Bonn, 5 March 2012 - At the invitation of the CMS Ambassadors, a Donors’ Meeting took place in the margins of COP10 on 22 November in Bergen.

The generous hospitality of the German Government and the entertaining chairing of Stanley Johnson made this event memorable. Despite times of financial austerity, CMS received overwhelming financial support from its Parties, non-member states and organizations.

Australia, Germany, Finland, Norway, United Arab Emirates (UAE), USA, UNEP and Friends of CMS contributed to many different initiatives that bring forward the CMS agenda during the current triennium.

Significant funding from Norway went to projects that aim at improving the conservation status of species at critical sites; species affected include the Lesser White-fronted goose in Azerbaijan, Cross River gorillas in central Africa, White-eared Kobs in Ethiopia and South Sudan. At the same time, these initiatives look at how to contribute to poverty alleviation and how to empower local communities by for instance addressing the subject of poaching with the identification of alternative livelihoods for the local people. This confirms that conservation of migratory species cannot be fully achieved if considered independently from the ecosystems of which they are part and people. Work is well underway to implement these initiatives spanning two years.

The Small Grants Programme (SGP), which has been almost dormant since 2005, is being revitalized thanks to the support of Finland and the generous contribution of UNEP. These resources will allow at least five small conservation initiatives on the ground per year to be sponsored. The Secretariat is on the point of launching a call for projects that will be then reviewed by a pool of experts selected within the Scientific Council.

The conservation of gorillas and sharks is also being strenghtened by a considerable volume of funds from Germany, USA and Australia destined to the coordination of the two related CMS instruments, the organization of meetings and implementation of activities on the ground. For instance, the First Meeting of the Parties to the Sharks MoU is being organized to be held in September 2012. Among many other things, the meeting is intended to adopt a Conservation Plan for sharks.

The CMS Office in Abu Dhabi can ontinue its operations owing to the renewal of the UAE triennial grant. This contribution ensures that the good work which has been done over the last three years will continue, be further strengthened and that progress on other issues will be made also in the light of the increase of signatories to the two MOUs (Dugongs and Raptors) that this office coordinates.

We are indebted to all contributors including the CMS Ambassadors for convening this meeting and for their great efforts in promoting the Convention.

This event, which will be certainly repeated, provides an important example that we all have a share in the conservation of migratory species and can contribute in many ways to achieve it.