Environment Australia and Wetlands International have co-operated to produce a protocol for the colour-flagging of migratory shorebirds in the East Asian-Australasian flyway. Thirty-four regions have been identified as current or potential flagging areas, and allocated a specific combination of colours.  With four exceptions (for historical reasons) each region will flag with two flags, attached to the right leg, one on the tibia and one on the tarsus for small birds, and both on the tibia for large birds.  Metal bands will be attached to the left tarsus. Colours are given upper first, then lower.

The protocol also covers issues such as only using the flags for migratory studies, not using them in conjunction with colour bands, the establishment of national and flyway-wide registers of colour flagging projects, the use of email to communicate about studies, the development of programs to increase resightings of colour marked birds, and numerous other issues.

The region number, colour combinations and region name are:

Region No	Colour (upper / lower)	Region
1	blue / green	Alaska
2	yellow / black	Kamchatka Peninsular
3	yellow / white	Amur River region
4	blue	Northern Japan
5	blue / white	Central Japan
6	blue / orange	Southern Japan
7	white / orange	Korean Peninsular
8	blue / yellow	Dandong-Tangshan
9	green / orange	Yellow River delta
10	green / blue	Jiangsu
11	white / black	Shanghai-Zhejiang
12	white / blue	Taipei-Kaohsiung (Taiwan)
13	white / yellow	Guangdong
14	blue / black	Hainan-Guangxi
15	yellow / green	Vietnam
16	black / blue	North Philippines
17	black / white	South Philippines
18	black / green	Gulf of Thailand
19	black / yellow	Singapore, W Malaysia
20	orange / black	Bangladesh
21	black / orange	Java
22	green / white	Papua New Guinea
23	yellow / orange	Southwest Australia
24	yellow	Northwest Australia
25	yellow / blue	Darwin region
26	green / yellow	Gulf of Carpentaria
27	green / black	Central Qld Coast
28	green / green	Brisbane region
29	orange / green	New South Wales
30	orange	Victoria
31	orange / blue	Tasmania
32	orange / yellow	South Australia
33	white	North Island, NZ
34	white / green	South Island, NZ