What's
New @ Ramsar What's
New @ Ramsar
2 October 2000
Headline
story. The Standing Committee agenda papers beckon
to you! Despite all the
odds, the Bureau has succeeded in finalizing all 31 massive primary documents
(with their gazillion pages of semi-useful attachments) scheduled for the consideration
of the 25th meeting of the Standing Committee (23-27 October 2000,
Gland, Switzerland), many of which are interesting, or at least significant.
They will be sent in hardcopy by courier to all of the SC members and registered
observers tomorrow at first light, and they are already available on this Web
site.
The SC25 agenda papers include: the Secretary General’s report on all the progress the Convention has made over the past year [2]; update on "compliance" issues among the Parties and the increasing importance of Article 3.2 [3, 8]; lots on the Convention’s "synergies" with the CBD and other conventions and financial mechanisms [5, 6, 7, 29]; progress on indigenous people [9] and river basins [11]; proposals for place, dates, and agenda for the 8th Conference of the Contracting Parties in Spain in 2002 [14, 15]; beaucoup de financial stuff [21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28]; Small Grants Fund issues [24, 25]; location of the MedWet Coordination Function [30]; finding a new Secretary General in due course [31]; and best of all (if better were possible) the second draft of the evolving Strategic Plan for 2003-2008 [18]. You’ll also be delighted to find background papers by Dave Pritchard (on compliance [3] and on the draft Strategic Plan [18]), Faizal Parish (on river basins [11]), and the Environmental Law Center (on "urgent national interest" issues [8]). The index is at http://ramsar.org/key_sc25_docs_index.htm. [1/10/00]
Headline
story. The Nature Conservancy signs Memorandum
of Cooperation with Ramsar. The
mission of The Nature Conservancy is to preserve plants, animals and natural
communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the
lands and waters they need to survive. Founded in 1951, The Nature Conservancy
is said to be the world's leading private, international conservation group.
Its 1-million-plus members have helped to protect more than 11 million acres
of habitat in the United States and nearly 60 million acres in Canada, Latin
America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. It currently manages 1,340 preserves,
the largest system of private nature sanctuaries in the world. Its results-oriented,
nonconfrontational approach allows it to forge partnerships with landowners,
corporations, and governments. Its commitment to working with local people gives
it an on-the-ground presence in communities around the world. This
new Memorandum of Cooperation, completed on 26 September 2000 between
Delmar Blasco, our Secretary General,
and Alexander F. Watson, Vice-President
for International Conservation for TNC, marks a large step forward in Ramsar's
tradition of meaningful cooperation with leading non-governmental organizations
in achieving the wise use mission in the field. The
text of the MOU is a classic example of intelligent cooperation.
(The Nature Conservancy's Web site is at http://www.tnc.org.)
[29/9/00] [français et/y español]
Who's where?
Najam Khurshid, Regional Coordinator for Asia, has probably left Damascus, Syria, after taking part in a workshop on "Effective management of protected areas and Biosphere Reserves for the conservation of biodiversity", which is supported by the Ramsar Bureau, UNESCO, UNEP, and CEDARE, and should now be in Teheran, Islamic Republic of Iran, to attend stakeholder and Steering Committee meetings on the GEF project currently under way there through the efforts of Ramsar, UNDP, and Iranian officials. [26/9/00]
New
on the Site: Text of the new
Memo of Cooperation with The
Nature Conservancy; Ramsar Advisory Mission
18 (1990), reprint of the classic study of Pakistan's wetlands by Derek
Scott and Abdul Latif Rao. [30/9/00]
Sir Gerard Boere of The
Netherlands. Simon Nash of Wetlands
International reports: "On Wednesday 27 September 2000, in the Hague, The
Netherlands, Dr Gerard C Boere (left), long-time representative of The
Netherlands on the Ramsar Standing Committee, was knighted and becomes an Officier in de
