23 Feb 2020



On Thursday, a committee adopted India’s proposals for including three species — great Indian bustard, Asian elephant and Bengal florican — for additional protection under the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS). This happened at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the CMS (CMS COP13), which is under way in Gandhinagar, with “Migratory species connect the planet and together we welcome them home” as its theme.
What does the Convention seek to do?

CMS is a treaty agreed by 129 countries plus the European Union, and functions under the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). It works for protection and conservation of species that migrate across frontiers and are facing threats of extinction or require urgent attention. CMS aims to bring together different countries that are part of range of a given species, and facilitate coherent conservation and protection regimes in a group of countries. The conference is being held in India for the first time. Delegates from at least 78 countries are attending.

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