World Migratory Bird Day 2012

Each year on the second weekend in May, dedicated people and organizations plan World Migratory Bird Day events to celebrate migrating birds in their region and to raise awareness about the need for their protection. Since World Migratory Bird Day began in 2006, events have been carried out in 104 countries and we hope this year even more people and countries will join the global celebration.

On their epic journeys spanning thousands of kilometres, migratory birds connect continents, cultures and people along their migration routes. World Migratory Bird Day 2012 and this year’s them: Migratory birds and people - together through time highlight the vital relationship between birds and people.

Migratory Species experts meet to confront challenges in the Americas

Representatives from the Convention on Migratory Species, Ramsar Convention, UNEP, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, BirdLife International, the GEF Secretariat, International Crane Foundation, and Wetlands International met to discuss several Global projects on Migratory Species. Specific to the Western Hemisphere Migratory Species Initiative (WHMSI) a project entitled: "Conservation of globally important migratory species and the critical habitats needed to complete their lifecycles within the Americas" is under design.

Read on

The UNEP/CMS Thesis Award

The UNEP/CMS Thesis Award on Migratory Species Conservation, sponsored by Lufthansa, has been won by Dr Lucy King for her study of the use of the African honeybee as a natural deterrent to elephants.

The award of €10,000 (c. US$ 13,500) will be made at the 10th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to CMS (COP10) in Norway in November 2011, in affiliation with the Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig (ZFMK) in Bonn. The Secretariat of the Bonn Convention on Migratory Species advertises this award to promote scientific research and conservation of migratory species, as defined by the Convention.

Find out more about the Thesis Award here.

Year of the Bat 2011-12

The latest species group to be the focus of a CMS "Year of the ..." campaign is bats. The campaign will see CMS cooperating closely with EUROBATS over a two-year period. The main emphasis in the first year will be Europe before the campaign goes global in 2012. Three leading scientists have already been recruited to serve as "Ambassadors": Dr. MerlinTuttle (USA), Professor Paul Racey (UK) and Dr. Rodrigo Medellín (Mexico).

For more information on the Year of the Bat, click here

International Year of Biodiversity

The 2010 International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) is a special year declared by the UN General Assembly in recognition of the 2010 target to significantly reduce the rate of biodiversity loss worldwide. Migratory species and their habitats are increasingly threatened by habit loss, over-exploitation, pollution and climate change. Biodiversity and ecosystem services are vital for the well being of human society and long term prosperity but consequences of its loss are yet not fully understood.

For more information on IYB, click here

Inter-sessional Working Group on the Future Shape of CMS

The Inter-Sessional Working Group, established at the CMS COP in Rome in 2008, met at the CMS HQ in the UN Campus in Bonn from in October 2009 to review the first draft of report compiled by the consultancy firm, ERIC (Environmental Regulation and Information Centre). The report deals with the current organisation of CMS and the CMS Family.

For more information on the "Future Shape" process, click here

CMS Family Guide - THIRD EDITION JUST PUBLISHED!

The CMS Family Guide is a comprehensive, 100-page encyclopaedia describing the Convention's history and structure, the Agreements and MOUs, some of the species covered in the Appendices, the threats and challenges migratory animals face and some of the activties undertaken by the Convention.

The second edition has been trnaslated in French and Spanish and the third edition has just appeared - initially only in English. Click on the links below for the pdf version of the Guide.

[English][Français][Español]

CMS Project Office - Abu Dhabi - Signing of Donor Agreement

The Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) have signed a Donor Agreement to establish a UNEP/Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) office in Abu Dhabi.

The office will be led by Lahcen El Kabiri, the former Deputy Executive Secretary of CMS. The Office will manage the two MOUs on Dugongs and Raptors (Brids of Prey).

Year of the Gorilla - 2009

After the Year ofthe Turtle (2006) which had a strong focus on the Indian Ocean Region, CMS ran "Year of the Dolphin" in 2007 and 2008 as a global campaign. 2009 was declared "Year of the Gorilla".

CMS is cooperating with GRASP - the Great Apes Survival Partnership to promote gorilla conservation.

To find out more about Year of the Gorilla activities, click on the logo (left).

Avian Influenza Task Force

In response to the sometimes disproprtionate reaction to outbreaks of Avian flu, which included totally unustfied calls to cull wild birds and drain wetlands, CMS established a scientific task force on avian influenza. It was soon estblishe dthat domesti9c fowl rather than wild birds were the main vectors of the disease.

To find out more about Avian Influenza, see the AI pages of this website here..

Small Island Developing States

CMS has produced a leaflet describing the benefits of membership of the Convention to small island developing states (SIDS).

The leaflet can be found here in three different languages: English, français and español.

In January 2010, the BBC carried a report on the ecological value of rare species found on small islands. Click here to link to the article.

Bycatch Reduction and Trans-Oceanic Cooperation to Conserve the Leatherback Turtle

Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are endangered due to bycatch mortality in fisheries, but also to over harvesting of eggs and meat. This highly migratory species can travel across the Atlantic. Bycatch numbers of Leatherbacks in the South-western Atlantic off the coast of Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina are alarming.

The project sponsored also by CMS aims to track at least three Leatherback turtles equipped with satellite tags to provide new information on leatherbacks movements captured as a result of bycatch.