Orde van Oranje Nassau, a title awarded to him by the State Secretary for Agriculture,
Nature Management and Fisheries on behalf of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. The State
Secretary stressed in her presentation the catalytic role Gerard Boere has played in the
development of international nature conservation, especially with regard to wetlands and
migratory waterbirds. As customary in the Netherlands the award is given to persons who
play an active role in society (outside of their professional capacity). Gerard has been
involved in the development of many key nature conservation organisations including SOVON,
WIWO and the Wader Study Group. He also has played an important role in strengthening
relations between Russian and Dutch biologists in exchange programmes." [30/9/00]
Ramsar in Pakistan is
now on the Net. In the context
of the Evian Project, financed by 
the
private-sector Danone Group, the Convention
has been able to finance the installation of Internet access for Ramsar's Administrative
Authority in Pakistan. Umeed Khalid reports that the National Council for
the Conservation of Wildlife (NCCW) in the Ministry of Environment, Local Government and
Rural Development has recently been able to establish Internet access, with the following
address for official correspondence: nccw@isb.paknet.com.pk
. This is the twelfth Contracting Party that the Convention has been able to assist in
bringing on-line by virtue of the Evian Project. [29/9/00]
Brief
report on the Ramsar Advisory Mission to the Ebro Delta. Following
a number of citizen and NGO notifications to the Bureau about problems in maintaining
the ecological character of the Ebro Delta Ramsar site, the Bureau, as required
by Article 3.2 of the Convention, made inquiries with the Administrative Authority
in Spain. Promptly the Spanish Ministry of Environment invited a Ramsar Advisory
Mission to the site, in coordination with the Department of Environment of the
region of Catalunya. Tobias Salathé of the Bureau, with experts
Patrick Dugan and María José Viñals as well as national
and regional authorities, applied the Ramsar Advisory procedure 18-22 September,
and Dr Salathé's report on the mission
is available here. The full report will be posted here after it's
been finalized. [26/9/00]
Exemplary
outreach device from Brazil. The
Ministry of Environment of Brazil, specifically the Protected Areas National
Program in the Secretariat of Biodiversity and Forests, has produced an extraordinarily
attractive maxi-brochure on Ramsar sites in Brazil. Entitled "Life begins
with water", the gracefully written text (available in both English and
Portuguese) folds out to show brief descriptions of the Convention, the wise
use principle, and Brazil's Ramsar role, with short factual blurbs on her seven
Ramsar sites -- then folds out again to a fine A3-size poster with a map and
photos showing the location and essential nature of all of those sites (this
illustration, photographed by Sasha Belokurov from its prominent display in
the Ramsar Bureau, doesn't do justice to the real thing).
Brazil has produced an especially elegant Ramsar-related outreach product that
should serve as an example and an inspiration to all of our other Contracting
Parties in their fulfilment of their Resolution VII.9 public-awareness obligations.
Update: the Portuguese copies are gone now,
write to dap@mma.gov.br instead, but we
still have English versions to give out to all deserving individuals.
[26-29/9/00]
GISP
Phase 1 Synthesis Conference now under way. Nick
Davidson, the Deputy Secretary General, is in Cape Town, South Africa,
17-24 September 2000, for a meeting of the Global
Invasive Species Programme (GISP) to review its completion of
Phase 1 work and consider its Phase 2 programme, and a CBD Liaison Group meeting,
in the context of the CBD/Ramsar Joint Work Plan, to consider the preparation
of materials for its upcoming SBBSTA meeting in 2001, which will be preparing
follow-up to CBD's interim guiding principles endorsed by CBD COP5. Invasives
will be a major topic for discussion at the next CBD COP in 2002, and IUCN’s
guidelines and and CBD's interim guiding principles will feature prominently
in the Ramsar STRP’s advice to our own COP8 in 2002. Here
is Nick's interim report on how the meeting is progressing from the Ramsar perspective.
