UNEP/CMS
is one of the original environmental conventions from the
‘Stockholm’ suite of the 1970s. The convention
has a unique status as the only global wildlife convention
under which Partners agree to conserve named individual species
within their own national boundaries. It thus guarantees specific
rights to threatened migratory species irrespective of their
utility to humans.
In practice, the conservation of these animals and birds is
often best secured by managing both the species and their
ecosystems of which they form part in a way in which there
is symbiosis between people and wildlife. So UNEP/CMS and
its regional Agreements should take their place confidently
within the developing alliance of pre-Rio and past-Rio conventions,
under the umbrella of CBD, now striving to help Parties to
realize the ambitious targets for biodiversity they helped
to set at the World Summit of Sustainable Development in 2002.
"I look forward to working in partnership with Parties,
NGOs, IGOs such as IUCN, scientists and the private sector,
as well as such a committed and skilled staff in the CMS
Secretariat and the Article IV Agreements. Together we have
to make conservation happen on the scale needed to prevent
a catastrophic 21st century extinction of wildlife with
all its potential consequences for humankind.”
“I should also like to pay tribute to my friend of
more than 20 years, “Ulf” Müller-Helmbrecht,
who helped to bring CMS from the brink of its own extinction
12 years ago to the status of an innovative and successful
global convention. I am proud to take this chance to build
on his legacy. My gratitude goes to the Executive Director
of UNEP, Dr Klaus Töpfer, for giving me the opportunity
to serve the convention.”
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