The Eleventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP11) will be held in Quito, Ecuador, from 4 to 9 November 2014. The COP will be preceded by a High Level Ministerial Panel and regional coordination meetings on 3 November, and held along with meetings of the CMS Standing Committee on 2 and 9 November.

As an environmental treaty under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme, CMS provides a global platform for the conservation and sustainable use of migratory animals and their habitats. CMS brings together the States through which migratory animals pass, the Range States, and lays the legal foundation for internationally coordinated conservation measures throughout a migratory range.

As the only global convention specializing in the conservation of migratory species, their habitats and migration routes, CMS complements and co-operates with a number of other international organizations, NGOs and partners in the media as well as in the corporate sector.

LT&C is participating in the High Level Ministerial Panel and in discussions how tourism can support the protection of important sites for migratory species (see e.g. project “Destination Flyways” in cooperation with UNWTO). UNWTO is organizing an event on sustainable tourism and migratory species on 5 November.

Look also on the press releases from CMS COP 11

For CMS COP10 GRID-Arendal had produced the Rapid Response Assessment

Living Planet: Connected Planet – Preventing the End of the World’s Wildlife Migrations through Ecological Networks

Through the air, over land and in water, over ten thousand species numbering millions of animals travel around the world in a network of migratory pathways. The very foundation of these migratory species is their connection to places and corridors across the planet. The loss of a single point in their migration can jeopardize the entire population, while their concentrations make them highly vulnerable to overharvesting and poaching.