Side Event

The Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative (AMBI): Protecting Arctic lifestyles through migratory bird conservation

Organizer
Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (eight Arctic nations, six permanent participant organizations), in partnership with CBD, CMS, BirdLife international

Date and Time
8 October 2014 13:15 - 14:45

Meeting
Twelfth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity

This event will present the latest results on the Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative (AMBI), a project designed to improve the status and secure the long-term sustainability of declining Arctic breeding migratory bird populations using international cooperation along entire flyways. Responding to recommendation #8 in the recently released Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (reduce stressors on migratory species range-wide), this multi-partner project, lead by Canada, Norway, and Russia under the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna working group of the Arctic Council, has engaged multiple governmental, indigenous, NGO and multilateral partners to increase political recognition of the challenges facing Arctic migratory birds and develop priority management actions for conservation. The recent addition of Korea, Singapore, China and Japan as new Arctic Council observer countries provides an opportunity to raise awareness of the challenges faced by a number of Arctic migratory bird species that are shared between Arctic Council member states and observer countries as well as non-observer countries. The AMBI raises the plight of these birds, which are a shared natural resource and indicator of environmental health, with Foreign Ministries, natural resource and wildlife managers, and others to collaborate and develop conservation solutions to halt the alarming decline in some of the world’s most iconic and loved birds. This event will involve an expert panel discussion and question/answer period.