Good news: African-Eurasian migratory raptors!

[RaptorBirder]

Surfbirders

Some very good news for the conservation of African-Eurasian migratory raptors.

http://www.cms.int/index.html

http://www.birdlife.org/news/news/2008/10/cms_mou2.html

[MichaelF]

But will the Maltese gunners pay any attention?

Or the British grouse moor gamekeepers?

[RaptorBirder]

MichaelF

I hear what you say and I don't think we should expect to see any immediate changes on 1 November 2008 when this new instrument comes into force. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will have no legal force - it will continue (as now) to be up to national Governments to implement and enforce their own wildlife protection legislation. However, I think the key point is that major cultural change often takes time but that this sort of multilateral agreement firmly establishes a shared international vision for the future. It also provides an important mechanism to assist in generating wider public support, resources for field research, co-ordinated practical conservation and, not least, political pressure.

Things could be very different if we lived in a perfect world, but we don't!

[Colin Key]

I posted the same link a week ago ( http://www.surfbirds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4209 ).

I have to admit that I share the same cynical pessimism as Michael (although, as I stated, any step forward is better than a step back) - it is not just Malta but the whole of southern Europe from Iberia to Sicily, and beyond to the Middle East, which is guilty of these environmental atrocities.

I live with it every day, and no amount of EU, National or Local Government legislation will stop it unless it is actually implemented on the ground and properly policed. I am sorry to say that, in my experience here, this is not likely to happen.

Colin :realmad: