A new 3-year project on "Strengthening waterbird and wetland conservation capacities in North Africa (WetCap)" is embarking on its first year of implementation as of this month. Within the framework of this project capacity building activities will take place in Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and Mauritania.

The WetCap project is linked to the ongoing UNEP-GEF African-Eurasian Flyway Project, also known as "Wings over Wetlands (WOW)". It will be implemented under the umbrella of the UNEP Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), in cooperation with its project partners BirdLife International, SEO/BirdLife (Spanish BirdLife partner), Wetlands International and the Ramsar Convention.

"This unique project perfectly complements the Wings over Wetlands Project by implementing its objectives in North Africa, a region which has not been in the focus of the WOW project so far. Moreover it sets a first positive example of how the outcomes of the WOW project can be used beyond the implementation phase of the WOW project itself, thus ensuring its longevity" says Bert Lenten, Executive Secretary of AEWA.

Sponsored by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the WetCap project integrates nature conservation efforts into the context of development cooperation, thus benefitting both people and nature. "The Strait of Gibraltar is a bottleneck for bird migration between Europe and Africa" says Juan Criado, Head of the International Unit of SEO/BirdLife. "This is why the cooperation between Spanish and Moroccan conservationists is very close. One of our common projects in the past has been the establishment of a wetland centre of expertise in Rabat. The WetCap project will profit from the centre and at the same time strengthen its position as a centre for knowledge and training for local conservation professionals. It is a real win-win situation".

Through a series of regional and national workshops specifically tailored to the needs and requirements of the region, the WetCap project will provide targeted training of trainers and of conservation professionals from the five countries and thus improve the conservation status and management of waterbirds at local key wetland sites.

Another important component of the WetCap project foresees the allocation of small grants to local waterbird and wetland conservation projects in the five project countries.

Within the framework of the AEWA Agreement, the WetCap project responds to the African Initiative for waterbird conservation in Africa established by government representatives from 80 countries attending the fourth Meeting of the Parties to AEWA in Antananarivo, Madagascar, September 2008. AEWA provides the basis for international cooperation on the conservation of 255 species of migratory waterbirds and their habitats in Africa, Europe and parts of Asia and Canada; the African Initiative will help to particularly strengthen cooperation and mobilize resources for the conservation of migratory waterbirds in Africa.