Bern Convention Newsroom
43rd Standing Committee meeting
The Bern Convention will hold its 43rd Standing Committee meeting from 27th November to 1st December 2023 in Strasbourg. Contracting Parties, observers, NGO representatives and experts will discuss the outcomes of activities implemented throughout 2023, and those planned for next year. Activities...
11th Meeting of the Group of Experts on the Conservation of Amphibians and Reptiles
The 11th meeting of the Group of Experts on the Conservation of Amphibians and Reptiles took place in Strasbourg on the 26th of September. The main objective of the meeting was to discuss distribution maps of amphibian and reptile species occurrence across the protected area network of Natura...
2nd meeting of the Bureau of the Bern Convention in 2023
The Bureau to the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats held its second ordinary meeting of 2023 on 12-13 September in Strasbourg. The Bureau assessed progress in the implementation of the Convention’s Programme of Activities for...
Final Seminar of the BISON project on “Transport Infrastructure and Biodiversity at a nexus of challenges”
The Final Seminar of the BISON project which will be held on 6-7 June in the Council of Europe.
International Day for Biological Diversity 2023
The Bern Convention celebrates the International Day for Biological Diversity on 22 May!
Expert Workshop on the Conservation of the Carpathian Lynx
The Secretariat of the Bern Convention attended the Expert Workshop on the Conservation of the Carpathian Lynx in west-central Europe, held in the Harz National Park, Germany, on 11-12 May 2023.
Bern Convention visits North Macedonia to assess developments at Lake Ohrid and Galichica National Park
The Bern Convention carried out an on-the-spot appraisal (OSA) to the Lake Ohrid and Galichica National Park candidate Emerald Sites on 25-27 April.
1st meeting of the Bureau of the Bern Convention in 2023
The Bureau to the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention held its first meeting of 2023 on 29-30 March by video-conference. The Bureau assessed progress in the implementation of the Convention’s Programme of Activities for 2023 and the state of preparation of upcoming meetings and events. It...
Annual meeting of the Group of Specialists on the European Diploma for Protected Areas
The Group of Specialists on the European Diploma for Protected Areas held its annual meeting on 2-3 March in Strasbourg. The Group assessed the findings of the seven on-the-spot appraisal visits which took place in 2022 and plan for the visits to be held in the course of 2023. Further, the follow...
Launch of the Case-file Dashboard
The Case-File Dashboard has been completed with the publications of the approximately 150 closed/dismissed files!
42nd Standing Committee meeting
The Bern Convention held its 42nd Standing Committee meeting from 28th November to 2nd December 2022 in Strasbourg with a hybrid setting. Contracting Parties, observers, NGO representatives and experts discussed the outcomes of activities implemented throughout 2022, and activities planned for...
Emerald Network biogeographical evaluation on habitats and species including birds for Liechtenstein
An Emerald Network biogeographical evaluation for habitats and species, including birds for Liechtenstein will take place on 24 and 25 October 2022 in Vaduz in cooperation with the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity. The meeting will convene representatives from the Ministry of Home...
First meeting of the National Focal Points for the Pan-European Action Plan for Sturgeons
The First meeting of the National Focal Points for the Pan-European Action Plan for Sturgeons took place in person in the premises of the Council of Europe building in Strasbourg on 5-6 October 2022. This meeting took stock of the implementation of the Pan-European Action Plan for Sturgeons,...
2nd ordinary meeting of the Bureau of the Bern Convention in 2022
The Bureau to the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention held its second ordinary meeting of 2022 on 15-16 September in Strasbourg. The Bureau assessed progress in the implementation of the Convention’s Programme of Activities for 2022/2023 and the results of or state of preparation of the...
Bern Convention carries out joint on-the-spot appraisal with AEWA and CMS in Albania
The Bern Convention, African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) carried out a joint on-the-spot appraisal (OSA) to the Vjosa-Narta Protected Area in Albania from 29 August to 2 September following concerns raised by Albanian NGOs about the...
Emerald Network biogeographical evaluation on habitats and species including birds for Iceland
An Emerald Network biogeographical evaluation for Iceland for habitats and all species including birds will take place on 21 and 22 June 2022 in Reykjavik in cooperation with the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity. The meeting will convene representatives from the Ministry of the...
Group of Experts on Protected Areas and Ecological Networks and Ad-hoc Working Group on Reporting
The Group of Experts on Protected Areas and Ecological Networks held its 13th meeting back-to-back with the 1st meeting of the Ad-hoc Working Group on Reporting on 15 June online. The Group of Experts on Protected Areas and Ecological Networks examined consolidated guidelines describing the...
Joint Meeting on Eradication of Illegal Killing, Trapping and Trade in Wild Birds and publication of the Scoreboard
The Joint Meeting of the Bern Convention Network of Special Focal Points on Eradication of Illegal Killing, Trapping and Trade in Wild Birds and the CMS Intergovernmental Task Force on Illegal Killing, Taking and Trade of Migratory Birds in the Mediterranean (MIKT) was held by hybrid means in...
7th meeting of the Group of Experts on the conservation of birds
The Bern Convention Group of Experts on the conservation of birds held its 7th meeting in Valencia, Spain, on 9-10 June 2022. The meeting was held by hybrid means and took stock of work done so far on the implementation of the previous Bern Convention Recommendations on birds and power lines and...
International Day for Biological Diversity 2022: The Bern Convention is the CoE’s tool to ensure that Humans, Nature and Wildlife may share a future
Strasbourg, 22nd May 2022: According to the IUCN Red List, more than 40,000 species are threatened with extinction globally today. This concerns e.g. 26% of mammals, 41% of amphibians, and 13% of birds. The main threats come from the fact that their habitats are disappearing or changing due to...