[20/9/00]
Western
Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. Jim
Corven reports that the WHSRN Council gave final approval to the designation
of 4 new sites into the Network. At its regular meeting September 17 in Indianapolis,
Indiana, the Council formally endorsed the nominations of Elkhorn Slough (California),
Lake Erie Marshes (Ohio & Michigan), Laguna Madre (Texas & Mexico),
and Guerrero Negro (Mexico), and Nushagak Bay (Alaska) was confirmed, bringing
the total number of recognized shorebird reserves up to 46. The total area of
these sites brings over 120,000 acres (75,000 hectares) into the reserve system
and includes 22 partners who are committed to the conservation of these critical
wetland habitats. Here are
more details. [22/9/00]
Two Ramsar Advisory Missions now under way: Spain,
and Senegal/Mauritania. 1) Tobias
Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is leading a Ramsar
Advisory Mission to the Ebro Delta Ramsar Site in Spain, together with
Ramsar Experts María José Viñals (of Sehumed in València, a member of the MedWet
Coordination Team) and Patrick Dugan, and a number of Spanish (José Ramón Picatoste and
Magdalena Bernues of the Ministry of Environment) and Catalunyan (i.e. regional and local)
experts. 2) Anada Tiéga, Regional Coordinator for Africa, is
taking part in a multi-partner Ramsar Advisory Mission,
involving participation by Ramsar and the World Heritage Convention, as well as BirdLife
International, IUCN, Wetlands International and WWF International, to the Djoudj, Senegal, and
nearby Diawling, Mauritania, to assist with
the problem of invasive species at both of these sites. Brief trip reports will follow
soon, final RAM reports in some months' time. [18/9/00]
News
from the SGF. Small Grants Fund project
completed in the Slovak Republic.
Alexander Belokurov reports that the SGF project National wetlands inventory
and conservation in Slovakia (1998, 30,000 SFR) has been completed. The
Slovak National Wetlands Inventory project was started in 1991, but completion of the
inventory had faced a lack of funding from the governmental and non-governmental
organizations involved. Support from the Ramsar Small Grants Fund has been the important
source of funding which has enabled the finalization of a 9-year project conducted by more
than 260 specialists and volunteers. More than 2000 wetland sites were described, from
which 1606 were categorized - as wetlands of local (1050), regional (467), national (72)
and international (17) importance with their total surface area approximately 200,000 ha.
Data has been collected in the central database of the Slovak Union of Nature and
Landscape Protectors. The final bi-lingual (Slovak and English) publication was completed.
New Ramsar sites were identified and proposed for designation. [20/9/00]
World Wetlands Day falls on
Ramsar's Big 3-0. Wetland world - A world to
discover! is the motto of the
5th official World Wetlands Day, which just happens to coincide with the 30th anniversary
of the Convention on Wetlands. Delirious festivities are in the planning stage, and
practitioners in the field who wish to help out in the celebrations will be able to
acquire from the Bureau all sorts of odd little things -- brochures, mousepads (probably
in the shape of a frog), posters, stickers with evocative nature images on, poignant
speeches by the Secretary General, quotable blurbs for the local press, oh what not else!
As in recent years, Bureau staff will welcome news of your World Wetlands Day planning and
they vow to post it promptly on this Web site, so as to gather momentum and supply
inspiration to less-left-brain World Wetlands Day planning officials, and when at the end
of the day (2 February or early 3 February) it's all over, the Bureau will also welcome
reports of what actually happened, similarly for posting here.
To open the bidding, the Bureau has produced a very neat rather-green 2-ply A5 flyer on WWD 2001, designed by Saatchi and Saatchi (but mostly authored by the Secretary General), in English, French, and Spanish, available right now in any reasonable quantities from environmentalist Valerie Higgins (higgins@ramsar.org). The text of the flyer is also available here as of now, in English, French, and Spanish, in case anyone should want to quote the juicy bits in local media. And this is only the beginning. [15/9/00]
Wetland
restoration in Zám-puszta, Hortobágy National Park. Zám-puszta,
covering 2,800 hectares, is one of the most valuable stretches of the southern
grasslands of the Hortobágy National Park (80,000 ha), a Ramsar site and UNESCO
Biosphere Reserve that is also inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Upon learning from András Böhm in the Ministry of Environment
that celebrations were held on 6 September 2000 at Hortobágy to mark the completion
of a significant restoration project on part of the site, the Bureau requested
further background on the event and received
this brief report, written by Ms Szilvia Gori of the Park
Directorate, who is Hungary's National Focal Point for the Ramsar STRP. The
project in Zám-puszta was carried out with the support of the Dutch Ministry
of Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Fisheries and the Dutch Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and was organized by Wetlands International - Africa, Europe,
Middle East. [14/9/00]
Another
tearful parting. Petra
Holtrup is leaving the Bureau, sadly, after a very fruitful
two months' summer internship. Dr Holtrup received her PhD
from the University of Bonn (Germany) in the international relations of environmental
policy, specializing in the design of effective international environmental
agreements. Following a posting in the USA to study decision-making in environmental
policy, especially in Germany and the USA, she came to the Bureau for summer
2000 and completed a study, begun by former interns Maryse Mahy
and Anett Zellei, of National Wetland Policies and related
instruments, and National Ramsar/Wetland Committees, amongst the European Contracting
Parties. Her report, including analysis and a great many trenchant recommendations,
will be used as a basic working document for the Ramsar European Regional Meeting
slated for Slovenia in October 2001, but will be available on this Web site
long before that time. Petra is now taking up a posting with the German Council
on Foreign Relations in Berlin, but in October and November will be representing
the German Foreign Ministry and the OSCE as an election observer in Bosnia and
Kosovo. The staff of the Ramsar Bureau are very happy to have worked alongside
Dr Holtrup and wish her the best success in her future career (especially the
part about Kosovo!). [14/9/00]
Ramsar
mission to Georgia and Armenia. The
international workshop on Wetlands Conservation in the Caucasus, organized by
the Georgian Centre for the Conservation of Wildlife and
the Caucasus Environmental NGO Network with financial support from the USAID,
was
held in early September in Kobuleti, Georgia. Some 25 representatives from Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and Georgia, USAID, UNDP, BirdLife International, Wetlands International,
and the Ramsar Bureau gathered to discuss wetland conservation and water management,
Ramsar implementation, and regional cooperation. From that meeting, Ramsar's
Tobias Salathé traveled to Armenia to view present and potential
Ramsar sites and hold discussions with the Administrative Authority in that
country. More detail on both can be
found in this brief trip report. [13/9/00]
The UK names its 156th Ramsar
site! Continuing its excellent
tradition of protecting everything that's not nailed down (i.e., 15.07% of the total
number of Ramsar sites, and 0.009% of the Convention's total surface area), the
United Kingdom has designated its 156th
Ramsar site, also named as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special
Protection Area under the EC Habitats Directive. The Inner
Clyde Estuary Ramsar site (1826 ha, effective 5/9/00) is a long narrow,
heavily industrialized estuary near Glasgow on the west coast of Scotland,
consisting mostly of tidal mudflat with a shoreline of unmanaged semi-natural coastal
vegetation; saltmarsh is also present. In winter, the site supports internationally
important numbers of redshank Tringa totanus. Sport fishing and hunting, in
addition to navigation, are practiced in the area. Dredging and pollution from domestic
sewage and oil are considered to be adverse factors, but monitoring is intended and
long-term improvements in water quality are expected. This is the UK’s 156th
Ramsar site and the Convention’s 1035th. [12/9/00]
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment releases project summary. "The Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment is a four-year [US$20 million] process designed to
improve the management of the world's natural and managed ecosystems by helping to meet
the needs of decision-makers and the public for peer-reviewed, policy-relevant scientific
information on the condition of ecosystems, consequences of ecosystem change, and options
for reponse." Similar in many ways to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change) in scope and organization, the project is sponsored by the Global Environment
Facility, the United Nations Foundation, and the World Bank, with significant support from
UNDP, UNEP, US AID, and many other governments and foundations. UNEP, WCMC, and the World
Resources Institute, amongst others, are contributing parts of the "distributed
secretariat", and the project has been described as intended to provide "a joint
assessment process to meet specified information needs of the Convention on Biological
Diversity, the Convention to Combat Desertification, and the Ramsar Convention on
Wetlands". The official Project
Summary in English has been reprinted on this Web site, and the Ramsar Bureau
has agreed to undertake its translation into French and Spanish. [12/9/00]
Workshop set for Western China in June 2001. An
International Workshop on Conservation and Wise Use will be conducted in Korla
City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous region of China next June in order to exchange
and summarize experiences and study results. The organizers of this workshop
are Wetlands International (China, Oceania and Asia-Pacific), the Forestry Department
