The establishment of a Scientific Council to provide advice on scientific matters is foreseen in Article VIII of the Convention. The Council makes recommendations to the Conference of the Parties on such issues as research on migratory species, specific conservation and management measures, the inclusion of migratory species in the Appendices and designation of species for Concerted or Cooperative Actions under the Convention. It also gives advice on projects' eligibility for funding under the Small Grant Programme of CMS.

Each Party is entitled to appoint a qualified expert as a member of the Scientific Council. Parties may also nominate an alternate Scientific Councillor, entitled to participate in meetings of the Council when the regular Councillor cannot attend. In addition to the members appointed by the individual Parties, the Conference of the Parties can appoint to the Council other experts to cover fields of particular interest to the Convention. As at April 2008, the Council includes eight Conference-appointed members to cover the following taxa/geographic regions/threats: marine turtles; birds; aquatic mammals; fish; neo-tropical fauna; Asiatic fauna; African fauna; by-catch. At present, there are about 88 members of the Council.

Small Grants Programme

The Small Grants Programme (SGP) has in the years since its inception in 1997 distributed around US$1.4 million. Typical awards have been in the region of US$20,000-30,000, but pilot initiatives supported by the SGP have often developed into far larger projects, helping to raise the profile of CMS as well as conservation.

Initially funded by surpluses in the Convention’s Trust Fund, the SGP now relies almost entirely on voluntary contributions from the Parties combined with small contributions from the Trust Fund.

A list of projects endorsed by the Scientific Council and awaiting financial support can be accessed here. If you are interested in contributing financially to the development of these projects, please get in contact with:

Borja Heredia, Scientific and Technical Officer at bheredia@cms.int

List of CMS Scientific Council Members

CMS Scientific Council Reports: (PDF format)

		English	français	español
Activity Planning Meeting
Bonn, Germany, 13 June 2009	Report of the Activity Planning Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council		-	-
15th Scientific Council Meeting
Rome, Italy, 27-28 November 2008	Report of the Fifteenth Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council (Annex VI to COP9 Report)
14th Scientific Council Meeting
Bonn, Germany, 14-17 March 2007	Report of the Fourteenth Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
13th Scientific Council Meeting
Nairobi, Kenya, November 2005	Report of the Thirteenth Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
12th Scientific Council Meeting
Glasgow, United Kingdom, 31 March - 3 April 2004	Report of the Twelfth Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
11th Scientific Council Meeting
Bonn, Germany, 14-17 September 2002	Report of the Eleventh Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
10th Scientific Council Meeting
Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom, 2-4 May 2001	Report of the Tenth Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
9th Scientific Council Meeting
Cape Town, South Africa, 4-6 November 1999	Report of the Ninth Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
8th Scientific Council Meeting
Wageningen, The Netherlands, 3-5 June 1998	Report of the Eighth Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
7th Scientific Council Meeting
Geneva, Switzerland, 10-16 April 1997	Report of the Seventh Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
6th Scientific Council Meeting
Bonn, Germany, 1-3 November 1995	Report of the Sixth Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
5th Scientific Council Meeting
Nairobi, Kenya, 4-5 June 1994	Report of the fifth Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
4th Scientific Council Meeting
Bonn, Germany, 17-19 May 1993	Report of the fourth Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
3rd Scientific Council Meeting
Geneva, Switzerland, 9-13 September 1991	Report of the third Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
2nd Scientific Council Meeting
Bonn, Germany, 14-15 March 1991	Report of the second Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council
1st Scientific Council Meeting
Geneva, Switzerland, 11-14 October 1988	Report of the first Meeting of the CMS Scientific Council

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