The African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), an international environmental treaty, has announced the celebrations to mark its 20th Anniversary. The Agreement was developed under the auspices of the UNEP Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) and concluded in The Hague, the Netherlands in June 1995.

To date, more than 70 countries are Parties to AEWA. Governments, conservationists, scientists and other dedicated individuals have been contributing to devise and implement tailored conservation strategies for migratory waterbirds.

In its 20th anniversary year, AEWA would like to pay tribute to various key players in the form of a rolling “people behind the Agreement” feature on the AEWA website. Not only is 2015 the 20th Anniversary of the signing of AEWA, but it will also see the 6th Meeting of the Parties (MOP), which will be held in Bonn, Germany. A new “20th Anniversary and MOP6” logo has been designed. The MOP theme “Making flyway conservation happen”, highlights the importance of the network of sites making up the concept of flyways.

Over the past twenty years AEWA has been providing the framework for international cooperation on the conservation and management of migratory waterbird populations across the African-Eurasian Flyway. Being a motor for effective collaboration across borders, AEWA has set an example for flyway-based cooperation around the world.

The original idea for a structured agreement was first aired by IUCN as early as 1983. The Agreement, which entered into force on 1 November 1999, covers 255 species of waterbirds in the African-Eurasian region. It is the largest such instrument concluded under CMS.

More information: veronica.lenarz@cms.int