of Xinjiang and the Government of Bayangol Prefecture of Xinjiang, and associated
with Global Environment Network. Here
is the text of announcement, with some photos of study sites to
be visited, sent to us by Li Lukang, WI-China. [12/9/00]
Joint
Advisory Mission to Ichkeul, Tunisia. The
report of the Joint Advisory Mission, 28 February - 4 March 2000, to
Ichkeul National Park in Tunisia is now available on this Web site,
in French and English versions.A good example of inter-agency cooperation, the
mission was conducted by the World Heritage Convention,
the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands,
and IUCN-the World Conservation Union,
with additional support from Eurosite,
and the report provides a survey of problems, recent conservation efforts, and
recommendations for urgent future actions at one of the world's most important
wetlands for migratory birds, already listed on the list of World Heritage in
Danger and the Ramsar Convention's Montreux Record. View this
report in English or French
here. [9/9/00]
USA's
Okefenokee Swamp Ramsar site still under threat. In
March 1999, this Web site reported promising
developments in settling environmental disputes over the DuPont company's
planned strip mining adjacent to the Okefenokee Swamp protected area in the
state of Georgia, USA. Disappointingly, that arrangement seems now to be on
the verge of unraveling, according to a new report from the US Fish and Wildlife
Service. Here is the US FWS news
release. [8/9/00]
Honduras
responds to threats to 1000th Ramsar site. Responding
to information supplied by non-governmental organizations and concerned citizens
about threats to the Ramsar site called "Sistema
de Humedales de la Zona Sur de Honduras" (Ramsar site no.
1000), Mr Delmar Blasco, Secretary General of the Convention
on Wetlands, acting within the context of Article
3.2 of the Convention requiring informing the secretariat of
threats to Ramsar-Listed wetlands, sought clarification from the Administrative
Authority in Honduras, and received a very satisfactory reply from the Secretary
of Natural Resources and the Environment of Honduras, Ms. Xiomara Gómez
de Caballero. You can
view it here. [7/9/00]
Wetlands
International announces new staff secondment. Wetlands
International is pleased to announce that from 1 September 2000, Dr. Gerard
C. Boere from the Division of International Affairs of the Netherlands
Ministry for Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries, started his three
year secondment with the ICU as International Programme Co-ordinator (please
don't fret that they still spell Coordinator with an -, as if we were all stuck
knee-deep in the British Civil Service in northern and northwestern India in
1895-98). Here's the official announcement.
[7/9/00]
Announcement. Superb
new book on wetlands hydrology. MedWet
and the Tour du Valat have produced a brilliant new book, no. 10 in the well-known Conservation
of Mediterranean Wetlands series, edited by Jamie Skinner and A.J. Crivelli.
Written by Mike Acreman of the Institute of
Hydrology in Oxford (co-author of Ramsar's Economic Valuation of Wetlands,
1997), this glossy and very well-illustrated A4 109-page volume covers questions of water
cycle, management, hydrological modeling, flooding, groundwater, and water needs for
wetlands. English and French editions are available, and we've been told that the Station
Biologique de la Tour du Valat has a certain number of copies available for
distribution. [7/9/00]
Announcement
bis. BirdLife International
seeks Project Development Officer for Europe.
Peruse the announcement in the privacy of your own home. [since
removed] [7/9/00]
Wetlands
International names International Director.
Chris Kalden, President of Wetlands International, has announced
that Simon Nash has been named
as the new International Director, replacing Ms Robin Schaap
who recently completed her successful tenure as head of the International Coordination
Unit based in The Netherlands. Mr Nash is presently Head of Operations for Wetlands
International - Africa, Europe, Middle East and has also been serving as interim
director of Wetlands International - Americas through its transition period.
He joined one of the Wetlands International precursor organizations, the International
Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau, in Slimbridge, UK, in 1989. The press
release can be viewed at http://www.wetlands.agro.nl/wetlands_ICU/news/director.htm
[obsolete address]. [6/9/00]
World
Commission on Dams reports on wetlands work.
Dams: Official Newsletter of the World Commission
on Dams, No. 7 (August 2000) reports on the "ripple
effect" of the WCD's work over several countries and thematic areas, and
includes a brief report on its work with wetlands. Here
is a reprint of that section of the report. [6/9/00]
Lake
Chad Basin Commission update. The
Presidents of Chad, Niger, and Nigeria, and high-level representatives of the
Presidents of Cameroon and the Central Africa Republic met 28 July 2000 in N'Djamena
for the 10th summit meeting of the Lake Chad Basin Commission,
with the President of Sudan participating as an observer, and took a long step
forward in ensuring a sustainable future for Lake Chad and its large catchment.
