From March 23 to 29, 2026, delegates will gather at the Bosque Expo venue for what promises to be a pivotal UN wildlife conference, the first time Brazil has hosted this landmark event.
Under the compelling theme “Connecting Nature to Sustain Life”, the meeting underscores the indispensable role of ecological connectivity, the seamless web of habitats, corridors, and stopover sites that migratory species rely on to complete their epic journeys.
Representatives from the CMS’s 133 Parties, comprising 132 countries plus the European Union, will join forces with scientists, conservation organizations, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, environmental NGOs, and other stakeholders from across the globe.
High-level government officials, including Brazil’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change leadership, are expected to preside over sessions, with João Paulo Capobianco designated as the COP15 President. The gathering will also feature side events, stakeholder dialogues, and a dedicated high-level segment aimed at securing renewed political commitments.
This COP follows the momentum built at COP14, held in February 2024 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, the first CMS COP in Central Asia, under the banner “Nature Knows No Borders.”
That meeting launched the groundbreaking State of the World’s Migratory Species report, revealing that 44% of monitored populations were declining and over one in five listed species faced extinction risk.
It also adopted the Samarkand Strategic Plan for Migratory Species 2024–2032, setting ambitious targets for habitat restoration, reduced infrastructure impacts, and enhanced connectivity.
Recent updates paint an even starker picture: an interim assessment shows declines have worsened to 49% of migratory species populations, with 24% now at heightened extinction risk.
Mounting threats include habitat fragmentation, overexploitation, fisheries bycatch, marine and plastic pollution, illegal take, climate-driven disruptions, light pollution, renewable energy infrastructure collisions, anthropogenic noise, and emerging risks like deep-sea mining.
Delegates at COP15 are poised to tackle these challenges head-on through a comprehensive agenda. Key discussions will center on implementing the Samarkand Strategic Plan, proposing amendments to the CMS Appendices to afford stricter protections to vulnerable species; such as certain sharks and rays, hammerhead and thresher sharks, giant otters, striped hyenas, Amazon catfish, and potentially others like the snowy owl.
Cross-cutting issues will dominate debates, including measures to curb bycatch and fisheries mortality, combat pollution and illegal take, promote wildlife health, address climate impacts, safeguard seamount ecosystems, and advance ecological connectivity initiatives, including tools like an Atlas of Animal Migration.
Participants will also explore synergies with other global frameworks, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and Ramsar wetlands convention, while emphasizing sustainable livelihoods, pastoralism in rangelands, and the role of infrastructure in minimizing harm to migratory routes.
Expected outcomes include the adoption of a high-level Ministerial Declaration reaffirming global commitments, approvals of new species listings and concerted action plans, strengthened guidelines on emerging threats, and concrete steps to operationalize the Strategic Plan through the next decade.
These decisions could galvanize coordinated international efforts, potentially reversing declines and ensuring migratory species, from soaring birds and ocean-crossing whales to river-traversing fish, continue to sustain ecosystems and human well-being.
Leave a Reply