International news

Protected marine areas (MPAs) in the country face the serious threats of pollution, dynamite and electric shock fishing and haphazard infrastructure construction for tourism.

Only 100 days remain until a major global meeting on wildlife protection kicks off in Manila. Over 120 countries will gather in the Philippine capital for the 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS COP12) from 23 to 28 October 2017. The meeting will address a range of critical issues facing the world’s endangered wildlife shared across international borders.

The Second Meeting of the Sessional Committee of the CMS Scientific Council will be held at the UN Premises in Bonn from 10 to 13 July. The agenda of the meeting will be dominated by consideration of documents in advance of the 12th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties, being held in Manila in October.

Migratory animals move across space and time; with their regular and predictable movements, they connect continents, countries, sites and habitats. Connectivity is the keyword of CMS, the only global legal instrument devoted to the conservation of migratory animals. Understanding connectivity allows us to understand what sites and habitats animals need during their migratory journeys and annual cycle.

Bat boxes have appeared on trees across Belfast in a City Council drive to teach people about bio-diversity.

Bonn, 4 July 2017– the CMS Secretariat is holding a series of regional preparatory workshops in the run-up to COP12.  The first is taking place in La Paz, Bolivia from 18 to 20 Jul

The 41st session of the World Heritage Committee is taking place in Cracow, Poland from 2 to 12 July 2017. Like every year, the representatives from 21 States Parties to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage will identify, based on nominations submitted by States Parties, cultural and natural properties that need to be protected and decide which of those will be added to the World Heritage List.

The illegal killing, taking and trade of birds (IKB) is still of great concern globally, as some bird populations continue declining rapidly. Political commitment is key to making progress in addressing this problem and international cooperation can help. This is the reason why CMS joined forces with the Bern Convention to convene a joint meeting in Sliema, Malta on 22 and 23 June.

The Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS) would like to draw attention to a call from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Bi

The levels of microplastic particles accumulating in the Antarctic are much worse than expected, a team of experts has warned.