The 14th meeting of the CMS Scientific Council was held at the Secretariat’s premises in Bonn, 15th-17th March 2007. More than 70 participants attended the meeting including 45 Council members as well as representatives of countries and partner IGOs and NGOs.

The meeting provided the first opportunity for the Council to review progress in the accomplishment of its Strategy Implementation Plan for 2006-2011. The Plan, agreed by the Council at its 13th meeting, was designed to define the contribution of the Council to the attainment of the targets and objectives of the Convention’s Strategic Plan 2006-2011 adopted by the 8th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The meeting agreed that, while significant progress had already been made in some activities, overall, the challenges posed by the Strategic Plan required a renewed effort. In this regard, the meeting took important decisions concerning the Council’s working practices, notably by agreeing to expand significantly its activities between the meetings, by establishing several intersessional working groups. Participants at the meeting formed thematic working groups on climate change and migratory species, on by-catch, on sustainable use and on animal diseases, with defined work programmes and timetables for delivering results. The meeting also expressed a definite preference for maintaining the practice of two full regular meetings in a triennium, with the second one to be held preferably back-to-back to the COP meeting in order to facilitate the participation of members of the Council in it.

In terms of resources in support of the work of the Council, the meeting considered in detail the status and future prospects of the CMS Small Grants Programme to support conservation and research activities. Participants expressed concern that many projects that had already been approved by the Council could not commence due to lack of funds. The programme’s reliance almost exclusively on voluntary contributions rather than on the Parties’ regular subscriptions was recognised as the main cause of the present financial difficulties. The meeting, while refraining from suggesting new project proposals, made a strong plea for securing adequate funding to the programme

.“The CMS Small Grants Programme has had a significant role in developing CMS initiatives for a number of taxa mainly in developing countries. Project-oriented work is a key operational tool of the Convention. I call upon the Parties to raise their contribution to enable the Convention to implement its work”, explained CMS Executive Secretary Robert Hepworth.

Since 1997 the Programme has supported over 50 projects, distributing nearly US$1.5 million. The intermediate beneficiaries as implementing agencies for CMS grants have typically been NGOs, foundations, research institutions and universities. Resources have been divided between four main groups of migratory species: terrestrial mammals, birds, aquatic mammals and turtles. The Programme has been in particular the main tool supporting Concerted Actions for Appendix I species.

“The Small Grants Programme is the flagship of CMS and every effort must be made by the Parties to provide adequate sustainable means to fund conservation projects”, said Mr. John H. Mshelbwala, chairman of the Scientific Council.

The Scientific Council meeting also dealt with a number of other issues:·

Progress of work on several crosscutting issues: a study to identify migratory species as indicators for climate change has been funded and is about to commence. The meeting agreed to the terms of reference of reviews of the impact of bycatch of migratory species in fisheries and of the impact of artificial barriers to migration. Another study on the impact of invasive alien species on migratory animals has also commenced.

The meeting suggested several species suitable for listing on the CMS Appendices across various taxonomic groups, including several species and populations of cetaceans from the Atlantic Coast of Africa, the Pacific and South-East Asia and several species of Asiatic mammals. The meeting also identified a list of bird species whose suitability for inclusion on the CMS Appendices should be evaluated. An offer by Kenya to prepare a proposal for the listing of the African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) was also welcomed.

Dr. Sarah Fowler presented a comprehensive study on migratory sharks prepared by the IUCN SSC Sharks Specialist Group. The study, which constitutes a major step forward in the consideration of these species within CMS, was well received by the Council. Dr. Fowler offered to move the process further by preparing draft-listing proposals for potentially eligible species for consideration by the Council.

The meeting also issued a statement in support of the implementation of the conclusions and other technical outputs of the Conference “Waterbirds around the World”.