East Asian - Australasian Flyway Partnership

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East Asian – Australasian Flyway (prepared by Wetlands International)

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East Asian - Australasian Flyway Partnership

The Partnership for the Conservation of Migratory Waterbirds and the Sustainable Use of their Habitats in the East Asian – Australasian Flyway (Flyway Partnership), which was launched in Bogor, Indonesia on 6 November 2006, represents an important new step in international efforts to conserve migratory waterbirds and their habitats in the flyway.

History of the Flyway Partnership

The development of the Flyway Partnership was led by the Governments of Australia and Japan and Wetlands International as a partnership initiative of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development. It succeeds the Asia Pacific Migratory Waterbird Conservation Strategy (APMWCS) and the action plans for Cranes, Anatidae and Shorebirds, which have facilitated cooperation on migratory waterbird conservation in the Asia Pacific region since 1996.

The Flyway Partnership represents the major international framework for the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitat in the flyway, promoting dialogue, cooperation and collaboration between a range of stakeholders. Such international cooperation is essential for the conservation of migratory waterbirds by providing for their protection throughout the flyway.

Objectives

The objectives of the Flyway Partnership are to:

Develop the Flyway Network of sites of international importance for the conservation of migratory waterbirds, building on the achievements of the APMWCS networks.
Enhance communication, education and public awareness of the values of migratory waterbirds and their habitats.
Enhance flyway research and monitoring activities, build knowledge and promote exchange of information on waterbirds and their habitats.
Build the habitat and waterbird management capacity of natural resource managers, decision makers and local stakeholders.
Develop, especially for priority species and habitats, flyway wide approaches to enhance the conservation status of migratory waterbirds.

East Asian – Australasian Flyway Site Network

Under the Flyway Partnership, the site networks for Cranes, Anatidae and Shorebirds have been combined into a single network, referred to as the East Asian – Australasian Flyway Site Network, to increase the focus on the sustainable development of important habitat and to facilitate greater opportunities for collaboration on issues such as capacity building and education.

Launch and First Meeting of Partners

The launch and First Meeting of Partners (7-9 November 2006) were well attended by governments, intergovernmental and non-government organisations from across the flyway, and hosted by the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry.

To date, the following governments and organisations have endorsed the Partnership text:

Australia	Indonesia	Japan
Union of Myanmar	The Philippines	Republic of Korea
The Russian Federation	Singapore	United States of America
Ramsar	Convention on Migratory Species	Australasian Wader Studies Group
Wetlands International	WWF	Birdlife International
IUCN	International Crane Foundation	Wild Bird Society of Japan

The First Meeting of Partners elected Australia as the chair of the Flyway Partnership (for 2 years) with the Republic of Korea as vice-chair (for 1 year). The meeting made substantial progress on administrative arrangements for the Partnership including:

Appointment of Australia as Interim Secretariat
Agreement of the Terms of Reference for the Secretariat
Adoption of a 5-year Implementation Strategy
Development of a work plan for 2007
Establishment of a working group to develop a Communications Plan
Addition of four families of seabirds to the Partnership’s annex of migratory waterbirds

Since the launch of the Flyway Partnership and the First Meeting of the Partners, the interim Secretariat has been working to progress the appointment of a formal Secretariat and other actions required to advance the implementation of the Partnership. The Second Meeting of the Partners will be held in November 2007.

For further information, please contact the Interim Secretariat to the Flyway Partnership:

Vicki Cronan
Migratory and Marine Biodiversity Section
Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts
GPO Box 787
Canberra ACT 2601

Email: vicki.cronan@environment.gov.au