SFR 40,000 grants have recently been awarded or are planned for each of the
Commission Member States by the World Wide Fund for Nature's (WWF) Living
Waters Campaign to assist in the designation of related Ramsar sites
in each of them, and a Global Environment Facility (GEF) project
has been approved specifically for Ramsar designation and an appropriate management
plan for Lake Chad and its basin. The LCBC Heads of State agreed a Final Communique
welcoming the Ramsar, WWF, and GEF initiatives, calling for further donor support,
and stating their intention to designate all of Lake Chad as a transboundary
Ramsar site as soon as the relevant studies can be completed. Here
is our reprint of the Final Communique in English and French.
[4/9/00]
New Ramsar Intern appointed for
Asia. The Ramsar Bureau is pleased
to announce that Satiraporn Sirisampan from Thailand has been appointed
to the position of Ramsar Intern and Assistant to the Regional Coordinator for Asia,
replacing Taeko Takahashi of Japan, who completes her one-year tenure in
the post on 28 November. Ms Sirisampan is 25 years old and has a B.Sc. in Forestry (Major:
Watershed Management) from Kasetsart University, Thailand, and a M.Sc. (Major:
Hydrological Processes) from Nagoya University, Japan (with a scholarship from the UNESCO
International Hydrological Program). She is currently working as an Environmental
Assistant at the Asia-Europe Environmental Technology Centre in Bangkok. Ms Sirisampan,
who prefers to be known by her nickname "Tug", will take up her duties in
mid-November 2000. [29/8/00]
Tracts
acquired for USA Ramsar site.
Ducks Unlimited is taking a lead role in the acquisition and restoration of
two tracts of land, including Raft Creek, 4,165 acres, which is part of the
White River ecosystem, and the Hatchiecoon tract, consisting of 900 acres, both
included within the Cache-Lower White Rivers Ramsar site (81,376 hectares, designated
November 1989) in the midwestern state of Arkansas, USA. The two tracts support
one of the largest concentrations of wintering waterfowl in Arkansas. Other
partners in this public-private cooperative initiative include the Arkansas
Game and Fish Commission, the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS),
the National Wild Turkey Federation, and numerous private donors. More
detail is available in this announcement to the Ramsar Forum. [31/8/00]
The
United Kingdom designates four new Ramsar sites.
The UK has named four new Wetlands of International Importance, bringing the
UK's total number of Ramsar sites to 155: Black Bog (183 hectares),
Northern Ireland, one of the two largest intact active bogs in Northern Ireland
with hummock and hollow pool complexes; it represents one of the best examples
of this habitat type in the UK. Fairy Water Bogs (224 ha),
Northern Ireland, an area of particular interest because it is considered to
comprise the most important concentration of lowland raised bogs in Northern
Ireland. As other bog complexes in Northern Ireland have suffered much more
severe exploitation, the overall extent of intact bog make this complex unique.
Slieve Beagh (1885 ha), Northern Ireland, a large and relatively
intact example of a blanket bog and one of the best examples of this habitat
in the UK. It also contains nationally important examples of transitional and
alkaline fen and oligotrophic/mesotrophic lakes. Firth of Tay and Eden
Estuary (6923 ha), Scotland, a complex of estuarine and coastal habitats
in eastern Scotland. The site includes extensive invertebrate-rich intertidal
mudflats and sandflats created by the massive sediment load deposited by the
River Tay. Also present are large areas of reedbed and sand-dune and a small
amount of saltmarsh. The site supports an internationally important populations
of several species of wintering waterfowl. [25/8/00] [français
et/y español]
US
National Ramsar Committee announces small grants programme. The
US National Ramsar Committee, composed of leading non-governmental organizations
concerned with wetland conservation and wise use, has announced a new Small
Grants Program to assist wetlands conservation and awareness at and adjacent
to U.S. Ramsar sites. The
announcement can be read on this Web site. [23/8/00]
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.