Bonn, 8 July 2022 - The findings of the IPBES assessment on sustainable use of wild species, released today, are consistent with recent reports of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) on the importance of wild species for people and nature, and on the need to address major threats to reverse current trends of biodiversity loss.

In 2022, the Wild Sheep Foundation (USA) established the Argali Conservation Achievement Award to recognize efforts of individuals and organizations in Argali Range States. Tajikistan is home to the world’s largest Argali population and the major of Tajikistan’s capital city Dushanbe became the first recipient of the award. His Excellency Rustami Emomali the Mayor of Dushanbe is also the founder of the Association of Hunters of Tajikistan who’s work contributed to the establishment of sustainable hunting mechanisms and conservation of wild sheep habitats in the country.

Kazakhstan, Mongolia, the Russian Federation, and Uzbekistan agreed on new joint conservation measures to conserve the Saiga Antelope under the United Nations’ Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). For the next five years, the international Work Programme for the Saiga Antelope will provide a new framework to conserve and sustainably use the species throughout its migratory range.

The taking of animals for wild meat consumption within national borders is having significant impacts on most terrestrial   species protected under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), according to a new report released today. The report is the first of its kind and covered 105 CMS species. Among its findings, the report found that wild meat is often a key use and a major driver for legal and illegal hunting, particularly of ungulates and primates, and especially during times of conflict or famine and in the course of land use change. This has led to drastic declines and extinctions of several migratory terrestrial mammal populations.

An international team of 92 scientists and conservationists has joined forces to create the first-ever global atlas of ungulate (hooved mammal) migrations, working in partnership with the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), a UN treaty. The detailed maps of the seasonal movements of herds worldwide will help governments, indigenous people and local communities, planners, and wildlife managers to identify current and future threats to migrations, and advance conservation measures to sustain them in the face of an expanding human footprint.

Today, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced that it now recognizes two distinct species of African elephants: The Forest Elephant and the Savanna Elephant. The revised assessment of African elephants also has found that the Forest Elephant is Critically Endangered and the Savanna Elephant Endangered, downgrading the status of both species from their previous classification as Vulnerable.

The Republic of Angola has joined the Agreement on the Conservation of Gorillas and Their Habitats, also known as the Gorilla Agreement. Angola is the eighth of ten Range States in which gorillas occur to become a Party to the Agreement, joining the Central African Republic, Congo (Brazzaville), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Kinshasa), Gabon, Nigeria, Rwanda and Uganda. The accession of Angola to the Gorilla Agreement took effect on 1 January 2021.

At the 13th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP13) to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) held in Gandhinagar in February this year, Costa Rica, supported by Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay, successfully proposed the listing of the Jaguar (Panthera onca) on both Appendices of the Convention.  Therefore, CMS welcomes the designation of 29 November as International Jaguar Day and the efforts being made to establish a coordinated regional mechanism to promote Jaguar conservation and create a network of connected sites across Central and South America.