1991 - 2006. EUROBATS celebrates its 15th anniversary

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EUROBATS Publication Series No 1 Looking back
lieved to be well informed about the taxono-
my and biology of most of the bat species
occurring in Europe. However, the progress
of genetechnology creating a new taxono-
my (or at least an additional tool) and new
findings of intensive monitoring and other
scientific work have lead to an astounding
proliferation of species covered by the Ag-
reement.
The first EUROBATS Executive Secre-
tary, Eric Blencowe, had the splendid idea
of creating the “European Bat Night” which
turned out to become a real success story,
since it generated so much awareness with
media and the public that specialised non
governmental organisations as well as re-
sponsible state authorities contributed to
its organisation, and to increase their con-
servation action. Even in non-Party coun-
tries the Bat Night became an attraction
and I presume that this was, among other
things, one of the incentives for a number
of countries to accede to the Agreement.
The second EUROBATS Executive Se-
cretary, Andreas Streit, made the Secreta-
riat the motor of EUROBATS’ national and
transboundary implementation and further
development. As a result, less than 1 years
after it began, EUROBATS counted almost
two thirds of the Range States as its Parties
(31 by October 200 ).
ASCOBANS, ACCOBAMS and AEWA are
other success stories of the Convention on
Migratory Species Agreements. However,
EUROBATS is one of the prototypes for instruments
to implement the Convention on
Migratory Species. Thanks to the convincing
results of EUROBATS’ implementation,
the Convention on Migratory Species has
become successful throughout the world
with a total of six independent Agreements
and eight Memoranda of Understanding. A
second Agreement for the conservation of
bats is under development for the African region.
EUROBATS has been playing a strong
role in furthering the decision-making and
will assist in its drafting and negotiation.
I take this occasion to congratulate
EUROBATS on its success and great role
in the conservation of European bat spe-
cies, an important component of the glo-
bal biodiversity, and to thank all those who
contributed with dedication to this success.
This includes the members of the EURO-
BATS secretariats and a number of NGOs
who have been playing such a vital role. I
am happy to note that the collocation of the
Secretariats of the Convention on Migrato-
ry Species and EUROBATS have generated
synergies which have been beneficial for
both Treaties and I express optimism that
this will continue in the new offices which
just recently have been provided by the
German Government in Germany’s former
Parliament building.
Arnulf Mueller-Helmbrecht
Former Executive Secretary of the Convention on
Migratory Species (CMS)