This landmark trilateral revision — signed by the environment ministers of Canada, the United States, and Mexico — updates the original 1986 North American Waterfowl Management Plan after 25 years of on-the-ground success. It celebrates the protection and restoration of 15.7 million acres (63,000 km²) of wetlands, grasslands, and other key habitats while confronting new 21st-century realities: climate change, habitat loss, shifting land-use pressures, declining hunter participation, and the need for broader public engagement.

Core Highlights

Three Overarching Goals (the first time the Plan has explicitly included a “people” goal):

1. Abundant and resilient waterfowl populations to support hunting and other uses without imperiling habitat.
2. Wetlands and related habitats are sufficient to sustain waterfowl at desired levels while delivering recreation opportunities and vital ecological services (flood control, water quality, groundwater recharge, etc.).
3. Growing numbers of waterfowl hunters, other conservationists, and citizens who enjoy and actively support waterfowl and wetlands conservation.

Seven Strategic Recommendations that form the roadmap for the next decade:

1. Develop, revise, or reaffirm shared NAWMP objectives.
2. Integrate waterfowl management (population, habitat, and human dimensions).
3. Increase adaptive capacity and structured learning.
4. Build public support by reconnecting people with nature and communicating ecosystem benefits.
5. Establish a Human Dimensions Working Group.
6. Focus resources on the most important landscapes.
7. Adapt harvest management strategies to align with all three goals.

Foundational Elements

• Ten guiding Principles (updated for 2012), including the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation, adaptive management, and the central role of partnerships.
• National Overviews detailing each country’s unique contributions and commitments.
• Legacy and Context sections tracing the Plan’s evolution from the 1930s “Duck Stamp” era through the creation of Joint Ventures and Adaptive Harvest Management.
• Four detailed Appendices: interim population objectives, continentally significant landscapes, the 2010–2011 public consultation process, and acronyms.

This Plan shifted waterfowl conservation from a purely biological endeavor to an integrated social-ecological system. It serves as both a visionary blueprint and a practical call to action for agencies, Joint Ventures, NGOs, hunters, birders, and policymakers across North America.