The UNEP/AEWA Secretariat is pleased to
announce the launch of a new report series developed under
the AEWA Lesser White-fronted Goose International Working
Group (LWfG IWG). The new LWfG Reports will, for example,
feature the results and outcomes from Lesser White-fronted
Goose conservation projects being carried out across the
species range as part of the implementation of the AEWA
LWfG Single Species Action Plan.

The first report in the series, which
is now available as PDF download on the AEWA website, features
the results of a monitoring mission to the Syrian Arab
Republic conducted in February 2010, in an effort to locate
possible wintering areas of LWfG from the Western main
population. In addition to descriptions of the main sites
visited and detailed accounts of sighted waterbirds, the
report also entails recommendations for conservation activities
to be implemented at key LWfG sites in Syria. The report
was compiled by Toni Eskelin and Sami Timonen, who are
both long-standing members of the Finnish WWF LWfG taskforce
with many years of experience in LWfG conservation.

Funding for the mission was kindly made
available by the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management
and the Finnish Ministry of the Environment. In addition
a special thanks goes to the BirdLife International Middle
East office as well as the Syrian Ministry for the Environment,
the General Commission for Badia Management and Development
and the Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife
(SSCW) for their assistance in making the mission possible.

Experts interested in publishing reports
within the LWfG IWG series are asked to contact their national
LWfG focal points or the Working Group Coordinator, Ms.
Nina Mikander. The reports will be made available
for download in PDF format on the AEWA website. At present
there are no plans to produce printed version

Survey
of possible Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus)
wintering sites in the Syrian Arab Republic (PDF).

For more information please contact:

Ms. Nina Mikander,
Coordinator for the Lesser White-fronted Goose