The "super year" for biodiversity will kick off with the Thirteenth Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP13). Hosted by the Government of India in the city of Gandhinagar from 17-22 February 2020, the Conference will bring together CMS Parties, partners and scientific experts to address the alarming decline of migratory species, including birds, aquatic species and terrestrial animals.

The Species Action Plan (SAP) for the Common Dolphin (Delphinus delphis), proposed in ASCOBANS Resolution 8.4 on the Conservation of Common Dolphins (2016), has been adopted in line with Resolution 8.4 and as per instructions from the 24th Meeting of the ASCOBANS Advisory Committee. The ASCOBANS Species Action Plan for the North-East Atlantic Common Dolphin sets out objectives for addressing the threats faced by the species in this region and describes a series of research, mitigation and monitoring actions aimed at improving its conservation status. The SAP seeks to involve a variety of stakeholders including national bodies, intergovernmental organizations, NGOs and regional bodies to achieve regional sea level actions.

A joint ACCOBAMS-ASCOBANS workshop on the best practices for conducting necropsies on cetaceans took place in Padua, Italy from 24 to 25 June 2019.

The ASCOBANS Secretariat participated in a scientific symposium entitled ‘Bright Future? Harbour Porpoises in the Wadden Sea’ which took place on 11 April at the UNESCO Wadden Sea World Heritage Visitor Centre. The aim of the symposium was to gather new information on the population status, monitoring and threats in the Wadden Sea. Opening speeches were delivered by Rüdiger Strempel, Executive Secretary of the Common Wadden Sea Secretariat; Roger Staves, Head of Education at the UNESCO Wadden Sea World Heritage Visitor Centre; and Jenny Renell, Coordinator at the ASCOBANS Secretariat.