The Scientific Council should:

a) Continue the Working Group on African-Eurasian Migratory Landbirds until the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, extending its membership to incorporate expertise from geographical regions currently absent, to facilitate and monitor the implementation of the Action Plan, and to develop indicators to assess the implementation of the Programme of Work 2016 – 2020;

b) In the intersessional period between the 12th meeting of the Conference of the Parties and the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, and subject to the availability of resources, work with the Migratory Landbird Study Group, relevant academic institutions, research-funders and the Working Group, in order to actively promote research that addresses key knowledge gaps relating to migratory landbird conservation in African landscapes, inter alia, to:

i.      Identify migratory pathways and strategies using tracking technologies to understand migratory connectivity so enabling field research to be targeted more effectively;

ii.     Undertake detailed field studies in sub-Saharan Africa and at staging sites, in conjunction with existing data where appropriate, to better understand species distribution patterns, habitat use and foraging ecology, and in particular identify and enhance conservation of the stop-over sites immediately to the north and south of the Sahara (including through data collection and seeking linkages with relevant stakeholders);

iii.     Synthesize data from European breeding grounds to explore spatial and temporal patterns in demographic parameters in relation to migratory pathways and large-scale patterns of environmental change;

iv.    Use satellite image earth observation data to improve understanding where land cover is changing and how this impacts African-Eurasian migrant birds, and research the drivers of land use / land cover change;

v.     Seek better understanding of how to influence the economic and social policy drivers causing land use / land cover change at different scales;

vi.    Encourage research to determine for which declining European landbird migrants declines cannot be explained by conditions in the breeding grounds; and

c) Report to the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties on the extent to which progress has been made on these and other priorities, and potential opportunities to promote these research areas including dialogue with national and international research-funding agencies.

Parties, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations:

a) And particularly Parties, bilateral and multilateral donors, Global Environment Facility, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Environment Programme, United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Economic Community of West African States and other relevant international organizations, in the intersessional period between the 12th and the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, are requested to consider voluntarily supporting financially the implementation of the Action Plan, in particular to tackle the barriers to sustainable land use in Africa, including the priorities for West Africa recommended by the Abuja workshop, and including through the provision of technical and financial assistance to developing countries for relevant capacity building;

b) Are invited to make voluntary contributions to support the Working Group to organize at least one meeting within the intersessional period between the 12th and the 13th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to among other activities, review the implementation of the Action Plan and the Programme of Work.