African Regional Preparatory Meeting for AEWA MOP7

Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary in Eswatini by Vaiz Ha [CC BY 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons

An African Preparatory Meeting for the 7^th Session of the Meeting of the Parties to AEWA (Pre-MOP7) took place from 12-14 September 2018 at the Royal Swazi Spa Hotel in the Ezulwini Valley in Eswatini (formerly: Swaziland). The meeting was jointly organized by the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat and the Eswatini National Trust Commission, and kindly hosted by the Government of Eswatini.

The AEWA Pre-MOP7 provided an important opportunity for the AEWA Contracting Parties in Africa to deliberate on the key issues relating to migratory waterbird conservation which will be addressed at the 7^th Session of the AEWA Meeting of Parties (MOP7), scheduled for 4-8 December 2018 in Durban, South Africa.

Among the key issues addressed during the three-day meeting were the draft documents on the Strategic Plan and Plan of Action for Africa for the period of 2019-2027, waterbird monitoring in the AEWA region, species action and management planning under AEWA, climate change resilience for migratory waterbirds and their sites, National Reporting, the institutional, financial and administrative management of the Agreement including a number of budget scenarios to be considered for the future financing of the Agreement, as well as the associated draft resolutions. The AEWA African National Focal Points further deliberated on issues of regional and sub-regional importance during closed discussion sessions. This provided them with the opportunity to establish regional positions on issues to be discussed at MOP7.

The meeting was made possible thanks to generous financial and in-kind contributions from the Governments of Switzerland (through the Federal Office for the Environment), Germany (through the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety) and Eswatini (through the Eswatini National Trust Commission).

Please click here for a brief news article on the meeting including pictures.