What's New @ Ramsar What's New @ Ramsar
2 June 2001
Headline
story. Wetlands
International and The Netherlands collaborate on innovative programme for wetlands.
To explore a new way of
working with its development assistance partners, the Netherlands Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, through its Directoraat-Generaal Internationale Samenwerking
(DGIS), has concluded an agreement with Wetlands International over
cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands. DGIS is providing
Euro 2.2 million (US$ 2 million) to Wetlands International for an initial period
from 1 April 2001 to 30 June 2002 inclusive, for delivery of a Programme
on Conservation and Wise Use of Wetlands. Beneficiaries of the
fund will include DGIS target countries and neighbouring countries sharing a
common resource, such as water catchments or fisheries. The programme also gives
direct support to eligible International Conventions and Agreements including:
Ramsar / Wetlands International Joint Work Plan, Ramsar / CBD Joint Work Plan,
CBD/Ramsar River Basin Initiative, Ramsar Training and Advisory Service, World
Commission on Dams Report and follow up actions, Work Plans with other relevant
conventions (e.g. under preparation, notably CMS – the Bonn Convention
on migratory species and their habitats). Here're
some more details on this very welcome programme. [02/06/01]
Headline
story. Ramsar
opening for Intern for Asia.
The Ramsar Bureau welcomes applications for the position of Intern
for the Asian Region / Assistant to the Regional Coordinator for Asia,
a one-year posting (possibly extendable to 18 months) to begin 5 November 2001.
With an age limit for applicants of 30 years old, the post offers an opportunity
for young graduates to become acquainted with the workings of an intergovernmental
treaty dealing with the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources.
Candidates for this internship should be nationals of countries in Asia and
have lived most of their lives in the region. Full ability to work in English
is required for this post, while a practical knowledge of French would be an
asset -- the ability to communicate in at least one Asian language would also
be of value. Candidates should view the General
Terms of Reference for Ramsar internships (also available from
the Bureau), which includes conditions of service and salary structure, and
send a curriculum vitae with a covering letter, both in English, with two letters
of reference, to the Bureau’s Administration Coordinator, Ms Annette Keller,
keller@ramsar.org . The deadline
for applications is 30 June 2001. [01/06/01]
Headline
story. WWF-Auen-Institut
publishes atlas of the Oder.
The Floodplains Institute of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-Auen-Institut)
in Rastatt (a small German town in the floodplain of the Upper Rhine) has published
a stunning, A3-sized, 3 kg-heavy atlas of the entire Oder/Odra floodplain from
the Czech Republic downstream through Poland and Germany to the Baltic Sea.
Background and description are
available here. [01/06/01]
Headline
story.
Invitation to wetlands public awareness list-serve.
The Ramsar Convention Bureau is hosting a new e-mail discussion group for the
public dedicated to wetland- and Ramsar-related “Communications, Education,
and Public Awareness” (CEPA) techniques and activities. Part of a wider
Internet-based outreach programme called for by the 7th meeting of the Conference
of the Parties, the CEPA list is a companion to the mini-Web site at http://ramsar.org/outreach_index.htm
and is offered as separate groups for English, French, and Spanish speakers.
The purpose of the CEPA List is “to provide a mechanism for the exchange
of news, views, announcements, information and advice on CEPA-related issues
between any of the List's subscribers and all the others”. Appropriate
subjects for posting on the CEPA List include anything which might be of interest
to citizens, schoolteachers, NGOs, Ramsar CEPA Focal Points, Ramsar Administrative
Authorities as well as other government personnel who are interested in the
development and evolution of communication, education and public awareness as
a tool for the conservation and wise use of wetlands in general, and more specifically,
for implementing the Convention on Wetlands.
Interested readers can join the Ramsar CEPA list by sending a blank e-mail message to ramsar-cepa-eng-join@indaba.iucn.org, or to ramsar-cepa-esp-join@indaba.iucn.org for the Spanish and ramsar-cepa-franc-join@indaba.iucn.org for the French versions. [30/05/01]
Who's where?
Anada Tiéga, Regional Coordinator for Africa, is in Botswana, in Maun and at the Okavango Delta for a donors meeting on implementation of the Okavango Management Plan. More detail about objectives and participants are available here. [28/05/01]
Who was where? Cumulated record of travels throughout the year.
New
on the Site:
Historians, to your marks! DOC. C.4.18,
the review of National Reports and review of implementation of the Convention,
prepared by Mike Smart for the 4th meeting of the Conference of the Parties
in Montreux, 1990, is now available. [25/05/01]
Friends
of the Earth Galicia plans Youth conference before COP8.
Viktória Tóth, an EVS volunteer
from Hungary, and Carlos-Luis Pérez Aguirre,
both of Friends of the Earth Galicia
in Ourense, Spain, have announced plans to host a Ramsar COP8 pre-conference
event for youth groups (under 26 years), to be held in Ourense. Here
is their brief announcement in English, français, español, and deutsch.
