Every year, more than 25 million migratory birds are illegally killed or taken across the Mediterranean alone. They are shot or caught with nets and other indiscriminate traps.

In order to raise awareness of this threat, the Secretariats of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) dedicated the theme of the 2016 edition of World Migratory Bird Day to this issue on 10 May.

The Day is an annual awareness-raising campaign highlighting the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats. Each year, people worldwide take action and organize public events such as bird-watching excursions, exhibitions and other educational activities. This year, more than 300 events in 85 countries have taken place so far under the theme ‘Stop the illegal killing, taking and trade'.

An intergovernmental task force has furthermore been established under CMS COP Resolution 11.16 to facilitate international cooperation to combat illegal killing as well as the implementation of the existing guidelines and action plans.

The task force is made up of government representatives of CMS Parties from the Mediterranean, as well as the EU and other interested international organizations and UN agencies.

The group will meet for the first time on 12-15 July 2016 in Cairo. The main goal will be to adopt a Programme of Work for up until 2020 that identifies main activities and regional priorities, and to discuss practical projects targeting hotspots.

2016 marks the 10th anniversary of World Migratory Bird Day. Since 2006, more than 2,300 events have taken place in 139 different countries and territories worldwide, each year under a different theme of importance to the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats.

For more information please write to veronica.lenarz@cms.int