 Bonn,
27 March 2006 - Regional efforts to save one of the world’s
most endangered migratory birds – the Siberian Crane
– needs backing from the 12 Range States”, said
CMS Executive Secretary Robert Hepworth speaking from the
Convention’s HQ in Bonn. Mr. Hepworth commended the
UNEP/GEF Siberian Crane Wetland Project (SCWP), which began
in 2003 and aims to rebuild the populations and habitats of
a species estimated to number approximately 4000 specimens
in the wild.
Achievements of the SCWP and related projects include a
100,000 hectare extension to a Siberian Crane breeding reserve
in Kazakhstan, a major exhibition in West Siberia, Russia,
crane monitoring and aerial surveys in NE China, and an
increase in the penalties for killing Siberian Cranes in
Iran from $6000 to $12000.
Mr Hepworth emphasised that the UNEP/GEF project is an
absolutely essential complement to the CMS Memorandum of
Understanding on Conservation Measures concerning the Siberian
Crane, which has been into effect force for 15 years. Ten
of the 12 Range States are signatories to the MoU, and of
these four are Parties to the parent Convention, CMS. The
Executive Secretary congratulated Kazakhstan, where accession
to the Convention on 1 May will raise the number of Siberian
Crane CMS Parties to five. He called on the remaining non-Party
range states – Azerbaijan, China, Iran, Russian Federation
and Turkmenistan to follow suit. “This will send a
powerful message regionally and to the rest of the world
that there is a long-term commitment to conserve not only
Siberian Cranes, but other endangered migratory species
in Asia”.
Last month Mr Hepworth attended the Meeting of the Interstate
Sustainable Development Commission (ISDC) in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
at the invitation of the current Chairman, Mr Makhtumkuli
Akmuradov, Turkmenistan Minister of Nature Protection, where
he gave a presentation on the relevance of CMS to Ministers
and senior officials from the five Central Asian republics
which comprise the Commission. Other regional species featured
in the presentation included the Saiga Antelope, Sturgeon,
Bukhara Deer, Snow Leopard, Wild Ass, Ferruginous Duck and
the Lesser White-fronted Goose. Following the meeting, there
are high hopes at CMS HQ in Bonn that Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan
will join Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan as full
Parties to CMS.
The Executive Secretary also paid tribute to the NGOs involved
in the Siberian Crane project, notably the International
Crane Foundation. He commented “without the ICF’s
pioneering role, and their ability to win local confidence,
this project would not be possible”. CMS has provided
grant aid to ICF totalling $ 142500 since 2001, and CMS
is committed to provide further financial support until
2008, and will seek donor funds to continue its support
in addition to the funds now available from the GEF project.
|
