At its Eleventh Meeting held in Brazil this May, the Advisory Committee of the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels identified an urgent and persistent conservation crisis for albatrosses and petrels. Thousands of albatrosses and petrels are continuing to die every year as a result of fisheries operations, notably by longline and trawl vessels. Considerable efforts by ACAP and other bodies have been put into researching and recommending effective mitigation measures to address seabird bycatch in fisheries. Nevertheless, in many instances these recommendations have not been fully implemented or have not been implemented at all.

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.

On 26 October 2017 on the sidelines of the CMS COP12 in Manila, Environment for the Americas (EFTA), the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), announced an innovative partnership to boost awareness of the plight of migratory birds around the world. The new partnership formally unites two of the world’s largest bird education campaigns, International Migratory Bird Day (IMBD) and World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) in a bid to strengthen recognition and appreciation of migratory birds and highlight the urgent need for their conservation.

On Friday and Saturday, 22-23 April 2016, the CMS Family got together for an internal workshop to exchange experiences with addressing what is considered the greatest threat to the marine mammals, sea turtles, fish and seabirds that our treaties and Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) were set up to conserve.