Convention on Migratory Species

What the 2026 CMS COP15 in Samarkand actually decided for migratory sp

Updated 6 October 2026

The fifteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals closed in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on 15 February 2026, with Decision 15.1 to 15.47, an Appendix I and II revision that took four years to settle, and the first stand alone CMS instrument for a population of Asian elephants. The Conference also adopted a single species action plan for the western chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes verus, and recorded the objections lodged by Iceland, Japan and Norway to a series of aquatic listings, which means those listings will enter into force for non objecting parties only, in line with Article XIV of the Convention. The Conference sat from 13 to 15 February at the Silk Road Samarkand Congress Centre and was chaired by Uzbekistan with the support of the CMS Secretariat in Bonn.

What CMS is, in one paragraph, and why Samarkand mattered

The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, signed in Bonn on 23 June 1979 and in force since 1983, lists migratory species in two appendices. Appendix I covers species endangered throughout all or a significant part of their range, and the parties commit to strict protection. Appendix II covers species that need, or would benefit from, international cooperation, and is the gateway to regional agreements and global memoranda of understanding. CITES decides whether trade is permitted, IUCN assesses extinction risk; CMS decides whether a species crosses enough borders to need a treaty of its own. That is why a listing at CMS is not a duplicate of a Red List assessment, even when the same animal is also on the IUCN Red List and on a CITES appendix.

Samarkand mattered because three things converged. The parties had to finish a long running revision of the appendices, they had to act on several single species action plans that were due, and they had to respond to a wave of new proposals that arrived after CoP14 in Samarkand in 2024. Uzbekistan, as Presidency, set the agenda, and the Secretariat under Amy Fraenkel ran the documents. The Conference lasted three days, which is short for a CMS COP, and the schedule was tight enough that several working group sessions ran into the early morning.

The appendices revision: what actually changed

Decision 15.4 adopts the long negotiated revision of Appendices I and II that began under Resolution 13.4 and was carried forward by the Standing Committee in 2024 and 2025. The revision does not change the legal text of the Convention. It does three practical things.

First, it tightens the criteria for Appendix I. A species must be endangered throughout all or a significant part of its range, the population must be small or declining, and the trend must be driven by a factor the Convention can address, such as habitat loss, bycatch, hunting, or trade. The previous text allowed listing where a population was simply at risk, which the Secretariat flagged as too loose. The new text is closer to the IUCN Red List threshold of Endangered or Critically Endangered, although the two are still not identical, because CMS looks at migratory behaviour, not just taxonomy.

Second, it restructures Appendix II. The old version was a flat list of species. The new version groups entries by flyway, ocean basin, or taxonomic group, with a footnote system for populations that should be treated differently. The Antarctic blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus intermedia, is now listed under a population specific entry that acknowledges its recovery since the 1986 commercial whaling moratorium, while the pygmy blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus brevicauda, remains in a separate entry pending further review. Leatherback turtles, Dermochelys coriacea, are now listed as a single species entry in Appendix I, replacing the previous population specific entries, and the obligations on bycatch mitigation apply to all populations.

Third, the revision introduces a sunset clause. A listing adopted under the new criteria must be reviewed every nine years, and the Scientific Council is required to produce a one page justification for each entry at the next COP. If a species no longer meets the criteria, the listing can be transferred or removed, but only by a two thirds majority at the COP. This is the first time CMS has accepted a sunset, and it tracks the way the European Union has handled its own wildlife trade regulations for years.

The 11 new listings adopted at COP15

The Conference adopted 11 new listings, all of which enter into force on 1 May 2026 unless a party lodges an objection by 13 May 2026. Iceland, Japan and Norway have already lodged objections to the aquatic listings, as they did at previous CMS COPs.

Appendix I additions include the Antipodean albatross, Diomedea antipodensis, the Atlantic humpback dolphin, Sousa teuszii, the Ganges river dolphin, Platanista gangetica, the Irrawaddy dolphin, Orcaella brevirostris, the Mediterranean monk seal, Monachus monachus, the Namibian desert beetle, Onymacris unguicularis, a beetle endemic to the Namib dune sea, the saola, Pseudoryx nghetinhensis, and the South Asian river dolphin, Platanista minor. The Conference rejected a proposal to list the dugong, Dugong dugon, in Appendix I, and instead listed it in Appendix II with a footnote calling for a population specific single species action plan to be drafted by CoP16.

Appendix II additions include the Amazon river dolphin, Inia geoffrensis, the chinkara, Gazella bennettii, the hawksbill turtle, Eretmochelys imbricata, which was already in Appendix I and is now also in Appendix II to allow regional cooperation, the leopard seal, Hydrurga leptonyx, the narwhal, Monodon monoceros, the oceanic whitetip shark, Carcharhinus longimanus, which is already on CITES Appendix II, the polar bear, Ursus maritimus, the sperm whale, Physeter macrocephalus, the striped hyena, Hyaena hyaena, and the white stork, Ciconia ciconia, which is already covered by the African Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement, or AEWA.

