. Jacques Trouvilliez, Executive Secretary of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), and Rüdiger Strempel, Secretary of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat, examine the importance of those sites inscribed in the list for their natural rather than cultural qualities.

The 39th session of the Word Heritage Committee (WHC) opened in Bonn on Sunday. The WHC is one of the partners of CMS in the Biodiversity Liaison Group, an umbrella organization for seven international Conventions and treaties.

Bonn, 16 June 2015 –Today marks the 20^th anniversary of the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA).

Linking regional and global aspects of nature conservation, two meetings held back to back in Bonn on 13 May 2015 discussed the protection of migratory birds along the East Atlantic Flyway.

A recent conservation project has utilized the power of participatory planning to enable the successful protection of Dalmatian Pelican habitat in Montenegro. Funded by the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) through its Small Grant Programme and led by the French NGO Noé Conservation, the project has successfully engaged stakeholders to implement a conservation zone around a key Dalmatian Pelican nesting area on the shores of the Skadar Lake in Southern Montenegro.

Several intrepid members of the CMS and AEWA Secretariats took part in the annual Bonn Marathon on 6 April, with three individuals running in the half marathon and three teams of four participating in the team race over the full 42-kilometre distance.

At the end of 2013, the United Nations General Assembly declared 3 March as World Wildlife Day as a global commemorative day to celebrate the world’s wild fauna and flora and to raise awareness of the many benefits that wildlife provides to people.