01 Jun 2016 ESTABLISHMENT OF A EUROPEAN GOOSE MANAGEMENT PLATFORM

FACE is pleased to announce that an agreement was reached to establish a European Goose Management Platform under AEWA.

The meeting, which took place in Paris on the 11-12 May 2016, was attended by the following AEWA range states: Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greenland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and UK.

The meeting was hosted and organised by the French Ministry of the Environment, Energy and the Sea as well as OMPO and represents a major turning point in the way AEWA Range States manage their shared migratory waterbirds.

For the next three years, it was agreed that the Platform would be funded by contributions from range states and NGOs. The goose species to be initially covered include the Pink-footed Goose (Anser brachyrhynchus), Taiga Bean Goose (Anser f. fabalis), Greylag Goose (Anser anser) and Barnacle Goose (Branta leucopsis).

The Platform will work to coordinate flyway-level conservation and management in line with existing international obligations and legislation. Much of the discussion at the meeting focused on how Adaptive Harvest Management (AHM) could be applied to manage goose populations. FACE has played a key role in developing guidance on the sustainable and adaptive harvest management of migratory birds in the Waterbird Harvest Specialist Group of Wetlands International.

FACE will be considered as a key player with regard to harvest data collection/management as well as advice on derogations.

The following declaration was agreed at the meeting.

*Picture: European Goose Management Platform Meeting Participants