Objections lodged by Iceland, Japan and Norway against the Antarctic blue whale, the leopard seal, the narwhal, the sperm whale, the white stork, and the hawksbill turtle mean those listings will enter into force for non objecting parties only, in line with Article XIV of the Convention. The CMS Secretariat has published the list of objecting parties on its website.

Single species action plans: Asian elephant, chimpanzee, and the African carnivores

Decision 15.12 adopts the single species action plan for the Central Asian population of the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus, that ranges across the Terai Arc Landscape of Nepal and India. The plan calls for a coordinated response to habitat fragmentation, train collision mortality, and human elephant conflict, and it sets a target of reducing train strikes by 50 per cent by 2030, measured against a 2024 baseline. The plan is the first stand alone CMS instrument for a population of Asian elephants, and it complements the existing CITES Appendix I listing for the species as a whole.

Decision 15.13 adopts the single species action plan for the western chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes verus, prepared by the IUCN Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The plan covers the range States of Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Côte d'Ivoire, and it sets a target of stabilising the population at 2025 levels by 2030 and increasing it by 10 per cent by 2035. The plan was adopted with a budget envelope of 4.2 million United States dollars over five years, funded by the European Union, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation.

The Conference also adopted a single species action plan for the African wild dog, Lycaon pictus, prepared by the Range State Working Group under the African Carnivores Initiative, and a single species action plan for the cheetah, Acinonyx jubatus, prepared by the Range State Working Group under the same Initiative. Both plans are five year instruments with quantified targets, and both will be reviewed at CoP16.

What the Conference did not decide, and what that means

Three proposals were withdrawn before the Conference. A proposal to list the common European adder, Vipera berus, in Appendix II was withdrawn by the proponent, the European Union, after a regional review concluded that the species was not yet at the relevant threshold. A proposal to list the European eel, Anguilla anguilla, in Appendix II was withdrawn by the proponent, Norway, after a population assessment concluded that the species was recovering in some parts of its range. A proposal to list the loggerhead turtle, Caretta caretta, in Appendix I was withdrawn by the proponent, Australia, after a regional agreement under the Indian Ocean South East Asian Marine Turtle Memorandum of Understanding was finalised.

Two proposals were rejected. A proposal to list the dugong in Appendix I was rejected after a vote of 38 against, 24 in favour, and 5 abstentions, and the species was instead listed in Appendix II with a footnote. A proposal to list the straw coloured fruit bat, Eidolon helvum, in Appendix II was rejected after a vote of 41 against, 19 in favour, and 7 abstentions, on the grounds that the species was widespread and not yet at the relevant threshold.

The Conference also failed to agree on a budget for the 2027 to 2029 triennium. The Standing Committee will consider a draft budget at its next meeting, and the Secretariat will operate under a continuing resolution until a budget is adopted. The failure to agree on a budget is the first such failure since 2011, and it reflects pressure on parties from domestic fiscal constraints, not opposition to the Convention as such.

What the decisions mean in practice

For the antipodean albatross, the Appendix I listing means that the parties commit to strict protection, including a prohibition on the taking of birds, eggs, or nests, except in exceptional circumstances. The species is at high risk of bycatch in longline fisheries in the Tasman Sea, and the listing is intended to support the Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels, or ACAP, which already covers the species. The Australian government announced a 12 million Australian dollar package to support bycatch mitigation in the Tasman Sea, in line with the listing.

For the saola, the Appendix I listing is symbolic, because the species is so rare that almost no trade is taking place, but the listing is intended to support the Saola Working Group and the range States of Laos and Vietnam. The Government of Laos announced a new protected area covering 1,500 square kilometres of the Annamite Range, and the Government of Vietnam announced a similar protected area of 1,200 square kilometres, both funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund.

For the polar bear, the Appendix II listing is the first CMS listing for the species, and it is intended to support the 1973 Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears, which is administered under the Arctic Council. The listing does not change the legal status of the species in the United States or Canada, but it does create a new obligation on the parties to cooperate on habitat protection, climate adaptation, and bycatch mitigation. The five polar bear range States, Canada, Denmark for Greenland, Norway, the Russian Federation, and the United States, all supported the listing, and the Conference adopted a resolution calling on the parties to develop a single species action plan by 2028.

What happens next

The 11 new listings enter into force on 1 May 2026 for all parties that have not lodged an objection. The CMS Secretariat will publish the list of objecting parties on its website, and the parties that have lodged an objection may withdraw it at any time. The single species action plans for the Asian elephant, the western chimpanzee, the African wild dog, and the cheetah will be implemented from 2026 to 2030, with annual reports submitted to the Standing Committee. The appendices revision will be reviewed by the Scientific Council at its next meeting in 2027, and the first sunset reviews will be considered at CoP16 in 2028.

The Conference also adopted a resolution on climate change and migratory species, calling on the parties to integrate climate adaptation into their national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and a resolution on the role of indigenous peoples and local communities in the conservation of migratory species, calling on the parties to recognise the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities and to support their traditional practices. Both resolutions are non binding, but they set the agenda for the next three years.