What's
New @ Ramsar What's
New @ Ramsar
8 August 2000
Headline
story. Millennium Wetland
Event opens in Quebec, Canada.
The Millennium Wetland Event, featuring the annual meetings of the Society of
Wetland Scientists, INTECOL, the International Peat Society, and the International
Mire Conservation Group, got under way in Quebec City, Canada, on 6 August with
registration, setting up of the exhibits, and a cash bar with free potato chips
and cold cauliflower bits, followed by musical odds and ends over breakfast
in the plenary hall, Monday, 7 August, and keynote addresses by Eville
Gorham on priorities for wetland research in the coming era, Ramsar
Deputy Secretary General Nick Davidson on
linkages between wetland science and policy at international level, and Stephen
Lewis, former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, whose exceptional
speech on the challenges ahead was avidly discussed throughout the day. Dr
Davidson's keynote address to the first plenary session is available on this
Web site. [8/8/00]
Headline story. Sustainable management of urban wetlands. The Ramsar Convention assisted in s
upporting the within-Australia travel
costs of Dr Madhu Verma in her presentation of a paper on sustainable management of
wetlands, especially in India. The paper was entitled "Need for Holistic
Planning for Sustainable Management of Urban Wetland Ecosystems: A Case from India"
and was authored by Dr. Verma, Associate Professor, Indian Institute of Forest Management,
Bhopal, India, Ms. Nishita Bakshi, Senior Research Fellow, Environmental Economics, &
Ramesh P.K. Nair, Senior Research Fellow, Limnology, and it was presented at the International Symposium on Ecosystem Health at the Carlton Crest,
Brisbane, Australia, on 14 July 2000. The conference was organized by the
International Society for Ecosystem Health and its main theme was Transdisciplinary
Approaches. The subsession under which this paper was presented was the Economic Analysis
of Ecosystem Health. The paper attempted to study the changing needs of a growing city and
how unsustainable use of an urban wetland would lead to problems in the future. Health of
the ecosystem was related to the health of the city's population and cost and expenditures
in preventive and curative measures were also discussed in the paper. More information is
available from Dr Verma, madhuver@hotmail.com .
[8/8/00]
Who's where?
Monsieur Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, steadfastly attended by the Bureau's Tobias Salathe and Dwight Peck, is participating in the soi-disant Millennium Wetland Event in Quebec, Canada, 6-12 August 2000. The Secretary General is on a very welcome vacation in Spain, his first serious time off in the past 5 years; everyone else is fluttering all about the Bureau, bouncing on the edges of their chairs waiting for Europe's August holiday migration to get seriously under way. [8/8/00]
New
on the Site: Minutes
of the 9th meeting of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP);
Brief descriptions of Ramsar Small Grants Fund
project allocations for this year; Update
on overlapping designations between the Ramsar Convention and UNESCO's Man and
the Biosphere programme. [25/7/00]
Bangladesh
designates its 2nd Ramsar site.
Bangladesh has designated its 2nd Wetland of International Importance, effective 10 July,
to join the famous Sundarbans coastal mangrove forest on the Ramsar List. Here is a brief
description of the new site, drawn from the RIS and the covering letter by Syed Marghub
Murshed, Secretary of the Ministry of Environment and Forest.
Tanguar Haor is Bangladesh's most important freshwater wetland, extending over 9,500 ha in Sunamganj District in the northeastern part of the country; it lies in the floodplain of the Surma River, one of the main tributaries of the Brahmaputra at the base of the Meghalaya Hills in adjacent India. The area harbours some of the last vestiges of natural swamp forest and is totally flooded in the monsoon season, apart from artificial hillocks upon which homesteads are constructed. Tanguar Haor provides habitat for at least 135 fish and 208 bird species, including 92 waterbird species and 98 migratory bird species, and including 10 IUCN Red Book and 22 CITES listed species. About 30-40,000 migratory waterfowl converge on the area in the northern winter months, and rare species such as Pallas's Fish-eagle Haliaeetus leucorhyphus are relatively common and breed in the area. Tanguar Haor also supports a rich fishery and is regarded as one of the country's richest breeding grounds for freshwater fish. Threats include over-exploited fishery stocks and uncontrolled taking of waterfowl, and the local community has been denied access to the resources by leaseholders of the fishery, which has led to conflicts. Under the National Conservation Strategy Implementation Project-1, a first management plan was produced in 1997 and a new one is going into implementation in 2000, which is intended to restore access and use rights. Hunting of turtles, tortoises, and waterfowl is widespread and part of everyday life, and the way of life - living in homesteads built on mounds -- is said to be unique in this part of Bangladesh. The Ministry of Environment and Forest, at the time of designation, has requested that the site be placed on the Montreux Record as soon as that procedure can be completed. This is Ramsar's 1031st Wetland of International Importance. [27/7/00]
Bolivia
designates 3rd Ramsar site.
