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Further to Notification 2019/006, the UN Environment Programme/CMS Secretariat would like to inform Parties of the interim arrangements for the management of the Secretariat.

The Secretariat of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS) is pleased to inform you that the German Federal Foreign Ministry has confirmed receipt of the

The 15th meeting of the ASCOBANS Jastarnia Group has successfully concluded in Turku, hosted by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment and the Turku University of Applied Sciences. As well as reviewing progress under the conservation plans for the Harbour Porpoise in the Baltic Sea (the “Jastarnia Plan”) and in the Western Baltic, Belt Sea and Kattegat (WBBK), the meeting heard a presentation from a representative of the European Commission on the EU Technical Measures Regulation, which will replace Regulation 812/2004 governing bycatch mitigation.

A group of 19 fellows and two supervisors from the Klaus Töpfer Fellowship Programme yesterday visited Langer Eugen (“Tall Eugene”), the building that houses the Secretariats of the Bonn-based CMS Family. The visit was part of the Klaus Töpfer Fellowship Programme, which is an extra-occupational training programme for emerging nature conservation leaders from Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The staff at the CMS Secretariat were shocked and saddened to learn of the passing of Dr Lew Young, the Chief Executive of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP). Lew, who was 60 years old, died yesterday of a heart attack while attending a meeting in Beijing. Lew was a passionate conservationist and a good ally to both CMS and AEWA and he was a strong advocate of the EAAFP participating fully in the World Migratory Bird Day campaign. He will be sorely missed.

Dr Donna Kwan from the Dugong MOU Secretariat attended the closing workshop of the Dugong and Seagrass Conservation Project (DSCP) in Bali, Indonesia from 26 to 28 February 2019. The workshop was funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The four-year project, Enhancing the Conservation Effectiveness of Seagrass Ecosystems Supporting Globally Significant Populations of Dugongs across the Indian and Pacific Ocean Basins, commenced in 2015 and covered 43 national projects across Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mozambique, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu.

The ranks of the Secretariat staff in Bonn have been strengthened by the arrival of three new colleagues who started work in Bonn at the start of the New Year. The three are Kanako Hasegawa, Associate Programme Management Officer for the Terrestrial Species Team, Jenny Renell, the new Coordinator for the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS), and María José Ortiz, Programme Management Officer responsible for the newly adopted Review Mechanism and National Legislation Programme, as well as national reports, capacity-building and outreach to non-Parties.

Further to Notification 2019/004, the UN Environment Programme/CMS Secretariat would like to inform Parties of the interim arrangements for the management of the Secretariat.

The theme of this year’s World Wildlife Day campaign is “Life below Water: for People and the Planet” and is closely aligned to the 14th Sustainable Development Goal (SDG14), which aims to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources.

A paper compiled by an international team of researchers with expertise in animals as diverse as birds and whales has been published online today by the journal Science. The paper sets out the evidence accumulated over the years of the importance of social learning in a wide range of vertebrate species.