AEWA MOP9 Daily Coverage for Wednesday 12 November 2025
AEWA MOP9 Web Coverage for: Tuesday (11 Nov) | Wednesday (12 Nov) | Thursday (13 Nov) | Friday (14 Nov) | 30th Anniversary Event at MOP9 (11 Nov)
Bonn, 13 November 2025 – The Ninth Meeting of the Parties (MOP9) to the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) resumed in two working groups on the second day (Wednesday, 12 November 2025) of the meeting.
Following regional consultations in the morning, the two working groups met in parallel throughout the day, with the Finance & Administration Working Group (II) chaired by Simon Mackown (United Kingdom) meeting in the main plenary and the Scientific & Technical Working Group (I) chaired by Mohamed Shobrak (Saudi Arabia) meeting in the lower conference room directly below the plenary.
Working Group I on Scientific and Technical Matters at AEWA MOP9 in Bonn, Germany. / Photo by Florian Keil (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Reflecting on the negotiations inside the Finance & Administration Working Group, Simon Mackown said: “I welcome the proactive and positive discussions in the working group, which clearly demonstrated Parties’ commitment to the aims of AEWA and the need for a healthy budget to support the work of the Secretariat. Despite the current challenging financial situation, we were able to agree on a proposal for a modest increase to the core budget from Parties. While voluntary contributions will be necessary to ensure the Secretariat is adequately resourced to deliver Parties’ ambitions, this proposed increase should be adequate to maintain the Secretariats staffing levels during the next triennium.”
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Working Group II on Finance & Administration at AEWA MOP9 in Bonn, Germany. / Photos by Florian Keil (CC BY-NC 4.0)
The two meeting rooms used to convene AEWA MOP9 are located inside the AHH building, or “Altes Abgeordnetenhochhaus”, which was used by members of the German Parliament from 1951 until 2004 when the German Parliament relocated to Berlin and the building was extensively renovated and then handed over to the United Nations as part of the UN Premises in Bonn, Germany.
Reflecting on the discussions on day two of the meeting inside the Scientific & Technical Working Group, Mohamed Shobrak said: “I would like to express my appreciation for the positive and constructive discussions in the working group. There were remarkably few issues and the working group agreed to transmit to the plenary several major draft documents including a revised Action Plan and a revised Management Plan for two goose species, updated guidance documents on ecotourism and key site management and a refined list of priorities for seabird conservation under AEWA without further changes. This was thanks to the good work and preparation by the Secretariat and the considerable inputs and discussion of these documents by Parties and others prior to the MOP, which bodes well for their active implementation and use.”
A particularly significant outcome inside Working Group I was the agreement to various amendments to the AEWA Annexes (Resolution 9.1). These included not only adjustments to various populations’ categorization under the Agreement, but also a number of other pertinent amendments to Annexes 2 and 3 – such as the addition of a new category 0 to Column A of Table 1 for species or populations which became extinct/possibly extinct or extinct in the wild/possibly extinct in the wild since their listing under AEWA. Parties used their deliberations in the Scientific & Technical Working Group to discuss implications of this new category with respect to re-establishments. The group also worked to further refine the geographical terms and definitions used in Table 1 of Annex 3 and agreed to add an asterisk to the Column A listing of the E Greenland (br) population of Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis).
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Working Group I on Scientific and Technical Matters at AEWA MOP9 in Bonn, Germany. / Photo by Aydin Bahramlouian (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Working Group I also reviewed Draft Resolution 9.2, on the Implementation of the Agreement and its Strategic Plan and agreed on several amendments to its text. This document urges Parties to focus on the recommendations of the 9th Edition of the Conservation Status Report in implementing AEWA and its current Strategic Plan and Plan of Action for Africa. It also lays the foundation for the development of a new draft Strategic Plan for the period 2029-2037 and includes text on a suite of other issues, including national reporting, the development of a proposal for improving the science-policy interface within AEWA’s processes, the AEWA Small Grants Fund, and the AEWA Implementation Review Process.
The working group also approved the revised International Species Action Plan for the Conservation of the Taiga Bean Goose (Anser fabalis fabalis) and revised International Single Species Management Plan for the Pink-footed Goose (Anser brachryhnchus) - Svalbard breeding population for adoption via Draft Resolution 9.3, which also provided for the extension of several other Action Plans and the adoption of revised Formats and Guidelines for AEWA Species Action and Management Plans, as well as a revised decision-making process for retirement, revision, update and extension of such Plans.
In Draft Resolution 9.4, the working group agreed on refined priorities for seabird conservation measures under AEWA (replacing a provisional list of priorities that had been adopted by MOP7) and text on addressing the impacts of sea-level rise on coastal waterbird habitats. Working Group I approved Draft Resolution 9.5 – including its adoption of two revised sets of conservation guidelines – without further amendment. It also approved Draft Resolution 9.6 on CEPA – Communication, Education and Public Awareness, after agreeing to the addition of new language on multilingual education materials.
Working Group I on Scientific and Technical Matters during a coffee break on the second day of AEWA MOP9 in Bonn, Germany. Photo by Florian Keil (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Finally, the working group discussed Draft Resolution 9.8, on the AEWA Technical Committee (AEWA’s principal technical and scientific body). The Working Group approved the recommended appointment of several new regional representatives and one new thematic expert for environmental law on the AEWA Technical Committee, as well as the Committee’s Work Plan for the coming triennium, subject to the amendments to various mandates that had been agreed in other draft resolutions.
By the end of the day, all agenda items for Working Group I had been concluded and the Chair closed the session, noting that all reviewed draft resolutions were ready for submission to the final MOP9 plenary for adoption on the last day of the meeting (14 November 2025).
Reflecting on the working group’s achievements, Melissa Lewis, Species Officer at the AEWA Secretariat, said: “The constructive spirit both within this working group and during the preceding preparation of various MOP9 documents was tremendous. Parties and other stakeholders came ready to find agreeable solutions, and the results speak for themselves. The decisions provide a strong foundation for AEWA’s work in the coming triennium, including – importantly – the development of a new draft Strategic Plan, which will provide the framework for AEWA’s implementation post-MOP10.”
With both working groups of MOP9 completing their agenda on time, delegates had the option of using the evening to explore Bonn’s culinary and cultural highlights, with several MOP9 participants choosing to flaneur through the city centre to get a night-time glimpse of the Beethoven-Haus, the birthplace of Ludwig van Beethoven and other landmarks Bonn has to offer.
ABOUT THIS REPORT:
This AEWA MOP9 DAILY COVERAGE feature has been prepared by the Joint Communications Unit of the UNEP/CMS and UNEP/AEWA Secretariats. The feature includes a short summary and audio-visual elements (photos, videos and audio recordings) of the main highlights of each day of the Ninth Meeting of the Parties (MOP9) to the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) taking place in Bonn, Germany from 11 – 14 November 2025. The product is prepared in-house using available capacity within the Secretariat. Its main purpose is to capture the highlights of AEWA MOP9 for public awareness and communication purposes, i.e. it does not serve as an official record of the meeting. For feedback, content suggestions and enquiries, please contact Mr. Florian Keil, AEWA Information Officer by writing to: florian.keil@un.org
Further photos of AEWA MOP9 can be found on the AEWA Flickr Account.
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