The Ramsar Bureau is pleased to announce that Bolivia has designated Cuenca
de Tajzara (5,500 hectares), effective 13 June 2000. Situated in the
endorrheic Tajzara basin, 45 kilometres west of the city of Tarija, at 3,700m
above sea level, the site consists of a group of seasonal, semi-permanent and
permanent lakes, high-altitude streams, marshes and high-Andean pastures. The
two permanent lakes (areas between 350 and 800 ha) serve as a refuge for 40
species of birds indigenous to the high-Andean aquatic systems, where about
90% of the high-Andean waterfowl in Bolivia is found. The area is important
for migratory shore birds, with year-round concentrations of the vulnerable
high-Andean waterfowl species Andean flamingo (Phoenicopterus andinus),
James's flamingo (P. jamesi), and Fulica cornuta. More than 30
archaeological sites have been identified near the lakes, ranging from vestiges
of primitive hunter-gatherers, pre-Incan hydraulic constructions, cave paintings
illustrating aquatic birds, and three Incan roads that lead from the basin to
the valley. The main economic activity is the raising of sheep, llamas and cattle;
agriculture is limited by the climate, though the families in the area have
an average of ½ to 1 hectare for subsistence crops. There is a visitors' centre,
a bird-observation site, information material, and facilities for school visits.
There are plans to draw up a management plan with the participation of the local
communities. The site forms part of the Reserva Biológica de la Cordillera de
Sama, which is managed by the Servicio Nacional de Areas Protegidas through
the NGO Protección del Medio Ambiente Tarija (PROMETA). [25/7/00]
Info Update. Ramsar
and coral. Here's a timely update on
the state of play via-á-vis coral reefs. In response to an inquiry from Eric Gilman, Jantien van Oord of Wetlands International, Scott
Frazier's colleague in the management of the Ramsar Sites Database, has provided us with
the latest info. Her message follows: -- To: egilman@lava.net
. Dear Mr Gilman, Thank you for your email. I've searched our Dbase on coral reef sites
and out of the 1030 Ramsar sites in the world (78,219,945 hectares), 22 sites hold coral.
Together these sites cover a total area of 3,969,526 hectares (NB this is site area total
only, we do not have information on the area covered by coral). In 9 of these 22 sites,
the coral is a primary wetland type. These 9 sites cover (again, site area total, NOT
coral area) 455,382 hectares. In the other 13 Ramsar sites, coral reefs are just occurring
within the site, but are not a primary wetland type.
For more information on the under represented wetland types, you can have a look at our website: http://www.wetlands.org/RSDB/default.htm. If you want more information on the terminology and the classification of wetland types, this link to the Ramsar website will be of use: http://www.ramsar.org/key_ris_index.htm.The figures I gave you above are also on our website. And you can view the distribution of the coral reef Ramsar sites in the map found at the URL above.
I hope this is helpful for you. Please don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions. Kind regards, Jantien van Oord
Announcement.
Ramsar Bureau seeks Intern
for Africa. The Ramsar
Bureau is seeking applications for the position of Intern/Assistant to the Regional
Coordinator for Africa. For this internship the applicants must be nationals
of countries on the African continent. The position requires a very high level
of English or French and an ability to work in the other language. Qualified
candidates from that region are encouraged to read the general
terms of reference for Ramsar Internships and apply by 15 September
2000, to begin on 15 January 2001. [24/7/00]
Le Bureau Ramsar recherche des candidats au poste de stagiaire / assistant(e) au Coordonnateur Régional pour l'Afrique. Les candidats seront ressortissant(e)s d'un pays africain. Le poste exige une maîtrise parfaite de l'anglais ou du français, ainsi que la capacité à travailler dans l'autre langue. Les candidats ressortissants de la région et dont le profil correspond à ces exigences sont invités à prendre connaissance du cahier des charges pour les stages Ramsar ( http://ramsar.org/about_internships.htm ) et à poser leur candidature d'ici au 15 septembre 2000 au plus tard, le stage débutant le 15 janvier 2001. La durée normale d'un stage est d'une année. Ayez l'obligeance de faire circuler cette annonce parmi vos connaissances.
New book. Dniester Delta wetlands are focus of new EPCEM report. The Dniester River is one of the main Eastern European
rivers. In its lower stream, known as the Dniester Delta, it forms extensive wetlands
along the northwestern coast of the Black Sea in Ukraine, and remains one of the most
intact wetland ecosystems in the Black Sea Region. The Dniester Delta Project Group 2000
in the Department of Environmental Sciences, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, has
published a 121-page report in English called Towards an integrated management
plan for the Dniester Delta Wetlands, and to obtain a copy, you should
contact the Department of Environmental Sciences at telephone +31 317 484812, fax +31 317
484839. [22/7/00]
Another
new book. Learn Japanese the
wetland way. Former Ramsar
Bureau member Dr Satoshi Kobayashi's
translation of the Ramsar book Economic Valuation of Wetlands,
by Barbier, Acreman, and Knowler (1997), has recently been published in Japanese
by the Kushiro International Wetland Centre (KIWC). Sit down with a mug of hot
spiced tea at your large rustic-style faux-oak diningroom table with the English
version (available from the Ramsar Bureau) by your left hand and your KIWC version
(inquire at kiwc@marimo.or.jp ) by your
right hand, and start learning Japanese now. All discrepancies to be reported
to Dr Kobayaski without delay. [20/7/00]
Recommended
Web site. Info and maps on many
Ramsar sites in the Russian Federation, with hopefully more to follow.
Look here -- http://www.geocities.com/siae.geo/ramsar/ramsar.html
WWT Wetland Centre in London. Maryann Bird (Time
Magazine Europe Edition, 10 July 2000) writes, "The Wild Side of
Town: Transformed into Europe's biggest urban wetland center, a derelict London site
quacks and buzzes with life, luring humans". The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT)
has successfully opened it 43-hectare Wetland Centre constructed out of four disused
19th-century reservoirs within 8km of downtown London. Time Magazine's Europe Edition
features an excellent article of news and background, citing Ramsar's definition of
wetlands and commitments made by Contracting Parties. The Web version of the article is
available at http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2000/0710/wetlands.html.
[18/7/00]
First
meeting of REReP Task Force. After
the Kosovo war, the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe was established,
guided by three steering groups (called ‘working tables’) on democratization
and human rights, security issues, and economic reconstruction, development
and cooperation. Amongst several activities of the latter figures the Regional
Environmental Reconstruction Programme for SE Europe (REReP). This
programme is guided by a Task Force consisting of the Ministries of Environment
of Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and the FYR
of Macedonia, including authorities of Montenegro and Kosovo, plus observers
from donor countries, international organizations, and NGOs. The Task Force
held its first meeting in Cavtat, Croatia, 6-7 July 2000 -- click
here for more background and an update, including Ramsar's role in the initiative.
[11/7/00]
New Intern slated for Europe. The Bureau is pleased to report that Inga
Racinska has been appointed to the post of Intern/Regional Assistant for Europe,
to succeed Alexander Belokurov of the Russian Federation, beginning in October 2000.
Presently pursuing an MSc degree at the University of Latvia with a thesis on
“Guidelines for elaboration of management plans for protected areas in Latvia”,
Ms Racinska also has a BSc in Biology from the same institution and is a graduate of the
International Course on Wetland Management (WATC, RIZA) in Lelystad, The Netherlands,
1999. She is presently serving as 'Director Assistant' in the Latvian Fund for Nature and
has had a good deal of experience with management planning for Latvian wetlands,
particularly the Lake Engure Ramsar site. She also has experience in organizing meetings
and seminars, including the 3rd Ramsar Pan-European regional meeting held in
Riga in 1998. She speaks Latvian, Russian, and English fluently. She will be working
closely with Ramsar’s Regional Coordinator for Europe, Dr. Tobias Salathé. The
Bureau staff looks forward to welcoming Ms Racinska to Switzerland in October. [10/7/00]
Moldova
becomes Ramsar's 122nd Contracting Party. The
Ramsar Bureau is delighted to announce that the Republic of Moldova deposited
its instrument of accession with the Director General of UNESCO on 20 June 2000,
and the Convention, as amended by the Protocol of 1982, will enter into force
for Moldova on 20 October 2000. The 122nd Contracting Party has designated
"Lower Prut Lakes" (19,152 hectares), in the southwestern
part of the country, as its first Ramsar site. You
and all your friends and relations can learn more right here. [français,
español] [6/7/00]
Society
for Wetland Scientists calls for Ramsar grant proposals.
Eric Gilman, on behalf of the International Committee of the
SWS - The Society of Wetland Scientists, has posted a call for new grant proposals
under the SWS Ramsar Support Framework. View
the announcement here, and apply by 1 November at the latest. SWS
members working on Ramsar-related issues are eligible to apply for grants of
US$5,000, plus any additional matching funds that may be forthcoming. [4/7/00]
More
to follow. Watch this space.
Feedback and suggestions to: the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney
28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail
). Updated
regularly by Dwight Peck, Ramsar Bureau.
Back
Issues of the Bulletin Board. Early in every month, the current edition
of the Bulletin Board is copied to the Ramsar
Archives page, and you can dig through the back issues there --
their contents are still indexed on the Global
Index page in perpetuity.
visitors
to this site since........ Wait . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . ?? Oooh, I
must have dropped it.
