Bonn, 5 June 2007: The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) launched on 5th June for the International Environment Day a poster for primary school children. The double-sided colour A1 poster was produced in cooperation with the pupils and teachers at the Bonn International School (BIS). The poster contains pictures drawn and painted by pupils aged 5-11 and essays written on various migratory species.
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Berlin, 30 May 2007. Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany, H.E. Grant Ohemeng Kesse, signed the Memorandum of Understanding concerning Conservation Measures for the West African Populations of the African Elephant on 30 May in Berlin.
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Tunis, 22 May 2007: Bycatch is one of the major threats cetaceans face in all the world’s oceans and seas. Despite efforts to introduce “dolphin friendly” fishing methods, very often old net types are still used, or preventive measures designed to avoid entanglement of marine mammals in nets are not employed.
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Bonn/Quickborn, 20 May 2007: Petra Deimer (photo: left) and the Society for the Protection of Marine Mammals (GSM) receive the ASCOBANS Award on the International Day of the Baltic Harbour Porpoise. Petra Deimer can be described as a true champion of marine mammal protection, she founded GSM almost thirty years ago. By bestowing this award, ASCOBANS expresses its thanks and recognises the educational and public awareness raising initiatives undertaken by Petra and GSM.
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Almaty, 19 May. The Siberian Crane, one of the most threatened of the world’s fifteen crane species, breeds in Russia and winters in China, Iran and, formerly, India. The epic annual migration of these beautiful cranes links eleven countries, as the birds stop to rest and feed along a chain of wetlands scattered across western, central and eastern Asia.
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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.
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Washington D.C., 17 May 2007: In recognition of his commitment to the conservation of oceans and marine life, and as a future messenger for dolphin conservation, Nick Carter was appointed today as Special Ambassador of the Year of the Dolphin by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Convention on Migratory Species (CMS).
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Washington D.C., 16 May 2007: A symposium held at the Smithsonian Institution recognizes that the key to successful protection and conservation of the world’s migratory species is enhanced connectivity, through partnerships founded in science-based policy leading to the elimination of national and regional borders for wildlife.
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Bonn, 11 May 2007: Robert Hepworth, Executive Secretary CMS, and Linda Krueger, Director, Wildlife Conservation Society Policy Programme, today signed a cooperation agreement towards achieving the 2010 targets in nature and biodiversity conservation. The agreement, signed at the UN German Headquarters in Bonn, is intended to enable joint efforts in major and diverse fields...
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Bonn, May 2007: After having heard of the school’s plans to celebrate its 10th anniversary with a Balloon Release the grade 3 class was very concerned. “This is bad for the animals!” They cried. “The fish, turtles and birds will eat the balloons and they can die.” As part of a project on endangered animals CMS' Paola Deda and Robert Vagg went to speak to the class. The pupils learned about the dangers of plastic bags to animals (especially turtles). The turtles mistake the bags for jellyfish and eat them. The plastic gets stuck in their digestive track and eventually kills them. The class is presently working on a campaign with CMS to encourage the BIS community to use canvas bags instead of plastic bags.
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Gökova Bay, Turkey: The CMS Secretariat welcomes the successful release of a monk seal pup in Turkey and expresses its gratitude to the individuals and organizations involved. CMS will continue to support conservation efforts for the Mediterranean Monk Seal (Monachus monachus). The decline of the monk seal is the result of adverse interactions with humans, mostly through direct exploitation in the past, and deliberate killing, incidental entanglement in fishing gear, destruction or alteration of costal habitat, over-exploitation by fisheries, and pollution.
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Bonn, 7 May 2007: Robert Hepworth, Executive Secretary of UNEP/CMS sent a strong message of support to scientists participating in the 12th Meeting of the EUROBATS Advisory Committee, which opened today in Budapest.
“The scale of commitment to EUROBATS by its range states is easily visible from the quality and detail of the national reports”, said Mr Hepworth. “The collective analysis of national reports has allowed the Secretariat to produce figures showing that damage to bat roosts and habitat are the most common threat across the entire Agreement area, closely followed by disturbance and chemicals.”
Mr Hepworth invited the Committee to consider these findings carefully and help provide EUROBATS with the impetus it needs to conserve “these irreplaceable migratory mammals”.
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Bonn, 7 May 2007: “Birds in a changing climate” is this year’s theme for World Migratory Bird Day, an international public awareness event focusing every year on a different threat or obstacle to the movement and survival of avian species. The initiative promoted by the African Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds Agreement (AEWA) and the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), two UNEP-led treaties for the conservation of wildlife.

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Paris, 2 May: A multilingual booklet entitled ‘All about dolphins’ will be launched today at the UNESCO headquarters. The initiative, supported by the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences of UNESCO, is also part of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development.

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Click here for Dolphin Manual on YOD website...

San Sebastián, 22 April 2007: On the evening of 20 April 2007, the Executive Secretary of CMS/ASCOBANS, Robert Hepworth, launched the Spanish version of the Year of the Dolphin 2007 leaflet. He presented the objectives and activities of the Year of the Dolphin campaign to the delegates of the 14th Advisory Committee Meeting of ASCOBANS, alongside the Secretariat’s Scientific Officer, Marco Barbieri.

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San Sebastián, 22 April 2007 - The 14th Meeting of the ASCOBANS Advisory Committee met in San Sebastián, Spain, from 19-21 April. It was the first meeting since the CMS and ASCOBANS Secretariats were merged in January 2007, and provided the opportunity for the new members of the “CMS/ASCOBANS Team” to introduce themselves to the Party representatives.

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