The Seventh Meeting of the Partners of the East Asian – Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) was held in Anchorage and Seward, Alaska, USA on 10-14th June 2013, hosted by EAAFP Partner, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
MoP7 participants in Anchorage, Alaska © EAAFP
Three new Partners were welcomed at the Meeting: the Government of Malaysia, Wildlife Conservation Society and the Secretariat for the Conservation of Arctic Fauna and Flora (CAFF) of the Arctic Council. The total number of Partners now stands at 30, including 15 National Governments.
A Resolution of Cooperation was signed in Anchorage between CAFF and EAAFP, pledging to work together for the conservation of Arctic-breeding migratory waterbirds (To have more information about it, follow this link). In addition, five new sites were added to the EAAFP Flyway Site Network, from Malaysia (BakoBuntal Bay), Australia (Roebuck Bay and 80-Mile Beach), USA (Yukon Delta) and Japan (Arao-higata), the sites in Australia and USA being of critical importance for non-breeding and breeding waterbirds, respectively.
During the Meeting, China was elected as the new Chair of EAAFP, with USA as Vice-Chair. Technical discussions centered around prioritization of shorebird and seabird species in the Flyway, as well as Network Sites. A new Working Group to address the recent precipitous decline of Baer’s Pochard (learn more) was formed and plans to advance conservation of inter-tidal habitats in the Yellow Sea were also agreed. The Spoonbill Sandpiper Task Force launched a video on the Journey of Spoonbill Sandpiper during Report-back session
