Almaty, 18 May. Conservation history was made today in Almaty where the countries of West and Central Asia joined together to form an international network to save the critically endangered Siberian Crane. The historical partnership aims to protect globally significant natural wetlands, home to tens of millions of migratory waterbirds, including a number of globally threatened species.

The Western and Central Asian populations of the Siberian Crane migrate thousands of kilometres from their breeding grounds in the far north of Siberia, southward through six countries to their wintering grounds in Iran and India. The Siberian Crane is widely known and deeply embedded in the cultures of all the countries of the region. Since ancient times these great white cranes have been revered as models of virtue and symbols of good fortune, long life and fidelity.

Now, with the western and central populations on the brink of extinction in the wild, representatives from nine countries where they have existed and conservationists from around the world joined together in Kazakhstan to set up an international network to save these magnificent birds.

The Western/Central Asian Site Network for Siberian Cranes and other waterbirds was formally launched on 18 May, in a special signing ceremony held during the Sixth Meeting of the Signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding on Conservation Measures for the Siberian Crane. Also known as the CMS Siberian Crane MoU, this international agreement brings together all of the Siberian Crane Range States, the International Crane Foundation, as well as the newest MoU partners: Wetlands International, and the Crane and Cracid Conservation and Breeding Centre.

The Site Network will focus conservation efforts on sites of international importance for the Siberian Crane along its West and Central Asian flyways in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russian Federation (western Siberia), Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Ten sites from five countries were formally accepted to the Network at the launch ceremony. These include, from Kazakhstan: the Kulikol-Taldikol Lake System, Zharsor-Urkash Lake System, Naurzum Lake System, Delta of the Ural River and Coastal Zone of the Caspian Sea, and the Tyuntyugur-Zhanshura Lake System; from the Islamic Republic of Iran: Bujagh National Park and Fereydoon Kenar, Ezbaran & Sorkh Ruds Ab-Bandans Ramsar Site; Termez in Uzbekistan; Durnaly in Turkmenistan; and Keoladeo Ghana National Park in India.

National representatives of each of the countries in the Network nominated the sites. Mr. Khairbek Mussabaeyev, Deputy Chairman, Forest and Hunting Committee of the Ministry of Agriculture, Republic of Kazakhstan, and Mr. Douglas Hykle of the Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species, presented launch certificates.

Additional sites nominated by Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and the Russian Federation are currently under formal consideration. The newly designated Site Network Committee and the Site Network Working Group will advance the work of this initiative before the next meeting by reviewing proposals for additional Network sites.

Additional background material about conservation of the Siberian Crane:

The Western and Central populations of the Siberian Crane are considered “critically endangered” with only a few individuals known to exist and only one recent confirmed sighting on the wintering grounds in Iran in Spring 2007. The Eastern population of the Siberian Crane breeds in Siberia in Yakutia and migrates through Mongolia and northern China to central eastern China, where the large majority of the population winters within the Poyang Lake basin. This eastern population, also considered “endangered”, has been recently estimated to consist of around 3000 birds.

There is now more hope for the future of the Siberian Crane through the international efforts of the CMS Siberian Crane MoU, which has coordinated conservation plans among all the11 countries within which the Siberian Cranes have existed, as well as the recent GEF-funded Siberian Crane Wetlands Project. Coordinated by the International Crane Foundation, in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme, the project is implementing a comprehensive conservation strategy at a number of key wetland sites of the Siberian Crane’s western and eastern flyways in four countries (China, Kazakhstan, the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the Russian Federation).

To learn more about the Kazakhstan meeting and related Siberian Crane conservation activities, please visit the following websites:

CMS Siberian crane meeting pages (click here)
International Crane Foundation (click here)
GEF Siberian Crane Wetland Project (click here)
Siberian Flyway Coordination (click here)
Wetlands International (click here)