Hunters kill an estimated 500 million birds as they migrate through the Mediterranean each year, a significant proportion of which are shot or trapped in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East that border the Mediterranean. Most are from species and populations that breed in Europe and winter in Africa and many of those killed are internationally threatened species or listed on Annex 1 of the European Union?s ?Birds Directive?. However, hunting is an important socio-economic activity in the region, particularly in rural areas, involving hundreds of thousands of people and hectares, and supporting a variety of groups and the interests of these groups must be considered if conservation measures to address the plight of migratory birds are to succeed. Management of bird hunting in the region is inadequate with often poor legal regulation and law enforcement, lack of resources and capacity among relevant government institutions and NGOs, poor public and hunter awareness of the impact of hunting, a lack of regional agreement on action to better protect migratory birds, and past conflicts between hunters and conservationists.