5 December 2013: Egypt, with Germany, Switzerland and other partners, has agreed to a Plan of Action to ensure that the practice of bird trapping in Egypt and Libya is both sustainable and legal, and to implement efforts to better understand current trends in hunting and trapping.

The agreement was reached at a meeting held on 29 November 2013, in Bonn, Germany, organized and facilitated by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)-administered Secretariat of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and attended by, inter alia, representatives from the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and its relevant Agreements, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and key wildlife experts.

Hunting and trapping of migratory birds in Egypt and Libya, in particular through the use of mist nets along the Mediterranean coast, threatens the survival of many migratory birds, such as quail. The Plan of Action also calls for capacity building of local government, NGOs and communities to address bird trapping, as well as to increase awareness and promote bird conservation both in-country and internationally. [UNEP Press Release] [UNEP-AEWA Press Centre]