Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals

There are several terrestrial, aquatic and avian animal species that migrate to long distances from one geographical area to another one during a specific season in search of food water or mating reasons. They are vulnerable to a wide range of threats like habitat shrinkage, excessive hunting, and degradation of their feeding grounds. Therefore, United Nations created a platform, Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), a global environmental treaty to provide a way for countries to ensure species’ migration continues without barriers and to address the issues. CMS was signed on November 1979 in Bonn, West Germany, under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme, and entered into force in 1983. As of March 2022, the CMS has 133 Parties in which Sri Lanka entered into force on September 1990 with the party number 033.

Conference of Parties (COP) is the principal decision-making body of the convention. The COP meets once in every three years and sets the budget and priorities of the following three years. In 1985 the first COP established a standing committee to oversee the convention running and to be the secretariat between the COP sessions. And the last CMS COP13 was held in February India in 2020. The next COP14 is announced to be held in October 2023 in Uzbekistan.

CMS has two appendices. that list the migratory species to which the convention applies. Appendix I comprises the list of endangered migratory species that have a high risk of extinction. Appendix II comprises the migratory species that have an unfavorable conservation status and requires international agreements for their conservation. Appendices I and II can be amended at any meeting of the COP, such as adding and removing those species by submitting proposals for amendment by any Contracting Party. And finally the COP will decides whether to accept or to reject the proposal, with the advice of the CMS Scientific Council. After 90 days of the conference, the amendment will enter into force.

In Sri Lanka, Conservation of marine turtles, and birds are the key concern. Department of Wildlife Conservation has declared many protected areas such as Bundala and Muthurajawela with the concern of birds. National wildlife policy, National wetland policy, Fauna and flora Protection ordinance are addressed for the conservation goals of migratory water birds and wetlands.

Written by

Shihab M.M.A.A.

Shanaka   A.M.P

Subhanee S.L