20
Progress towards phasing out
lead gunshot in wetlands
Triennial national reporting on the implementation of AEWA
allows assessment of progress towards the objective of
phasing out the use of lead gunshot in wetlands. Figure 1a
presents the situation as at 2015 with information drawn from
an analysis of national reports for the sixth Meeting of Parties
(MOP 6) (AEWA 2015).
Simple proportions of all Parties are potentially misleading
since, Range States (countries within the Agreement area) have
progressively joined the Agreement over time. Whilst therewere
22 Contracting Parties at MOP 1 in 1999, at MOP 6 (2015) there
were 75. Thus it is perhaps unsurprising that recently acceding
Parties have yet to phase out use of lead shot in wetlands. Yet,
of the original 22 Parties of MOP 1, 11 (50%) have yet to legislate
against lead gunshot in wetlands (Figure 1b). However, of those
with no progress since 1999, 9 are African states with likely little
recreational use of shotguns in wetlands, whilst Romania and
Senegal both indicated to AEWA in 2012 that bans were under
consideration.
Analysis of the best available information shows steady but
(very) slow progress towards the goal of eliminating lead
gunshot fromwetlands around the world (Figure 2). By 2015, 23
countries are known to have prohibited the use of lead gunshot
in wetlands, with a further 10 having partial bans (such as bans
related just to Ramsar Sites or within one or more entities of a
federal state). Further countries are in the process of introducing
legislation or are formally considering the issue. The call to
Convention on Migratory Species Parties from COP 11 (Table 2)
adds further pressure for action.
David A. Stroud
20
27%
9
12%
15
20%
6
8%
25
33%
Fully
Par0ally
No
Not applicable
No report submi;ed
7
32%
3
14%
11
50%
1
5%
Fully
Par0ally
No
Not applicable
A) Progress by all Contracting Parties to AEWA in eliminating
the use of lead gunshot in wetlands as at 2015;
(B) Progress by the original 22 Contracting Parties at MoP 1
in eliminating the use of lead gunshot in wetlands by MOP
6 in 2015
(A)
(B)
Figure 1: Progress made by Contracting Parties to AEWA in eliminating lead gunshot in wetlands. See legend for details.