Please pass this on to any of your young associates who might be interested
and ask them to direct their inquiries to Ms Tóth at informacion.centroiris@tierra.org.
(While the Bureau avidly welcomes
and encourages efforts of this kind, it is not a formal sponsor of this event.)
[29/05/01]
MedWet/Com4
meets in Sesimbra. The
4th meeting of the Committee of the Mediterranean Wetland Initiative
(MedWet) has just taken place in Sesimbra, Portugal, 21-23 May 2001. The meeting,
attended by over 60 members of the Committee and observers from throughout the
Mediterranean Basin, was splendidly organised and hosted by the Instituto
da Conservaçâo da Natureza (ICN), Portugal, at the Hotel do
Mar, Sesmibra, a fishing village south of Lisbon. Formal reports will appear
here later, but here is
a preliminary report of the themes discussed in plenary, MedWet
Inventory workshop, and the technical session on Mediterranean salinas. [28/05/01]
World
Wetlands Day 2002 - The cultural heritage of wetlands: A call for contributions.
To add momentum to preparations for the
8th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (Valencia, Spain, 2002), the theme
of which will be "Wetlands: water, life,
and culture", the suggested theme for next year's World
Wetlands Day will be the same.
The Ramsar Bureau would warmly welcome examples of the cultural values of particular
wetlands around the world, preferably with good photographs, for potential use
in some of the items we are developing for WWD and for reprinting with acknowledgement
on the Ramsar Web site. Materials of all sorts, from case studies to photographs
to artwork to music, will help to enrich our coverage of this vital part of
the experience of wetlands. Read a bit more background here (English,
français, español)
and then contact Dr. Sandra Hails, hails@ramsar.org,
with any suggestions you might have. [23/05/01]
Update
on Ramsar and the Rio+10 process.
The World Summit on Sustainable Development
(WSSD), so far known as the "Rio+10" Summit, will be held in Johannesburg,
South Africa, 2-11 September 2002. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development,
established as the mechanism to implement Agenda 21 at the UN level, is acting
as the Preparatory Committee for the Summit. Ramsar was represented at the the
first Prep Com meeting in New York on 30 April-2 May by the Secretary General,
Mr Delmar Blasco. Here
the SG provides a succinct outline of the Rio+10 process and the
issues involved, especially from the Ramsar point of view, and invites input
from the Ramsar family to the process. [français,
español] [18/05/01]
River Basin Initiative 'design
workshop' advances the cause. The
RBI is a joint Ramsar-CBD initiative under the Joint Work Plan and is the major tangible
demonstration of how such plans can and should be operationalised. The Design Workshop, held in Wageningen, 14-16 May,
involved both international partner organizations (including Ramsar IOPs and other NGOs,
global biodiversity and water resource management organizations, and multilateral and
bilateral donors) and, through Netherlands Government resourcing to Wetlands
International, a number of country representatives. The workshop reviewed and advanced the
present design of the Initiative, particularly in relation to the preparation of a project
submission to UNDP-GEF (part funding for the workshop came through a PDF-A grant from UNDP
to develop the work). Dr Nick Davidson,
Ramsar's representative to the meeting, says that "the partnership approach of the
Initiative is already yielding significant opportunities for working together to better
mainstream wetlands and biodiversity issues into water resource management, to provide a
'clearing-house' of information exchange on wetlands, biodiversity and river basin
management, and develop analyses and reporting to contribute to better information and
understanding of these issues as guidance for Ramsar Parties, CBD through its inland
waters programme of work, other environmental conventions and partner organizations."
[18/05/01]
Note for the record. Canada
extends Mer Bleue site. The
Government of Canada has extended the "Mer Bleue Conservation Area" Ramsar site
in Ontario province, first designated in 1995, from 3,100 to 3,343 hectares. [17/05/01]
Pakistan
designates eight new Ramsar sites.
The Ramsar Bureau is delighted to announce the Government of Pakistan’s
designation of eight new Wetlands of International Importance, with a total
of 222,246 hectares, bringing that Party’s total number of Ramsar sites
to 16. The new sites include an extensive mangrove forest extending along Gawater
Bay on the Arabian Sea to the Iranian border, and contiguous with Iran’s
Govater Bay and Hur-e-Bahu Ramsar site; an uninhabited island off the coast
(left), as well as other sandy beach coastal sites,
which are important for endangered Olive Ridley and Green turtles; a 170-km
stretch of the Indus River that is vital for the survival of the once-common
Indus dolphin; and much more. IUCN-Pakistan and WWF-Pakistan have both been
very active, not only in biodiversity studies and management planning for these
areas, but also in technical preparations for these Ramsar designations. View
brief descriptions, with photos and some very interesting details, right here.
