October 2015: The international conference on ‘Regional practices on sustainable use in hunting territories and protection of wildlife’ held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan from 1-3 September 2015 concluded the three-year EU project on Forest and Biodiversity Governance Including Environmental Monitoring (FLERMONECA). The FLERMONECA has supported the development and implementation of the Central Asian Mammals Initiative (CAMI) within the framework of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). The conference brought together experts from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as a number of others, to examine principles for sustainable wildlife management and the practical results of their implementation in Central Asia.

From 29 September to 1 October 2015, the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic and North Seas (ASCOBANS) Advisory Committee convened its 22nd meeting (AC22) in The Hague, Netherlands. Participants focused on the decisions to be prepared for consideration and adoption at the 8th Meeting of the Parties (MOP8) to be held in Helsinki, Finland, from 30 August – 1 September 2016, including updating the Recovery Plan for Baltic Harbour Porpoises (Jastarnia Plan) and the development of a Conservation Plan for Common Dolphins.

The CMS Secretariat also issued two notifications: one on how to ensure that the process of developing national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) is used to foster collaboration at the national level, in particular by inviting CMS Focal Points to include the issues related to migratory species as a component in their NBSAPs; and an invitation by the CMS Secretariat to CMS National Focal Points to liaise with their Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) counterparts to ensure that funding of the national priorities for CMS and its instruments are adequately reflected in their response to the CBD questionnaire.

Finally, effective 1 October 2015, Brazil has joined CMS. [CMS Press Release on Central Asia] [CMS Press Release on ASCOBANS] [CMS Press Release on Brazil] [Notification 2015/021] [Notification 2014/023]