On 28 November 2001, in a ceremony hosted by Austria, the Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Resources of the Republic of Austria, Mag. Wilhelm Molterer, and the Minister of the Environment of the Slovak Republic, Mr. László Miklós, signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Conservation and Management of the Middle-European Population of the Great Bustard (Otis tarda), in Untersiebenbrunn, Lower Austria, close to the Austrian-Slovak border.

Minister Miklós (Slovakia), Mr. Müller-Helmbrecht (Executive Secretary CMS) and Minister Molterer (Austria). photo: Mag. Nicolaus Drimmel, Österreichischer Gemeindebund.

On this occasion both the Austrian and Slovak Ministers underpinned the importance of a cooperative and coordinated approach in the conservation of the Great Bustard and a sound management of the habitat on which it depends. The Ministers expressed their satisfaction with the cooperation which had taken place between the responsible experts in government, the regions, communities and non-governmental organisations of Austria, Hungary and the Slovak Republic. They acknowledged the joint efforts to recover the existing populations of Great Bustard in the entire area of western Slovakia, western Hungary and eastern Austria. Mr. Müller-Helmbrecht, the Executive Secretary of CMS, explained that with these two signatures and the upcoming signature by Albania, two-thirds of the main Range States of the Middle-European population of Great Bustard will have signed the MoU before the end of 2001. He expressed his satisfaction that at least two sub-populations of the Great Bustard, one of which is shared by Austria, Hungary and Slovakia, have developed extremely well in the past ten to twelve years. He expressed hope that this experience in habitat management may serve as a model for similar activities in other regions/parts of the range. He acknowledged the extremely positive and successful work of the experts of WWF Austria and the Pannonian Association. One of the products of their work, the Action Plan for the conservation of the Great Bustard in Austria, was presented by Dr. G. Dick, of WWF Austria in the presence of some of the other authors (Dr. Hans-Peter Kollar, and Mag. Stefan Raab). The Executive Secretary also noted that BirdLife International, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC) signed the MoU last year as "associated partners". The Ministers present endorsed the continued need for cooperation and coordination between all the actors in the Great Bustard's habitat management.

For further information please contact: UNEP/CMS Secretariat Tel.: (+49 228) 815 2401/2; fax: (+49 228) 815 2449 E-Mail: cms@unep.de; Website: www.cms.int Martin-Luther-King-Str. 8, 53175 Bonn, Germany