A host of new measures to safeguard migratory species were adopted at the 14th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP14) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS).

It was held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan from February 12 to 17 under the slogan, “Nature Knows No Borders”.

It was the first COP of any global environmental treaty to take place in Central Asia, a region that provides habitat to numerous migratory species, including the Saiga Antelope, the Snow Leopard, and many species of migratory birds. 

What is CMS?

• The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) is also known as the Bonn Convention.

• The negotiations to conclude the treaty were held in Bad Godesberg, a suburb of Bonn, Germany in June 1979. 

• The Convention entered into force on November 1, 1983 having secured the requisite number of ratifications and in November 1984 the first secretariat was established in premises provided by the German government. 

• The CMS is a global treaty of the United Nations that addresses the conservation and effective management of migratory species and their habitats. 

• The Convention was established in recognition of the fact that conservation of migratory species requires the cooperation of countries across national borders, in all of the places where such species spend any part of their life cycle. 

• The Convention therefore aims to conserve migratory species throughout their range through international cooperation and coordinated conservation measures.

• The Convention has grown in scope and scale over the past four decades since its adoption in June 1979. There are now 133 Contracting Parties to CMS. These Parties have made commitments to take action, both individually and together, to conserve migratory species and their habitats, as well as to address factors that impede their migration. 

• In addition to the 133 CMS Parties, there are a further 28 countries that, although not Party to the Convention, are Party to one or more of the Agreements and/or are signatories to one or more of the MoUs  concluded under the umbrella of CMS.

• India has been a Party to the CMS since 1983.

• The Conference of Parties (COP) is the decision-making organ of this convention.

• The Convention defines a ‘migratory species’ as: “The entire population or any geographically separate part of the population of any species or lower taxon of wild animals, a significant proportion of whose members cyclically and predictably cross one or more national jurisdictional boundaries.”

• CMS has two Appendices that list the species to which the Convention applies. 

• Species determined by Parties to meet the criteria can be listed within one or both of these Appendices. 

The measures agreed during COP14 include:

• Amendments to CMS Appendices to include 14 additional species in need of international conservation, including the Eurasian lynx, the Bull ray, the Pallas’s cat, and the Magellanic plover.

• New Concerted Actions as priority conservation measures for six species, including the Chimpanzee, the Straw-colored Fruit Bat, and the Blue Shark.

• Extension of existing Concerted Actions for nine species such as the Giraffe, the Atlantic Humpback Dolphin and the Antipodean Albatross.

• Agreement on an Initiative for the Central Asian Flyway, which spans 30 Range States, after nearly two decades of inconclusive negotiations. The adopted initiative includes the establishment of a coordinating unit in India with financial support from the government.

• Resolutions and decisions and concerted actions were adopted on over 100 distinct topics by representatives of the world treaty’s 133 Member States.

• New mandate on addressing the impacts of deep-seabed mineral exploitation on migratory species, their prey, and their ecosystems.

Global Partnership on Ecological Connectivity (GPEC)

• A new Global Partnership on Ecological Connectivity (GPEC) was launched during a special event of COP14. 

• This alliance aims to ensure that ecological connectivity is maintained, enhanced, and restored in critical areas for migratory species. 

• Initiated by the CMS, the partnership includes key entities with mandates to work on these issues, including the Center for Large Landscape Conservation (CLLC), Climate Chance, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). 

• The governments of Belgium, France, Monaco, and Uzbekistan are among the CMS Parties supporting this initiative.

Importance of ecological connectivity

• Defined under CMS as “the unimpeded movement of species and the flow of natural processes that sustain life on Earth”, ecological connectivity is increasingly recognised as a key global conservation priority. 

• It was at the heart of the UN General Assembly Resolution adopted in 2021, "Nature knows no borders: transboundary cooperation – a key factor for biodiversity conservation, restoration, and sustainable use”.

• The GPEC urges all UN Member States to enhance international and transboundary cooperation to maintain and enhance ecological connectivity of transboundary habitats, cross-border protected areas, and ecosystems that are either vulnerable or part of the migratory range of specific species.

• Migratory species depend on a network of specific types of sites and habitats during their life cycles and seasonal movements. While many such sites have been identified, not all are under any form of protection or conservation. Moreover, many sites of importance have yet to be identified and mapped. 

• Migratory species must be able to reach these sites, often located across national boundaries and there are many impediments to their migrations, including from linear infrastructure such as roads, rail and fences, as well as from other types of human activities.

• But ecological connectivity is not just relevant to migratory species. It also plays a major role in addressing effective biodiversity conservation, land restoration and climate change mitigation and adaptation across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems.

• The importance of ecological connectivity is a major aspect of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework as well.

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