Second Meeting of Lesser White-fronted Goose Range States
Bonn, 22 November 2012 - The 2nd Meeting of the AEWA Lesser White-fronted Goose International Working Group took place at the Villa Belles Hotel at Lake Kerkini from 9 to 11 November as representatives from 15 range states as well as international conservation organizations came together in Greece to assess progress made in the implementation of the Lesser White-fronted Goose Single Species Action Plan.
To ease the assessment of progress made in the conservation of the species during the inter-sessional period 2011-2012, range states were asked to submit national reports using the CMS Family Online Reporting System. A total of 16 out of 22 key range states submitted reports to the meeting. Based on the reports submitted, it would appear that the steep decline of the two Western Palearctic sub-populations (Fennoscandian and Western main) has at least slowed down, with only one country (Turkmenistan) reporting the species as declining. However, much remains unknown about the actual population status of the Lesser White-fronted Goose and range states will continue their efforts to close major knowledge gaps such as the exact location of the wintering areas of the Western main sub-population.
The Working Group also kicked-off the revision of the AEWA Single Species Action Plan for the Lesser White-fronted Goose, which is due to be completed in 2013. Range states re-evaluated the threats to the species and re-prioritized urgent conservation activities to be implemented in the short to medium term.
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Meeting participants also decided to establish a network of critical sites as well as a common monitoring scheme for the Lesser White-fronted Goose. To this end, range states selected sites critical for the survival of the species today to be prioritized for conservation measures as well as funding. The common monitoring scheme will build on the monitoring network being established along the European migratory routes of the species by WWF Finland within the framework of the current EU LIFE+ project. The scheme includes common monitoring and identification instructions to be used in all range states, a network of national monitoring teams consisting of at least two field experts per country as well as a common database for all Lesser White-fronted Goose observations, which has been developed by the Norwegian Ornithological Society.
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In addition, the meeting marked the official launch of a new website and internal workspace for the Lesser White-fronted Goose, developed by the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat to help facilitate the inter-sessional communication between Working Group members.
The meeting concluded on Sunday with an excursion to Lake Kerkini, which is a designated Ramsar Site as well as an Important Bird Area (IBA) and is host to more than 300 bird species - including Lesser White-fronted Geese, 54 of which meeting participants were lucky to observe.