Bonn/Kep, December 2019- a regional training workshop was organized in Kep, Cambodia (29 October – 2 November 2018) for projects funded by the US Fish

At the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP13) held last year in Dubai, Parties to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands passed a resolution titled: The enhanced conservation of coastal marine turtle habitats and the designation of key areas as Ramsar Sites. Five out of seven species of marine turtles are endangered, three of them being critically endangered, according to the endangered species list of the IUCN. One of the main threats to the animals is the degradation of the nesting habitats on the coast, where female turtles lay their eggs and where turtle hatchlings start their lifetime journeys.

CMS has become a member of UN-Oceans as BBNJ meetings start at UN Headquarters in New York this week. The new membership became official just before the start of the First Session of the Intergovernmental Conference on an International Legally Binding Instrument under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ).

From 18 to 22 June 2018, government representatives and experts gathered at the Headquarters of the United Nations to discuss the issue of anthropogenic underwater noise in the context of the UN consultative process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (ICP-19). CMS Executive Secretary, Bradnee Chambers, delivered an opening statement and brought the CMS Family Guidelines on Environmental Impact Assessments for Marine Noise-generating Activities to the attention of UN Member States.