| Summary: | "The Arctic Migratory Birds Initiative (AMBI), administered by the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF) working group, is a priority project of the Canadian Chairmanship of the Arctic Council. AMBI is designed to improve the conservation status and secure the long-term sustainability of declining Arctic breeding migratory bird populations. Through conservation of a shared natural and cultural resource, AMBI will have a positive impact on societies or whom migratory birds are a source of livelihood and spiritual inspiration. The AMBI also provides an early implementation of Recommendation #8 of the Arctic Biodiversity Assessment (http://arcticbiodiversity.is/) to ‘reduce stressors on migratory species range-wide, including habitat degradation and overharvesting on wintering and staging areas and along flyways and other migration routes’. The AMBI has, through a series of workshops1, brought together experts in Arctic migratory bird species and conservation issues from across the globe. These experts identified three major conservation issues facing Arctic migratory birds– habitat loss and degradation, especially of intertidal areas; unsustainable harvest; and marine by-catch. The group also identified priority species (see Annex 1). A steering committee comprising CAFF members Canada, Russia, Norway, and the United States, along with expert advisors from BirdLife International, was formed to guide the development and implementation of the AMBI work plans. Work plans to identify priority actions to address these issues in each of the four main flyways of the world were developed: a) East Asian-Australasian flyway; b) African-Eurasian Flyway; c) ‘Americas’flyway; d) A newly-defined ‘Circumpolar’ flyway, which addresses species that spend their entire life cycles in or near the arctic. Draft plans were developed by the appropriate steering committee member, along with other willing experts who were deemed instrumental to plan development and implementation. A multi-sectoral consultation on the draft plans ...
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