CMS Flyways Working Group Meets in Scotland

Bonn, 25 February 2011 - Twenty-five experts from all regions of the world met in Edinburgh 20-21 February 2011 under the chairmanship of Dr Taej Mundkur, appointed member for Asiatic Fauna of the Scientific Council of CMS. The group was made up of representatives of the CMS Parties, scientific councillors, international organizations and independent experts.

At a global level, 14% of the species under consideration are currently ranked as threatened or near-threatened according to the IUCN Red List and there is increasing evidence of regional declines, although regional and taxonomic differences exist. In the case of waterbirds, the East Asia–Australasia region has the highest proportion of threatened migratory species (20%).

The threats to migratory birds were discussed and it was agreed that habitat destruction and degradation was the most relevant one, together with land-use change, illegal hunting, by-catch, invasive alien species, diseases, pollution, climate change and infrastructure development. Those species that depend on a network of sites along their flyways will strongly benefit from the proper protection and management of these sites, which are at present insufficient. Effective management of key sites for migratory birds needs to address the whole range of factors that cause direct mortality and those that reduce food supplies or destroy or degrade habitats. Best practice habitat management needs to be shared as well as links with the work that CMS is developing on ecological networks.

The group focussed on the discussion of policy options and considered that in order to fill the gaps in the coverage of CMS instruments and to limit the impacts from the threats to migratory birds it was important to build on existing agreements and initiatives to provide a new overarching approach. This could take the form of generic regional agreements, underpinned by a series of flexible action plans designed to tackle the top priorities for action in each part of the world. It was suggested that this mechanism could provide a streamlined approach for the use of resources by governments that opens to way for more rapid conservation action and better opportunities for partnerships with others in the future.

A regional approach will be necessary since each flyway has its own idiosyncrasy in terms of the overall biological and social context that underpins the whole process. In this respect, the group considered that a series of regional workshops had to be organized involving all the relevant actors in each region, in order to tackle the problems and priorities on an ad hoc basis and working in partnership with existing initiatives.

The Flyways Working Group was established during COP9 in Rome to act as a think tank on flyways and frameworks, and given the task of reviewing scientific and technical issues for conservation of migratory birds and their habitats, and relevant international instruments, initiatives and processes, as the basis for future CMS policy on flyways. The findings of the FWG will be taken into account by the Working Group on the Future Shape of CMS when deciding its final options