The Kingdom of Bahrain has acceded to the Convention bringing the number of Parties to 133.  It joins the ever-growing number of contracting Parties from Asia. The Kingdom of Bahrain, whose capital is Manana, is an island country located in the Persian Gulf that comprises an archipelago of natural islands and artificial islands with a total land area of 728 km2 and approximately 3000 km2 of territorial waters. 

In recognition of World Seagrass Day 2021, we are thrilled to announce the official launch of the Dugong & Seagrass Hub. The Hub is a communal platform for dugong and seagrass conservationists to collate and share information, resources, best practice and lessons learned working to conserve seagrass ecosystems in dugong range states.

On 12 October 2009, the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) signed a partnership agreement establishing CMS Office – Abu Dhabi, a regional hub of the Secretariat of the Convention, dedicated to the conservation of Dugongs, migratory birds of prey and other migratory species. With this, CMS Office – Abu Dhabi became CMS’s sole office operating outside the Convention’s headquarters in Bonn, Germany, and it was fully hosted by a CMS Member State.

CMS and its Family set the course for developing their contributions to the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework which is expected to provide a "New Deal for Nature" for the entire international community. Two years away from its adoption, the post-2020 framework presents the opportunity to raise the visibility of migratory wildlife and promote its conservation. Last week, the CMS Standing Committee (Bonn, 23-24 October 2018) endorsed the establishment of a Working Group (WG) on the development of CMS Family contributions to the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.