The Convention Of The Conservation Of Migratory Species Of Wild Animals

Source: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, 2013, Claudia Lewis, Plan C Initiative, Carlos L. de la Rosa, Catalina Island Conservancy,   "The Youth Guide to Biodiversity" 1st Edition (Chapter 12) Youth and United Nations Global Alliance. Reproduced with permission.

Chapter 12. Verbatim.

 Verbatim from the bottom of the map: The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

Also known as CMS or the Bonn Convention, this 1993 international intergovernmental treaty sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) seeks to conserve terrestrial, marine and avian migratory species across the planet. At present it includes 113 countries from Africa, Central and South America, Asia, Europe and Oceania.

The Convention encourages all the Range States to adopt global or regional agreements, which range from legally-binding treaties (called Agreements) to less formal documents, such as Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs). The box: “Connecting Biodiversity and Human Development: The Siberian Crane Wetland Project” provides an example of one such agreement. 

Connecting Biodiversity And Human Development: The Siberian Crane Wetland Project

The Siberian crane is the third most-endangered crane species in the world; only 3 000 to 3 500 birds remain. During its annual migration, the Siberian crane travels 5 000 km from its breeding grounds in Yakutia and western Siberia, intermediateresting and feeding places, to its wintering sites in southern China and Iran. 

In the last century, many of their habitats – 60 percent in Europe and 90 percent worldwide –were destroyed due to agriculture, dams, pollution and inappropriate water management, oil extraction and urban development. Additionally, unsustainable and illegal hunting led to the near extinction of the Western and Central Asian populations. 

The CMS provided the framework for an ambitious conservation plan for the crane, covering its entire range and migration routes. The Siberian Crane Wetland Project (SCWP) is supported by UNEP’s Global Environmental Facility (GEF). Government officials, experts and conservationists, such as the International Crane Foundation and Wetlands International, have worked together to use strategies to reduce hunting, to improve water management, and to mitigate the impact of climate change. 

Threats to the Siberian crane and to other migratory water birds along their flyways continue to be addressed through management, monitoring, exchange of information and education of diverse audiences at local, national and international levels.