International news

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.

On Saturday, 9 October people all over the world will be celebrating World Migratory Bird Day, a global campaign that aims to raise awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them. The UN-backed campaign is organized by a collaborative partnership among two environmental treaties - the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), and the non-profit organization, Environment for the Americas (EFTA).

Following a week of global meetings held entirely online, the 52nd Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) concluded with important outcomes to take the work forward under the Convention.  CMS Executive Secretary Amy Fraenkel said: “The 52nd Session of the Standing Committee, held online for the first time, advanced important work under the Convention. The CMS Secretariat has been able to function and deliver on its mandate by making progress in implementing the current Programme of Work.”

“Sing, Fly, Soar – Like a Bird!” is the theme of this year’s World Migratory Bird Day, an annual global campaign dedicated to raising awareness of migratory birds and the need for international cooperation to conserve them. This year the campaign will focus on the phenomena of “bird song” and “bird flight” as a way to inspire and connect people of all ages around the world in their shared desire to celebrate migratory birds and to unite in a common, global effort to protect birds and the habitats they need to survive. 

The Coordinating Unit of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation of Migratory Birds of Prey in Africa and Eurasia (Raptors MOU) is pleased to announce that

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.

Migratory species are likely to be among the most vulnerable to plastic pollution according to a new study released today by the Secretariat of the UN's Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). The study focused for the first time on the impacts that plastic pollution has on animals that live on land and in freshwater environments, in the Asia-Pacific region. The study included case studies on the Ganges and Mekong river basins, which together contribute an estimated 200,000 tons of plastic pollution to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean every year.

The first draft of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) and its proposed

Organized in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), the 4th Meeting of the Signatories of Pacific Islands Cetaceans MOU (PIC MOS4) took place virtually 5 - 6 August 2021. Participants discussed pressing conservation issues ranging from entanglement, fish aggregating devices, marine tourism to strandings, aquatic wild meat, and climate change.

The Secretariat is assisting the Scientific Council to implement aspects of its mandate arising from the 13th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP13), and disc