In cooperation between the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs MSEA (currently the Ministry of Local Administration and Environment), the General Commission for the Management and Development of the Badia (GCB) and the Syrian Society for the Conservation of Wildlife (SSCW), the inaugural meeting for the Sociable Lapwing International Working Group was held at the headquarters of the General Commission for the Management and Development of the Badia in Palmyra. This meeting was sponsored by the international agreement for the protection of African and Eurasian migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) which Syria has signed and ratified this agreement by virtue of a legislative decree issued in November 2002.
This meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform, the General Commission for the Management and Development of the Badia (GCB). Furthermore, experts from the BirdLife International, the Secretariat of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds Agreement (AEWA), the Ornithological Society for the Middle East, the Caucasus and Central Asia, (OSME), and The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and representatives of the countries in which the social lapwing is prevalent in natural conditions in Asia, Africa and Europe have also participated in this meeting. During this meeting, the necessary steps to protect this endangered species were reviewed, and the necessary stages and tasks required to prepare and formulate an international Action Plan to protect it on the global level.
