Bern Convention celebrates 30th anniversary in Bern
Bern, 19.11.2009 - The Bern Convention, the Council of Europe’s Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, this year’s meeting of the Standing Committee to the Convention is to be held in Bern on 23–26 November 2009. Swiss Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger will open the meeting.
On 19 September 1979, the Bern Convention, the Council of Europe's Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, was adopted at the Bern City Hall. Forty-eight countries are now party to the convention (see box). It was ratified by Switzerland in 1981.
To mark the occasion of the Bern Convention's 30th anniversary, Switzerland has invited the Contracting Parties to hold the 29th Meeting of the Standing Committee to the Convention in Bern on 23-26 November 2009. Together with representatives of the Canton and city of Bern, Swiss Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger will officially open the meeting on Monday, 23 November 2009 at 9.30 a.m. in the great hall of the Kornhausforum.
The Meeting of the Standing Committee will be attended by representatives of the countries that are party to the convention as well as observers from international organisations.
It is thanks to the Bern Convention that the Emerald network of protected areas now covers the habitats and species considered to be of special conservation interest throughout Europe. Last October, Switzerland proposed 37 sites for inclusion in this network. A further key objective of the Bern Convention is to conserve forests and wetlands that provide habitat for numerous species, including endangered ones.
Note to media representatives:
Swiss Federal Councillor Moritz Leuenberger will officially open this year's Meeting of the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention on 23 November 2009.
Media representatives are welcome to attend the opening in the Great Hall of the Kornhausforum in Bern:
Date: 23 November 2009
Time: 9.30 a.m. - 10.30 a.m.
Venue: Great Hall of the Kornhausforum, City of Bern
The Meeting of the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention following the opening ceremony is not open to the public.
For further information please contact:
Rebekka Reichlin, Media Service of the Federal Office for the Environment FOEN
Tel. +41 (0)31 322 92 46
BOX
The Bern Convention
On 19 September 1979, eighteen Council of Europe Member States as well as Finland and the European Economic Community (EEC) signed the Bern Convention at the Bern City Hall in the context of the Third European Ministerial Conference on the Environment. To date the convention counts 48 Contracting Parties. The Secretariat is located in Strasbourg.
The convention was the first to be based on a comprehensive approach to nature conservation: in addition to classic species protection measures the convention establishes an extensive system of protected areas. The Contracting Parties pledge to take requisite measures to maintain the populations of wild flora and fauna and their habitats as well as endangered natural habitats in general.
More specifically, the Contracting Parties must take action to
- promote national policies for the conservation of wild flora and fauna;
- have regard to the conservation of wild flora and fauna in their planning and development policies, and in their measures against pollution;
- promote education and disseminate general information on the need to conserve species of wild flora and fauna and their habitats;
- give special attention to areas of importance to migratory species including areas these species use as wintering, staging, feeding, breeding and moulting areas.
The Bern Convention distinguishes between "strictly protected" species in Appendices I (flora) and II (fauna), and "protected fauna species" in Appendix III.
Address for enquiries
Olivier Biber, Species Management Division, FOEN, Tel. +41 (0)31 323 06 63
Publisher
Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications
https://www.uvek.admin.ch/uvek/en/home.html
