Havana, 2 September 2003 – The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) have today signed, during the sixth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNCCD in Havana, Cuba, a memorandum of understanding in which they agree to cooperate further to achieve better coherence in the development of specific targeted actions to address issues relating to migratory species in areas affected by drought and desertification.

“Collaboration between environmental conventions is critical, as they deal with issues that are closely interlinked,” said Hama Arba Diallo, Executive Secretary of the UNCCD. “This is a step forward in strengthening synergies between the CMS and the UNCCD aimed at a holistic and consultative approach to preserving both fragile ecosystems and human habitats in the drylands.”

“The memorandum is a milestone in the efforts of the CMS to foster synergies with other conventions in the environment and development field,” noted CMS Executive Secretary Arnulf Müller-Helmbrecht. “Efforts to combat desertification, erosion and drought will provide a better life for people and should include wildlife conservation and restoration. Desert and steppe plants and animals,” he explained, “are integral to the landscape. They are adapted to the climate and, when conserved and sustainably used, they have the potential to provide local communities with a means to reach their development goals.”

Cooperation between the two organizations aims at avoiding duplication and integrating implementation of both conventions at the national and regional levels. The initiative will enable their respective Parties to take advantage of the convergence of objectives between the two conventions in these fragile ecosystems.

In the memorandum, the two conventions agree to participate in each other’s major meetings and to share information of mutual interest, in order to deepen their cooperation. The memorandum also requires the UNCCD secretariat to call on the Parties to the UNCCD to integrate the concerns of migratory species into their national, subregional and regional action programmes, and to consult with the CMS in identifying areas critical to the conservation and management of migratory species. In order to assess to what extent synergies between the two conventions have evolved, the initiation of case studies and the holding of a workshop are envisaged, as a preliminary step, following the signing.

A significant number of migratory species listed as “endangered” by the CMS are found in arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, and much of their survival depends in part on the successful implementation of programmes to combat desertification at all levels. Also, hundreds of millions of birds cross all the world’s drylands twice a year. With the ongoing expansion of the dry areas and increasing drought within them, the birds will one day not have the energy reserves to cross these areas. Many of them will become extinct.

The agreement follows repeated calls made at Conferences of the Parties to strengthen collaboration between the UNCCD and other relevant environmental conventions. The Conferences of the Parties have also called for interlinkages to be set up among the environmental conventions, in support of sustainable development.

Note to journalists:

For more information about this news release, please contact Mr. Ndegwa Ndiangui at nndiangui@unccd.int, or Ms. Cheemin Kwon at ckwon@unccd.int or by telephone on (537) 206-5452 or (537) 263-5734.

For more information about the Convention on Migratory Species and associated agreements, please visit the CMS web site www.wcmc.org.uk/cms and/or contact Ms. Veronika Lenarz at vlenarz@cms.unep.de or by telephone in Bonn, Germany, on +49-228-815 24 09.