Bonn, Germany. New conservation plans for the Siberian Crane Grus leucogeranus covering its entire range and migration routes that span continents have now been endorsed to save the species from extinction. During its annual migration, the Siberian Crane travels 5,000 kilometers from its breeding grounds in Yakutia and western Siberia, intermediate resting and feeding places, to its wintering sites in southern China and Iran respectively.

The Hague, The Netherlands - Key organisations from the Wings Over Wetlands project partnership, representing the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA), Wetlands International and BirdLife International signed a historic collaborative agreement to redouble their efforts to conserve migratory waterbird species and their critical habitats in Africa and Eurasia. 

The Hague, the Netherlands. A new website providing information on thousands of wetlands and hunderds of waterbird populations shows the difficult situation for the migratory waterbirds of Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Central Asia.

Wetlands International strongly welcomes the suspension by President Obama of oil drilling in the offshore USA territories in the Arctic. The period of suspension is needed for a proper analysis and discussion about the risks of offshore drilling.

The International Day of Biodiversity is Saturday 22 May. 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity and the year that the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) will conclude that the aims to reduce biodiversity loss have not been achieved. According to Wetlands International, this crisis for biodiversity is directly connected to the global water crisis that is threatening our planet.

The world’s wetlands such as rivers, mangroves, deltas and lakes are degrading faster than any other ecosystem type. Increasingly many are reaching the critical stage where damage will be irreversible which has serious repercussions for the water and food security of poor people. This is revealed in the in-depth review on inland waters (wetlands) which is being discussed at the technical meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which kicked off Monday in Nairobi. 

“Save migratory birds in crisis – every species counts!” - is this year's central WMBD theme and aims to raise awareness about globally threatened migratory birds, with a particular focus on those birds on the very edge of extinction - the Critically Endangered. On 8-9 May 2010 thousands of people around the world will be attending World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD) events which will celebrate bird migration and highlight migratory birds in crisis. 

Waterbirds in Asia are in trouble. Rapid and poorly-planned human development leading to a lack of adequate official conservation of their important wetland sites are key reasons for their declining numbers. These are the conclusions of the newly published report by Wetlands International, covering over 6,700 wetland sites in 27 Asian countries.

 The book An Atlas of Wader Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia published by Wetlands International was awarded third prize in the 2009 Best British Bird Book of the Year Competition. This book - also known as the Wader Atlas - was produced jointly with the International Wader Study Group.

Celebrating World Wetlands Day, today's spotlight is on the importance of wetlands for reducing impacts of climate change. Globally, there is a growing recognition of the key role that the protection and restoration of wetlands like marshes, peatlands, mangroves and coral reefs can play in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to its impacts. Now, this recognition has to be turned into action.

The satellite transmitter equipped Black-tailed Godwit called ‘Gaast’ has been found in the Inner Niger Delta of Mali, Africa after flying south from Friesian pastures in northern Netherlands in June. ‘Gaast’ is part of 15 individuals satellite marked in a project of the Groningen University under the Global Shorebird Network programme to study the precise migratory movements of the Black-tailed Godwit Limosa limosa that migrates between the Netherlands and western Africa. 

Maputo, Mozambique. A national group to carry out wetland biodiversity monitoring and other biodiversity conservation work has been created in Mozambique. This is the most important outcome of a national wetland and waterbird training course held at the Natural History Museum of Mozambique (Museu da Historia Natural) in Maputo, Mozambique from 9 - 17 November 2009.

Three dead manatees were found last week in the waters of the Navel River, a northern tributary to the Senegal River near the bridge-dam erected by SAED. According to witness accounts, the manatees carried by atypical strong currents violently slammed into the structure’s gates. This tragedy just one year after the rescue of five manatees in similar conditions re-launches the debate around the need for better integration of species’ migration, particularly the manatee, in the Senegal River valley.

Seven countries in West Africa, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde have agreed to collaborate in the conservation of important sites for migratory birds along their coasts that receive little or no attention from ongoing conservation initiatives in the region. The decision was reached after a 4-day workshop (November 16-19, 2009) in Dakar Senegal, organized by BirdLife International in collaboration with Wetlands International.

Limbe, Cameroon. For the first time in Africa the Flyway Training Kit was put into practice at the first regional Training of Trainers (ToT) course in Limbe, Cameroon. Receiving strong positive feedback, this training kit, developed in the framework of the Wings Over Wetlands (WOW) project will be an important tool to build capacity towards the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitats.