The main objective of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) is to conserve and sustainably use migratory species worldwide by raising awareness of Range States on the alarming depletion of the species’ habitats.

Therefore, the Convention has entered a partnership with the Convention to Combat Desertification and will participate in the celebration of the International Year of Deserts and Desertification in 2006. It was announced by the United Nations General Assembly and is being celebrated by the international community worldwide. It thus emphasizes the importance of fragile arid ecosystems and dry lands as well as the phenomenon of desertification leading to biodiversity loss. It also threatens the potential that generates services, ecological and cultural values and mankind’s well being.

As a mark of the excellent cooperation between CMS and UNCCD have set up a Joint Work Programme. Both Conventions have committed themselves to improving the conservation of biodiversity in arid zones in order to achieve the 2010 targets on reducing the loss of biodiversity and the Millennium Development Goals on poverty alleviation by 2015. These were adopted by the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002.

The Convention on Migratory Species joins UNEP in commemorating the International Year of Deserts and Desertification on 17 June 2006 as requested by UNCCD. This event requests the full attention of CMS, which promotes the Concerted Action on the conservation and restoration of Sahelo-Saharan Antelopes (ASS) not only with the Scientific Council, but also in Africa in the field. The ASS-FFEM project is a concrete example of efforts undertaken by 14 Sahelo-Saharian Range States under the aegis of CMS and with the generous contribution of France through the Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM) and other partners. The 8th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties held in Nairobi in November 2005, set up a partnership that has been extended to include numerous actors. Depending on satisfactory results of the project, it is currently being extended with support from other partners and sponsors. All of them are convinced that the Action Plan on the Conservation of Sahelo-Saharan Antelopes must be implemented from Mauritania to Ethiopia. Critically endangered species such as the Addax, Dama Gazelle, Cuvier’s Gazelle, Dorcas Gazelle and Slender-horned Gazelle or the Oryx that is extinct in the wild will one day return to their arid ecosystems and dry lands, to the benefit of present and future generations. CMS and UNCCD share this conviction and work together to make this happen.

Another event will be the upcoming publication of the Status of Sahelo-Saharan Antelopes as part of the CMS Technical Series in September 2006. An eminent expert group contributed to this publication that strikes a balance of the status of large Saharian mammals in order to inform on the real situation of the species typical of the Sahara and Sahel regions. The CMS Scientific Council revised it in November 2005. This celebration will take place at the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique and organized jointly with CMS.