Bonn, 13 June 2009 - The first ever meeting on Scientific Council Activity Planning took place at the UN Campus. Chaired by John Mshelbwala (Nigeria), the meeting reviewed progress achieved on the Council's intersessional work and started to consider the agenda for the Council's next full meeting, due in spring 2010. Topics identified for discussion included the future funding of the Small Grants Programme; the adoption of standard taxonomic references for the Convention's bird species; how the Convention should respond when taxonomic nomenclature changed in cases where species were merged (lumping); possible criteria for listing CMS Appendix II species; and the classification of countries as Range States.

The idea of holding an Activity Planning Meeting arose from the debate about the desirability of more frequent meetings of the Council to enhance its work between Conferences of the Parties. Participants welcomed the initiative as a cost effective compromise. "The Activity Planning Meeting is, I stress, purely advisory and informal, but nonetheless an excellent opportunity to exchange views and monitor progress of the intersessional working groups", said John Mshelbwala. Further consideration would be given to the make-up of the ad hoc group, which was likely to include the Council's chair and vice-chairs together with the convenors of the Council's taxonomic, regional and thematic working groups and possibly representatives of the Convention's partner organisations.

[Meeting Documents]