We are attending the 7^th Meeting of Parties (MoP7) of Agreement of the Conservation of the African- Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) to share a number of significant findings that, we believe, will contribute to strengthening and achieving some key objectives of AEWA.

At the MoP, we will make several presentations on our work during the plenary meeting, organise and participate in a number of side-events and also be present at an exhibition booth. Join us at any of these occasions!

Plenary presentations

4 December, Tuesday

7th Edition of the AEWA Conservation Status Report
Time slot: 14:00 – 18:30
Summary: Szabolcs Nagy from Wetlands International will present the 7th Edition of the AEWA Conservation Status Report under Agenda Item 14 – International Reviews.

The 7th edition of the AEWA Conservation Status Report takes stock of the status of 554 AEWA waterbird populations and represents the basis of determining the conservation regime Contracting Parties shall apply to them. This edition is important because it analyses the impact of the AEWA Strategic Plan 2009-2018. Our key conclusion is that the overall status of waterbird populations listed on AEWA has improved compared to 2008 though the majority of the targets for the indicators were not achieved. Therefore, the Conservation Status Report has suggested that AEWA takes a more proactive approach.

5 December, Wednesday

Amendment of criterion for significant long-term decline and new criterion for short-term decline
Time slot: 09:00-12:00
Summary: Szabolcs Nagy from Wetlands International will present on the Amendment of criterion for significant long-term decline and new criterion for short-term decline, Agenda Item 18, Proposals for Amendments to the Agreement and/or its Annexes

Report on the development of waterbird monitoring
Time slot: 14:00 – 16:30
Summary: Szabolcs Nagy from Wetlands International will present the Report on the development of waterbird monitoring Agenda Item 21 – Waterbird Monitoring

Revised AEWA guidelines on waterbird monitoring
Time slot: 09:00-12:00
Summary: Szabolcs Nagy from Wetlands International will present the Revised AEWA guidelines on waterbird monitoring, Agenda Item 22, Guidance on Implementation of the Agreement.

Climate Resilient Flyways
Time slot: 14:00 – 16:30
Summary: Merijn van de Leeuwen from Wetlands International will present the Climate Resilient Flyways under Agenda Item 23 – Climate-resilient Flyways. The Climate Resilient Flyways project examines the consequences of climate change on the waterbirds and their key sites in the AEWA region. Under the project, Wetlands International and BirdLife International have worked with the Universities of Kassel, McGill and Wisconsin to predict the change in the monthly discharge and inundation of rivers by 2050, and changes in the distribution of suitable climatic conditions for 247 waterbird species in the African-Eurasian flyway and what this means for the network of critical sites. The findings of this research will be shared though this presentation.

Side-events

5 December, Wednesday

Coastal migratory birds and their habitats along the East Atlantic Flyway of Africa
Time: 12:15-13:00
Venue: Room 2- Pelican
Organisers: Wetlands International Africa, BirdLife International and Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative

Summary: Each year, millions of migratory birds travel from their breeding grounds in the Arctic and Europe to their wintering areas along in coast of Africa and rely on a chain of high quality coastal wetlands for feeding and rest along the East Atlantic Flyway. Most of these sites are threatened by human activities such as land reclamation, overfishing, pollution, and climate change. To mitigate the threats of waterbirds and their habitats, conservation and management actions have to be implemented at site, regional and flyway level. The event will discuss successful experience and collaboration on coastal migratory birds, material and tools developed during the implementation of CMB2.

6 December, Thursday

Together for a Climate Resilient Flyway Network: Waterbirds in Climate Resilient Landscapes (practical implementation of DR9 on Climate Resilient Flyways)
Time: 12:15-13:00
Venue: Room 2 – Pelican
Organisers: Wetlands International & BirdLife International

Summary: The Climate Resilient Flyways project examines the consequences of climate change on the waterbirds and their key sites in the AEWA region. During the side event, we will explain how this information can be accessed through the Critical Site Network Tool. We will also share our experiences with using an approach to integrate biodiversity considerations into ecosystem-based climate change adaption at national and landscape scale. Finally, we will explore the possibility to scale up these efforts to the flyway scale. The programme schedule is –

• Short Intro to the Climate Resilient Flyways project. Merijn van Leeuwen.
• The predicted impact of climate change on waterbirds and their key sites. Frank Breiner.
• Landscape approach in the Inner Niger Delta, Mali. Mori Diallo.
• Landscape approach in the Central Rift Valley, Ethiopia. Amdemichael Mulugeta
• Discussion and invitation to join these efforts.

Sustainable use of waterbirds in Africa: flyway and regional perspectives
Time: 13:00- 13:45 (lunch-time side event)
Venue: Room 2- Pelican
Organisers: Waterbird Harvest Specialist Group of Wetlands International

Summary: ’To ensure that any use and management is sustainable’ has been identified as a key challenge to migratory waterbird conservation in Africa and is listed as one out of four key conservation objectives of the AEWA Strategic Plan for 2019-2027 in the African region. In light of big gaps in institutional frameworks and capacity as well as knowledge about the status of many waterbird species, their harvest and socioeconomic values, it will require a step change in nationally and internationally coordinated efforts to achieve the objective. We will present the needs for an integrated approach, discuss how to prioritise conservation actions to ensure the sustainability of harvest and provide two case studies from the northern region of Africa (the RESSOURCE project) and South Africa. We hope to provide useful insights to the implementation of the AEWA Strategic plan.

8 December, Saturday

Incentivising wetland conservation in the AEWA flyway
Time: 12:15-13:00
Venue: Room 2- Pelican
Organisers: CMS/AEWA, Wetlands International, FACE, Finnish Wildlife agency

Summary: Wetland loss and fragmentation are among the largest threats to waterbird populations. AEWA’s mission (reflecting Article II.1 of the Agreement text) and the draft AEWA Strategic Plan 2019–2027 (objective 4) place a strong focus on ensuring that there is sufficient habitat in the wider environment for migratory waterbird populations. This side event will discuss various ways to incentivise wetland conservation for migratory waterbirds. In doing so, it will promote the need to create awareness about and incentivise the delivery of wetland ecosystem services, which go far beyond delivering benefits for migratory waterbirds. Using the example of Finland, it will show how EU LIFE funding has been used to promote the establishment, restoration and management of wetlands for waterbirds in agricultural and forest areas. It will also demonstrate how the sustainable use of waterbirds can incentivise wetland conservation.

Exhibition booth

We will have an exhibition booth to demonstrate the use of the new Critical Site Network Tool to the delegates present at the MOP. In addition, many of our relevant outputs, printed materials and publications will be available there. You will also find information about our projects, our strategies and our organisation.