The CMS Conference of Parties at its 11th Meeting in Quito, Ecuador in 2014 (COP11) launched an intersessional process to explore possibilities for strengthening implementation of the Convention through the development of a review process and to report to the 12th Meeting of Parties to be held from 22-28 October 2017 in the Philippines (UNEP/CMS/Resolution 11.7). As requested by the COP through the same resolution, the CMS Standing Committee at its 44th Meeting in Bonn, Germany in 2015 established a Working Group on the Development of a Review Process under the Convention on Migratory Species (the ‘Working Group’) and adopted its Terms of Reference. 

The Working Group consists of one member of the Standing Committee from each region but is open to participation by other interested Parties. 

Over the course of the meetings, the Working Group is tasked to:

• Discuss a comparative analysis of best practices of existing review mechanisms of MEAs, including the CMS Family agreements, taking into account their advantages, disadvantages and the cost involved;
• Discuss an assessment of the feasibility for an existing body within CMS to exercise the functions of a review process (e.g. the Standing Committee);
• Prepare options for a CMS review process, including: determination of what parts of the instrument and its resolutions be part of the review process; cost analyses; and financial and institutional implications for CMS.

For documents and presentation materials of the first meeting of the Working Group, please click here.

Second meeting of the Working Group: 7-8 November 2016 in Bonn, Germany.

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