International news

The rangers, who were police reservists, were killed while trying to recover cattle stolen by nomadic herders

There is nothing more Canadian than nature. It pulses through our veins and it has been part of our identity since the founding of Canada 150 years ago.

Today we celebrate World Environment Day (WED). A day that is supposed to remind us of how important nature is to all of us. Every year since 1974, the UN has organized this special celebration with a different host country and a different theme. This year Canada is presenting WED under the theme of “Connecting People to Nature”. Through this slogan WED “invites us to think about how we are part of nature and how intimately we depend on it. It challenges us to find fun and exciting ways to experience and cherish this vital relationship.”

The CMS Secretariat is pleased to announce that with a total of 90 reports, the highest number ever recorded have been submitted. Of all reports received, 29 came from Africa, 12 were sent from Asia, 34 were submitted from European countries, 9 from the region of Latin America and the Caribbean, and 6 from Oceania. Special attention will be paid to the submissions from Afghanistan, Brazil, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cook Islands, Fiji, Malta, Samoa, Rwanda and Zimbabwe, which were all reporting for the first time.

Once abundant, these species are now threatened by unprecedented destruction of their habitat, poaching, climate change and pollution. Proposals to afford greater protection to 35 species will be made at what is expected to be the largest wildlife conference of the year, CMS COP 12, which is scheduled to take place 23-28 October 2017 in Manila, Philippines.

Great Bustard experts from across the globe met in Ulaanbaatar from 24 to 30 May to plan the conservation of the Great Bustard in Asia. The Great Bustard is the heaviest bird capable of flight and in Asia are even rarer than snow leopards. The conference hosted experts from nine countries, including China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, the Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the United Kingdom and the USA, and included contributions from Iran and Turkmenistan.

The Secretariat of the Convention on Migratory Species is pleased to announce the release of the draft Companion Volume on Implementation for the Strategic Plan for Migratory Species 2015-2023.

Excerpts from the keynote address of Dr. Bradnee Chambers at the side event on 17 May in the margins of the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn.

Members of the Energy Task Force, including the CMS and AEWA Secretariats, BirdLife International, and the German Ministry for the Environment (BMUB) joined forces at the UNFCCC Bonn Climate Change Conference to raise awareness of the importance of reconciling migratory species conservation with the deployment of renewable energy and power lines globally.