Migratory Landbirds in the African-Eurasian Region

The Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CMS (COP10, 2011) passed Resolution 10.27 - Improving the Conservation Status of Migratory Landbirds in the African Eurasian Region. In this resolution the COP called upon Scientific Council and Secretariat to support this initiative, including through the establishment of a Working Group under the Scientific Council to steer the production and implementation of the Action Plan.

Scope

Alleviation of habitat degradation through the development and promotion of sustainable land management policies and practices;
Elimination of unsustainable harvesting;
Monitoring of population trends throughout the region;
Research to identify population-specific migratory routes, connectivity, wintering and staging areas and to understand the habitat requirements of, and threats to, African-Eurasian migrants during all stages of their life cycle;
Raise awareness of the conservation status of African-Eurasian migrant landbirds, the threats they face and the measures needed to conserve them; and
Exchange information in order to develop and implement best-practice approaches to the conservation and sustainable management of these species.

Operation

The Working Group was requested to complete the preparation of an Action Plan to be brought forward for adoption at the 11^th meeting of the Conference of the Parties in 2014.

Intersessional work takes place electronically using the CMS online platform, the Scientific Council Workspace.

Membership

Membership aims to include experts with knowledge of African-Eurasian migratory landbirds, their habitats and the threats they face. External experts have been invited to participate in the Working Group, while the number of members should ideally allow the group to work as effectively as possible.

All members of the Scientific Council are welcome to provide representations to the Working Group. In addition to Councillors, key organizations and invited experts who can add value to the efforts of the Working Group have been identified.

Programme of Work

The Programme of Work (POW) for the Working Group on the Implementation of the Migratory Landbirds Action Plan (AEMLAP) is available here.

Activities

The Action Plan for Migratory Landbirds in the African-Eurasian Region was adopted by COP11 as Resolution 11.17 in November 2014 in Quito, Ecuador.

Up to date, there have been two meetings of the Working Group; one in Accra (Ghana) 31 August to 2 September 2012 and another one in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) 25 to 27 November 2015.