It has been a busy time for the UNEP/CMS Secretariat, which organized and hosted a series of meetings in preparation of the CMS Conference of the Parties (COP). The CMS COP, which is taking place in Gandhinagar, India in February next year, is occurring at a most opportune time with new global biodiversity framework under negotiation.

On 12 October 2009, the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) signed a partnership agreement establishing CMS Office – Abu Dhabi, a regional hub of the Secretariat of the Convention, dedicated to the conservation of Dugongs, migratory birds of prey and other migratory species. With this, CMS Office – Abu Dhabi became CMS’s sole office operating outside the Convention’s headquarters in Bonn, Germany, and it was fully hosted by a CMS Member State.

A total of nine large street banners featuring well-known migratory species such as the African Elephant, Leopard and Monarch Butterfly are currently on display outside the UN Premises in Bonn, Germany. The banners mark the 40th Anniversary of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and show a small selection of migratory species protected under the Convention, which is also the oldest UN Organization in Bonn. Forty years ago, the negotiations concerning an international treaty to protect migratory wildlife reached a successful conclusion, giving rise to CMS, also called the “Bonn Convention” – after the city in which the treaty was signed.

Bonn, 11 November 2019 – An informal meeting on the concept of connectivity is currently underway at the UN Premises in Bonn, Germany.