Jennifer George, Chief Executive, EAAFP Secretariat

Twenty years ago, in Bogor, Indonesia, a partnership became a promise. 

Governments, international conventions, scientists, conservation organisations and site networks came together around one urgent truth: migratory waterbirds cannot be protected by one country alone. Their survival depends on a chain of wetlands, tidal flats, rivers, lakes, coasts and islands stretching across borders, cultures and hemispheres. It also depends on people willing to protect that chain together. 

That was the beginning of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway Partnership. 

The Partnership was launched in November 2006 with ambition, but also with discipline. From the outset, EAAFP was not designed simply as a forum for discussion. It was built as a platform for action. Its first Partners established leadership arrangements, a Secretariat, a Flyway Site Network, Working Groups, reporting processes, communications priorities and an Implementation Strategy. 

In other words, EAAFP was born with an operating system. 

That structure gave the Partnership staying power. Over two decades, EAAFP has grown from a founding idea into the established regional cooperation mechanism for migratory waterbirds, their habitats, and the people and communities connected to them across the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. 

The Flyway itself is one of the world’s great migratory routes, extending from the Arctic through East and Southeast Asia to Australia and New Zealand. It links 22 countries and supports millions of migratory waterbirds whose journeys depend on healthy wetlands and coastal ecosystems at every stage. 

Within this vast geography, EAAFP has become the living bridge between international commitments and practical regional implementation. 

As a Ramsar Regional Initiative, EAAFP supports the goals of the Convention on Wetlands by helping turn wetland commitments into cooperation across real sites, real countries and real communities. As a voluntary Partnership, it brings together governments, intergovernmental organisations, international NGOs, technical experts and other institutions in a flexible model that allows broad participation across the Flyway. 

This is one of EAAFP’s greatest strengths. 

It is not a treaty, and it does not replace the role of global conventions. Instead, it occupies a distinctive place in the wider system of global conventions, institutions and partnerships. It connects international ambition with regional cooperation, and regional cooperation with work at the places birds depend on. 

Conventions and targets are essential. But someone still has to make them work across real landscapes, coastlines, institutions and communities. 

That is where EAAFP comes in. 

The answer begins with sites. 

The Flyway Site Network is the visible map of the Partnership’s shared responsibility. Each Flyway Network Site represents more than a place on a list. It recognises that a wetland, tidal flat or other habitat is internationally important for migratory waterbirds. It also supports cooperation, management, monitoring and exchange between the people responsible for those places. 

But EAAFP’s growth has never been only about sites. It has also been about people. 

Over the past 20 years, the Partnership has built a community of governments, site managers, scientists, local authorities, civil society organisations, youth, communities and international partners. Its Working Groups and Task Forces bring technical expertise to priority species, habitats and emerging threats. Its Meetings of Partners provide a regional space for governments and organisations to set direction together. Its Science Symposium, Flyway University Alliance, Sister Site Programme and new initiatives continue to connect knowledge, institutions and generations. 

This is the human infrastructure of the Flyway. 

It is how trust is built. It is how experience moves from one site manager to another. It is how science informs decisions. It is how young scientists find their place in the Flyway. It is how local governments, communities and experts become part of an international story. 

EAAFP’s place in the wider system of international organisations has also matured. Today, the Partnership works alongside global conventions, development partners, conservation organisations, universities, local governments and regional initiatives. Its role is not to duplicate their mandates, but to help make them work in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. 

The Convention on Wetlands, the Convention on Biological Diversity, the World Coastal Forum, development banks, international NGOs, universities and specialist networks all have roles to play. EAAFP brings them together through the lens of the Flyway: migratory waterbirds, connected wetlands, shared sites and regional cooperation. 

This is increasingly important. 

The global biodiversity and climate crises are not separate from the future of wetlands. Tidal flats store carbon, buffer storms, sustain fisheries and protect coastal communities. Inland wetlands support water security, biodiversity and livelihoods. For migratory waterbirds, these places are not isolated habitats. They are connected by movement. A decision made at one site can affect the survival of birds thousands of kilometres away. 

This is why EAAFP’s work reaches beyond birds. 

To protect migratory waterbirds is also to protect wetlands, coastal resilience, local livelihoods, cultural connections, scientific cooperation and environmental diplomacy. The Flyway is not just a route in the sky. It is a living system of mudflats, lakes, rivers, coastlines, islands, communities, institutions and people. 

As EAAFP marks its 20th anniversary, the story is not simply one of institutional survival. It is a story of growth: from a promise made in Bogor to a regional partnership with global relevance; from early working groups to a network of technical expertise; from individual sites to a connected Flyway Site Network; from conservation concern to international cooperation across one of the world’s most dynamic regions. 

The next 20 years will not be easier. But EAAFP is now stronger, clearer and more ready. 

The Flyway faces continuing pressure from habitat loss, climate change, coastal development, pollution, unsustainable use and emerging disease risks. At the same time, there is growing recognition that connected ecosystems are essential to biodiversity, climate resilience and sustainable development. 

EAAFP’s task is to meet this moment with focus, courage and practical support for the people doing the work. This is why the theme of EAAFP’s 20th anniversary, “Woven by People, Carried on Wings” feels so true to the Partnership. The Flyway is carried by the birds, but it is held together by people: by governments that choose cooperation, site managers who protect wetlands every day, scientists who build knowledge, communities who care for the places they call home, and Partners who keep showing up for a shared future. 

We must strengthen the Flyway Site Network. We must support site managers and communities. We must deepen science and monitoring. We must build the next generation of flyway leaders. We must work with global conventions and partners while keeping implementation grounded in the realities of this region. And we must ensure that migratory waterbirds, wetlands and people remain at the heart of international cooperation. 

Twenty years ago, Partners chose collaboration over fragmentation. 

Today, EAAFP stands as a living bridge between countries, sites, species and people across one of the world’s great migratory flyways. 

The Flyway connects us. 

Our shared responsibility is to keep it alive.