Knowledge Nugget: CMS, COP15 and Migratory Species Conservation — what and why to study for UPSC prelims

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Key takeaways:

1. The CMS is a legally binding global treaty, signed in 1979 under the United Nations Environment Programme, which aims to conserve migratory animals and their habitats across national habitats and across borders.  As of today, 133 nations are parties to the Convention, engaging in international cooperation and coordinated action to conserve migratory species.

2. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN), a migratory species is defined as: ‘the entire population or any geographically separate part of the population of any species or lower taxon of wild animals, a significant proportion of whose members cyclically and predictably cross one or more national jurisdictional boundaries.’

3. Conference of the Parties is the principal decision-making body of the Convention, which meets once every three years and sets the budget and decides priorities for the following three years. At the COP, parties decide on whether to list new species or amend existing listings in the Appendices and consider reports submitted by each Party, the Scientific Council, and the Agreements established under the Convention.

4. The CMS has two appendices. It is important to note that a migratory species can be listed in both the appendices.

* An Appendix I listing is for migratory species that are considered endangered. In the context of CMS, endangered refers to a species or regional population that has been assessed as Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, or Endangered using the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species categories and criteria. If listed on Appendix-I, it would facilitate transboundary conservation efforts of these species.

* An Appendix II listing is for migratory species that have an unfavourable conservation status and which require international agreements for their conservation and management. A species that has been assessed as Extinct in the Wild, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, or Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List is eligible for consideration.

4. There are 188 species in Appendix I, including 28 terrestrial mammals, 23 aquatic mammals, 103 birds, eight reptiles and 26 fish. Parties that are range states to the Appendix-I listed species are required to provide strict protection, including prohibition of hunting or capturing, habitat restoration and addressing migration challenges.

5. Species in India, such as the Great Indian Bustard, the Asian Elephant, the Bengal Florican, the Siberian Crane, the Hawksbill Sea Turtle, the Olive Ridley turtle and the Leatherback Sea Turtle are included in Appendix I of CMS.

Interim Report on Migratory Species

6. Ahead of the conference, CMS has published an interim report that highlights emerging trends and recent progress in identifying and protecting critical habitats and migratory pathways. The report provides an update to the first-ever comprehensive assessment of the state of the world’s migratory species, published at CMS COP14 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in March 2024.

7. The Report warned that 49 per cent of the migratory species population protected by the UN’s Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) are declining, and 24 per cent of species are now facing extinction.’

8. This means that out of 1,189 total species listed under the global treaty, 582 migratory species face population decline challenges. The migratory species facing population declines and extinction risks range from many bird species, ungulates or hooved animals such as Wildebeest and Llama; freshwater fish; and marine species such as sharks, rays, and turtles.

IUCN Conservation status (Source: iucn/enhanced using AI)

9. Under the IUCN’s list 26 species listed under the treaty have moved to a higher extinction risk category and amongst these, 18 are migratory shorebirds. The report noted that a long-term decline in the population of many migratory shorebirds have occurred in coastal sites in India. The population of sharks and rays in the northern Indian Ocean are facing extinction risk. Meanwhile, vulture populations are improving slowly in South Asia.

10. The report noted that H5N1, the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), has been detected in an unusually broad host range of birds and mammals, and caused substantial mortality in many populations across multiple continents.

BEYOND THE NUGGET: CMS-listed species that have been re-categorized by the IUCN Red List 

Here is the list of CMS-linked species that were reclassified from Vulnerable (VU) to Endangered (EN), and Critically Endangered (CR).

Source: State of the World’s Migratory Species: Interim Report (2026)

Post Read Question

Consider the following statements:

1. India has proposed to host the COP of the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS) for the first-time next year.

2. CMS has two appendices.

3. Species listed in one appendix can’t be listed in another.

4. The Great Indian Bustard and the Asian Elephant are listed as Appendix I of the CMS.

Which of the statements mentioned above is/are correct?

(a) 1 and 3 only

(b) 2 and 4 only

(c) 1, 2, and 4 only

(d) 1, 2, 3, and 4

(Sources: Nearly half of world’s migratory wildlife protected under UN treaty facing population decline, says new report, .iucnssg.org, )

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