The 21st Goose Specialist Group Meeting

From January 28-31, in Musov in Southern Moravia, a meeting of more than 80 specialists on nature protection took place to discuss the worldwide status and development of different goose species. Goose are among the most visible and well-known migratory birds.

IUCN is the largest international actor in nature conservation efforts. It works mainly through expert and specialist groups. Hanns-Seidel-Foundation Korea works together with partners in Northeast and Central Asia on issues of the East Asia Australasian and Central Asian flyway of migratory birds. The emergence of the initiative for the Central Asian Flyway opens windows for political and policy cooperation among governments and also NGO in the region.

While some species saw – in particular after the reduction of hunting from the 1970s and 1980s – very positive development of populations, others are vulnerable or threatened in their development. Hunting (sometimes illegal), changing habitats through human development and climate change and with that changing conditions in breeding grounds (often in the arctic) are among the challenges. Some geese fly astonishing migration routes, e.g. Central Asian Bar-headed geese, which fly from breeding grounds in Mongolia over the Himalayas to wintering places on the Indian subcontinent.

As part of their support for conservation NGO in the Central Asian flyway of birds, Hanns-Seidel-Foundation cooperated with the Wildlife Science and Conservation Society of Mongolia in a project to better understand the flyway of the geese. The conference in Musov brought together scientists from all over the world to learn more about populations and their flyways and discuss better conservation for geese. Musov, near the larger city of Brno, has a large water reservoir, which is important for wintering geese in Central Europe. The next meeting of the IUCN goose specialist group is planned for South Korea!