Bonn, 12 September 2014 - The Government of Zimbabwe together with the CMS Secretariat and UNEP ROA/DELC) are co-organizing the “Regional Preparatory and Negotiations Workshop for African Nations” to be held on 21-23 September in Harare, Zimbabwe to prepare representatives for the upcoming 11^th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (CMS COP11).

The primary purpose of this workshop is to inform National Focal Points (NFPs) about how they can advocate regional interests at COP11 to be held in Quito, Ecuador on 4-9 November 2014.  This workshop is designed to familiarize National Focal Points with important documents and issues prior to the COP and to encourage collaboration among NFPs in the African region.  The Harare workshop is the third of four regional capacity building workshops planned in the months preceding COP11.

This workshop will build on skills developed during previous regional workshops held in October 2011 in Entebbe, Uganda and October 2013 in Cape Town, South Africa.  While those workshops provided a foundation in MEA negotiations and introduced CMS Capacity Building tools, the upcoming workshop will focus more on information exchange and skill development in particular for COP11.  Participants will learn about COP logistics and important documents including the Strategic Plan for Migratory Species 2015-2017, proposed budget scenarios and species to be added to the CMS Appendices as well as several draft Resolutions to be discussed at COP11.

The CMS pre-COP11 Workshop has been made possible by funding in the framework of the Thematic Programme for Environment and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources including Energy (ENRTP) Strategic Cooperation Agreement (SCA) between the European Commission - DG Environment and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). This meeting is part of a larger initiative to strengthen the participation of developing countries in CMS activities as an element of its capacity-building strategy.   

For more information and updates on the African Regional Preparatory Workshop, please e-mail Francisco Rilla at [email protected].