Bonn, 24 February 2012 - National and International stakeholders from seven West African coastal States met in Freetown, Sierra Leone, from 6-10 February 2012, in the framework of the BirdLife/MAVA Foundation project on “strengthening networks for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats along the West Coast of Africa – CMB project”. The aim of the meeting was to take stock of the project implementation following its launch in October 2010 and to set targets for activities to be implemented in 2012. Ms. Evelyn Parh Moloko, Coordinator for the AEWA African Initiative attended the meeting on behalf of the UNEP/AEWA Secretariat.
The CMB Project Steering Committee (PSC) also met and a workshop was organized to improve the capacity of the seven participating NGOs on project development and proposal writing. The meeting was organized jointly by BirdLife International (BLI), Wetlands International (WI) and the Sierra Leone Conservation Society (CSSL), with financial support from the MAVA Foundation and Vogelbescherming Netherlands (VBN). The network of partners collaborating in the framework of this project was strengthened with the engagement of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat (CWSS), which facilitates trilateral cooperation on the protection and conservation of the Wadden Sea between The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany.
The project will now receive added support for migratory waterbird conservation through further collaboration with two Wadden Sea projects on capacity building and monitoring for waterbird conservation, as well as with an up-coming CMS/AEWA capacity-building project.
Each of the seven project countries was represented by their Government and participating NGO. The host Government was represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Food Security, Environmental Protection Agency and CSSL. International partner organizations included Wetlands International Africa - WIA, BLI, VBN, the Fondation International du Banc d’Arguin - FIBA and AEWA.
Some significant advances had been recorded with the project activities both at the regional and national levels. At the regional level, sub contracts had been established for all participating NGOs, and MOU signed with WIA and the project management structure set up in the CSSL office in Freetown, Sierra Leone, amongst others.
New projects identified to support and complement the CMB activities in the project area included the Wadden Sea Flyway Initiative projects on capacity building (funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment & Nature Conservation) and monitoring (funded by the Dutch Ministry of Economic affairs, Agriculture and Innovation and to be implemented by the Dutch Centre for Field Ornithology - SOVON), the CMS/AEWA capacity building project expected to be funded under the European Union Thematic Programme for Environment and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources including Energy (EU ENRTP) and the capacity building activities conducted by FIBA.
The implementation of the project is based, as far as possible, on the use of existing tools and materials developed for the conservation of migratory birds in the African-Eurasian region, such as the Wings over Wetlands (WOW) Critical Site Network Tool and Flyway Training Kit (FTK) and the recently updated ONCFS training module on the survey of migratory waterbird populations in Sub-Saharan Africa. Training courses will be conducted under the CMB project and partner projects/initiatives, making use of these tools. The AEWA Secretariat and the WIA office handed out one French copy and four English copies of the WOW FTK.
The CMB and partner projects targets a series of activities for 2012, particularly on capacity building for different target groups and addressing different issues related to the conservation of waterbirds and their habitats, waterbird monitoring and improving community livelihoods.
The project countries yet to accede to the relevant MEAs have been encouraged to do so and the Coordinator for the AEWA African Initiative met with officials from the Sierra Leone Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry & Food Security to encourage the country’s accession to both CMS and AEWA.
It is hoped that the success of this project could serve as an example for the development of further initiatives in other sub-regions of Africa.
Last updated on 10 April 2019