Central Asian Great Bustard`s level of protection is increased by the Conservation of Migratory Species (CMS).  The CMS approves the Mongolian Government`s proposal for the inclusion of the global population of the Great Bustard (Otis tarda) on CMS Appendix I. The proposal of moving the great bustard from Appendix II to I was approved at the Eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) in Ecuador.

The Great Bustard is one of the world's heaviest flying birds. Its preferred habitat in Central Asia is farmed fields close to human settlements. The range of this magnificent species once stretched across the steppes of Eurasia from Manchuria to Portugal. Now the Great Bustard is endangered or extinct across much of that area. There is particular concern for the eastern subspecies of Great Bustard, of which only around two thousand individuals are estimated to remain in the southeastern Mongolia, Russia and eastern China. These remnant populations are declining, isolated, and suffer from a lack of genetic diversity.