International news

“Unifying Our Voices for Bird Conservation” is the theme of World Migratory Bird Day 2018, which will be celebrated in over 60 countries around the world on 12 May 2018.
World Migratory Bird Day is an annual, UN-backed global awareness-raising and environmental education campaign focused on migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them.

“Unifying our Voices for Bird Conservation” is the theme of World Migratory Bird Day 2018. Among the significant, but often underestimated threats to migratory birds across the African-Eurasian Flyways - the major bird migration corridors which links Europe, Africa and Western Asia - is lead poisoning. The UN Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), two international environment treaties behind World Migratory Bird Day are also driving international efforts to tackle this global threat.

A four-day summit concluded in Abu Dhabi on 26 April, at which many of the key players in global bird conservation participated representing NGOs, the scientific community, governments and the CMS Family. The main item under discussion was how migratory birds can be better protected at every point of their arduous journeys along the flyways.

Scientists, policy makers, civil society and industry will convene in Montreal, Canada for the 4th World Conference on Marine Biodiversity (WCMB-4) from 13 to 16 May. Over 1,000 delegates from more than 75 countries will participate in this global forum, which aims to spotlight marine biodiversity’s key role in sustaining ocean ecosystems, uncover research and policy challenges and priorities, and facilitate discussion and cooperation between stakeholders.

The Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS) would like to draw attention to three calls from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform

‘Location, location, location” is the real estate agent’s mantra when advising potential house-buyers about purchasing a property. It should also be the first, intermediate and final thought passing through the minds of designers of renewable energy projects. This is especially true of the Middle East — an area where the renewable energy sector is booming with unprecedented levels of investment.

Range State representatives, scientists and conservation experts met last week at the International Academy for Nature Conservation on the German Isle of Vilm to review the implementation of the CMS Central Asian Mammals Initiative (CAMI), to discuss challenges and strategy for further action.

With their long downcurved bills and distinctive call (“cur-loo”), curlews are among the most recognizable of all wading birds. But these large, long-lived shorebirds are also among the most threatened migratory birds on Earth: Two of eight curlew species have not been seen for decades and, tragically, may well be extinct (the Eskimo and the Slender-billed Curlew). Another three (the Eurasian, the Bristle-thighed, and the Far Eastern) are listed as being of conservation concern on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

The third World Fish Migration Day (WFMD) is being celebrated on 21 April 2018, with more than 2,000 organizations involved in over 450 local events worldwide. From river restoration projects to guided fishway tours, public lectures to school workshops, these events support the theme “Connecting Fish, Rivers and People”.

The CMS Workshop on the Conservation Implications of Animal Culture and Social Complexity took place in Parma, Italy from 12 to 14 April. The group of experts convened to advise on how knowledge of animal culture and other aspects of sociality can be used to inform conservation efforts for migratory species. Evidence of social learning, and in some instances more permanent culture, in animals can be seen in the communication, foraging, habitat use, migration and play habits of whales, dolphins, elephants, primates and other species.