USFWS International Affairs

10/01/2025

Due to the federal government shutdown, this account is not being actively updated.
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Operations in the Absence of Appropriations

03/03/2025

🌿🐾 Happy World Wildlife Day! 🐘🐅

Join us in celebrating the incredible beauty of our biodiversity. From the smallest insects to the big cats, every species plays a vital role in maintaining the balance of our planet.

Photo credit: Levi Novey/USFWS

01/06/2025

We recently published our second Federal Register notice in preparation for the 20th regular meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES CoP20): https://www.regulations.gov/docket/FWS-HQ-IA-2024-0033

In this Federal Register notice, we respond to recommendations we received from the public concerning proposed amendments to the CITES Appendices (species proposals) and proposed resolutions, decisions, and agenda items that the United States might submit for consideration at CITES CoP20. We invite your comments and information on these potential proposals and working documents by Monday, January 27, 2025. We also provide information on how U.S. nongovernmental organizations can attend CoP20 as observers.

An extended table, available on our website, describes in detail the taxa being considered for species proposals and explains the rationale for the United States' current thinking: https://ow.ly/M4Nx50UAK3A

01/05/2025

Happy National Bird Day! We’re soaring with excitement to announce 7 projects awarded by the Combating Wildlife Trafficking Program’s new Species Conservation Catalyst Fund on Songbird Trade! 🦜✨These projects will address the trafficking of seed-finches and seedeaters, two species famed for their ability to sing complex melodies in singing competitions. Our program partners are taking flight on the first-ever efforts to protect these melodious songbirds from illegal trade. Read more about what we’re doing to catalyze support for these and other species threatened by wildlife trafficking 👉 https://ow.ly/Rqq850UzyVF

01/03/2025

We welcome Turkmenistan as the 185th Party to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a global treaty to ensure international trade in wild plants and animals is legal, traceable, and biologically sustainable.

Turkmenistan’s entry into CITES takes effect this week and will strengthen conservation and wildlife trade regulation in Central Asia. The country’s deserts, mountains, and great steppes are home to 94 animal and 15 plant species protected by CITES, including the imperial eagle, Persian leopard, and Asian houbara bustard, which are granted the highest level of protection under CITES.

Read more at: https://cites.org/eng/news/pr/turkmenistan-accession-to-cites-2024

Eastern Imperial eagle courtesy of Bernd Thaller (CC BY 2.0): https://flic.kr/p/2gorPoT

Persian leopard courtesy of Debs (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0): https://flic.kr/p/6V3zSG

Houbara bustard courtesy of Shankar S. (CC BY 2.0)
https://flic.kr/p/dT5skc

12/18/2024

From time to time, customs officials find birds that have been forced to fly – smuggled into the U.S. inside luggage or a person’s clothes. In less than a decade, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has completed three investigations into the illegal trade in Asian songbirds, a problem many organizations consider to be a conservation crisis.

Birds valued for their rarity, beauty, and song are disappearing from the wild, with untold consequences for their populations and the habitats they help make whole.

USFWS International Affairs
Photo by Jimmy Chan/Pexels

12/11/2024

What's orange, and black, and seen all over North America?

The monarch butterfly is a tiny critter that unites a continent. Individual butterflies weighing less than a paperclip fly up to 3,000 miles over the course of two months as they migrate from breeding areas in Canada and the northern United States to central Mexico.

There, the oyamel fir forests in Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve provide an irreplaceable habitat niche for overwintering monarchs — with the right humidity and the temperature range to prevent the butterflies from drying out or freezing while they roost.

The Service has long supported work by partners in Mexico to protect forests in the monarch’s overwintering grounds to make sure these butterflies have a winter home to go to each year. Learn more here 🦋👉

In autumn, when leaves on trees across Canada and the United States begin to change color and fall to the ground, trees in rugged mountain forests in central Mexico change color too. But their orange coats don’t fade and fall. They cling on in clusters, sometimes bending the trees beneath their we...

12/06/2024

📢 New funding opportunity! 📢 Our Great Ape Conservation Fund has announced the FY25 funding opportunity for Africa: MENTOR-ApeHealth! We are seeking proposals for a program that will strengthen capacity within Central African ape range states to effectively address great ape and broader wildlife health security issues. Proposals are due February 4, 2025. More information, including how to apply, is at: https://ow.ly/VlmS50Umqef
🦍 Photo credit: Dirck Byler/USFWS

11/29/2024

Jaguars are big cats that face big challenges. They need to roam over areas to hunt and are particularly vulnerable to habitat loss and fragmentation. Jaguars are found in the United States and multiple countries throughout North America and South America.

Because the majority of the jaguar’s range is outside of the United States, collaboration with partners is key to conserving these cats.

On this International Jaguar Day, learn how we support jaguar conservation at home and abroad: https://ow.ly/q7Kb50UieaX

Trail camera video credit: Luis Paguada, Wildlife Conservation Society

11/03/2024

A win-win solution to deforestation, climate change, habitat loss, and community wellbeing doesn't exi-

Forestry concession programs in Mesoamerica, with support from our Central America Program, are taking a One Health approach by working with local communities to restore and sustainably use forests. In Guatemala, the deforestation rate in areas managed by local communities is close to zero (0.4 percent in 2022), proving the program's success in protecting forests, wildlife habitat, and invaluable ecosystem services like carbon sequestration.

👉 Learn more about forestry concessions in Mesoamerica's Five Great Forests here: https://ow.ly/Nwlg50Tn3Y9

11/02/2024

Happy National Bison Day and National Native American Month! We're pleased to share great news for the future of American bison conservation: a bison Letter of Intent was signed by the Trilateral Committee, a partnership among Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Conserving the American bison is important for its cultural, ecological, and economic significance. This LOI will strengthen collaborative efforts to conserve and restore American bison herds throughout North America, including facilitating the return of bison to Tribally owned and ancestral lands. Read more:

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Parks Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada and Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources recently signed a new agreement to strengthen cooperation and coordination for the conservation of the...

09/09/2024

📢 New funding opportunity! 📢 Our Central Africa Regional Program has announced the FY24 Bushmeat Funding Opportunity to address the threat of the unsustainable and illegal urban bushmeat trade of protected species and improve wild meat governance. Proposals are due November 18, 2024.

👉 Learn more at our website: https://ow.ly/boor50Tj5Be