Andy Raine has been appointed as Executive Secretary of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), effective Monday, 1 June 2026. In his role, Mr. Raine will also serve as the Executive Secretary of the Agreement on the Conservation of Small Cetaceans of the Baltic, North East Atlantic, Irish and North Seas (ASCOBANS).

The Agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Agreement) has reached the threshold for entry into force. This historic milestone marks the beginning of a new era for the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in the high seas—an area covering two-thirds of the world’s ocean.

The Liaison Group of Biodiversity-related Conventions (BLG), a long-standing network uniting the executive heads of the eight biodiversity-related conventions, met on 21 February 2025 at FAO Headquarters in Rome ahead of the resumed sessions of the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP16). The group reaffirmed their collective support to the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF). 

Las estrategias de conservación lideradas por comunidades pueden ser fundamentales para la conservación exitosa de especies migratorias, según dos informes clave publicados por la Convención sobre la Conservación de las Especies Migratorias de Animales Silvestres (CMS), un tratado mundial sobre vida silvestre de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas.