The World Migratory Bird Day team is excited to present to you the 2012 website and poster!

Within the scope of the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Ramsar Convention, the Republic of Belarus being a Party to this Convention took an active part in commemorating this global event organizing an international conference in Minsk in October 2011.

5^th Meeting of the Parties to AEWA (MOP5)

14 – 18 May 2012, La Rochelle, France

On the invitation of the Government of France, the 5^th Session of the Meeting of the Parties to AEWA (MOP5) will take place from 14 - 18 May 2012 in La Rochelle, a seaport and major conference center on the French Atlantic coast.

The theme for MOP5 will be “Migratory waterbirds and people – sharing wetlands”.

Three members of OMPO are currently working at the preparation of the event within the Organizing Committee established by the French Ministry of Ecology. The practical organization of MOP5 which is coupled with the World Migratory Bird Day (12-13 mai 2012), represents a lot of work and is a heavy responsibility as the representatives of the 64 contracting countries will be present; 350 to 400 participants are expected.

The work performed within the Technical Committee (see article above) is upstream, it is meant to validate and format files for consideration by the MOP.

• AEWA / 5^th Meeting of the Parties (MOP5)

• World Migratory Bird Day 2012 Website

As Observer, OMPO participated in the 10th Meeting of the AEWA Technical Committee which took place from 12-16 September 2011 in Naivasha on the invitation of the Government of Kenya (Kenya Wildlife Service).

56 topics were examined among which species conservation status, Single Species Action Plans, draft Action Plan for Africa, disturbance, look-alike species, hunting harvest, global warming…