Group of 60 students from Germany and The Netherlands visits AEWA at the UN Campus in Bonn

Bonn, 5 November 2009 – 60 students from the "Eerste Christelijk Lyceum (ECL)" in Haarlem, The Netherlands and their German twin school Erasmus-von-Rotterdam-Gymnasium paid a visit to the AEWA Secretariat at the UN Campus in Bonn on 3 November 2009.

Accompanied by their teachers and arriving at the UN Campus in two groups, the students, aged around 15 years, were welcomed by staff members of the AEWA Secretariat and their Executive Secretary Mr. Bert Lenten as well as by the Senior Officer of the Common Information Space of the UN Organizations in Bonn (CIS), Mr. Harald Ganns.

During their 1,5 hour-stay, the students were informed about the Bonn-based UN agencies in general and especially about the work of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and AEWA.

Mr. Ganns began his presentation with a short film introducing the UN Campus and afterwards explained its history and the reason why Bonn was selected as the new UN location after the move of the German Government to Berlin in 1991 (“Bonn-Berlin-Law”). He also introduced the 19 UN Bonn-based agencies, which are all linked by the common theme “Sustainable Development”. As well as their main tasks, the future development of the UN Campus were highlighted, particularly the new World Conference Center Bonn (expected to be ready in 2010) and the reconstruction of the former German Bundestag in 2011.

Mr. Bert Lenten, the Executive Secretary of AEWA and the Acting Deputy Executive Secretary of CMS gave a presentation on the role of CMS and AEWA and the importance of international cooperation for the protection of migratory species and their habitats and the threats migratory birds face along their journeys worldwide. In addition, two films, one on CMS and one introducing the work of AEWA were shown during the presentation.