[14/05/01]
Water
and Wetland Index launched.
For those who may have missed it, on 19 April WWF's
European Freshwater Programme launched its Water and Wetland
Index, a pan-European initiative assessing the status, pressures and management
of key freshwater ecosystems (rivers, lakes, wetlands) as well as national policy
action on freshwater issues. During the first phase 16 European European countries
have been assessed. Here is a
reprint of the launch press release, and the Index's site can be
visited at http://www.panda.org/europe/freshwater/wwi/phase1/overview.html
Cuba
joins the Ramsar Convention.
The Ramsar Bureau is extremely pleased to be able to report that on 12 April
2001 Cuba completed the formalities necessary for its accession to the Convention
on Wetlands, as amended by the Paris Protocol of 1982, and thus the Convention
will come into force for Cuba on 12 August 2001. Cuba’s first Wetland of
International Importance is the very large Ciénaga de Zapata
(452,000 ha) in Matanzas province, encompassing the Bay of Pigs and the inland
and coastal regions on either side. The site is already a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve
(January 2000) and includes a National Park and five other protected areas.
The largest and best-preserved wetland in the Caribbean, the site is outstanding
for the diversity of its bird species, especially migratory birds, and for the
presence of threatened endemic species. Part of a large karst watershed, the
site includes a very large variety of wetland types, including subterranean
karst hydrological systems. The enormous resources of its rivers, lakes, marshes
and pools, swamp forests, intertidal flats and estuarine waters, as well as
a number of humanmade wetland types, are vitally important for the human communities
both within the site and in its vicinity – within the site, some 19 communities,
with a total of about 10,000 persons, make their livelihood chiefly by forestry,
tourism, and fishing. The site has extraordinary cultural values for Cuban and
Caribbean heritage, because of its important archaeological sites of ancient
pre-agricultural communities as well as the customs and traditions of the present
population and their traditional use of natural resources. [français
et/y español]
Cuba’s welcome accession brings the status of the Convention to 124 Contracting Parties, with 1061 Wetlands of International Importance, with a surface area of 81,030,818 hectares. [07/05/01]
News
from the 'Swiss Grant for Africa'.
It's a little known secret that, since the establishment of the Ramsar secretariat
in Switzerland in 1988/9, the Federal Government of Switzerland has been making
available to the Bureau a voluntary contribution of more than 100,000 Swiss
francs per year, in addition to its regular contribution to the Convention's
core budget, earmarked to support the implementation of the Convention in Africa.
Summary annual reports on the use of these funds seem regularly to have been
made to the Swiss Government, but for some reason they have never been brought
before the public -- which is a pity, because taken together they contain a
wealth of information about the progress of wetland conservation and wise use
in that continent. In an effort to remedy this oversight, the Bureau has established
an index page for Swiss Grant
annual reports and begun populating it, so far with reports on
funded projects in 1998 and 1999. Watch for more annual reports and occasional
news items into the bargain. [03/05/01]
Management
Plans being prepared for Ramsar sites Santay and Abras de Mantequilla in Ecuador.
Municipal authorities,
governmental authorities, ecological group Comité Ecológico del Litoral, community
members, and representatives from local University's Schools of ecology, sociology
and tourism have been meeting for several months to analyze actions and mechanisms
for the management of these internationally important ecological sites. According
to Olga Quevedo, director of the environmental management division of Ecuador's
Ministry of the Environment, long-term and short-term projects on different
topics are being discussed and participation of all stakeholders is a major
feature in the elaboration of these Wetland Management Plans. For more information
contact José Delgado (jose.delgado@ecuador.com).
-- reported by Marco Flores.
[06/05/01] [Version en español]
Staff
notes. Cultural
heritage of wetlands staff.
Catalan culinary culture gained new respect and, indeed, enthusiastic support
from Bureau staff on 28 April 2001, as Montse Riera prepared an enormous spread
at Paulette Kennedy's house in Signy, Switzerland, and the secretariat personnel
and their collaborators kept eating until finally they had to be driven off
with quirts. Here are some
photos: see how many people you can name (no points for the dog).
[02/05/01]
Available
now. Agenda
papers and pre-meeting documentation for the 4th European regional
meeting on the Ramsar Convention. Beginning now, and progressing in the coming
months. [01/05/01]
News
from the SGF. Russia reports
on Kamchatka project. The
Ramsar Small Grants Fund project "Development of a monitoring programme
and draft management plans for the Ramsar sites located on the Kamchatka Peninsula"
(1998) has been successfully accomplished, providing management plans and
ensuring improved protection of four Ramsar sites in Russia. The management
plans have been elaborated according to the Ramsar guidelines for management
planning and contain the information about the state of biological diversity
and nature resource users for Ramsar sites Parapolsky Dol, Moroshechnaya River,
Utkholok Cape and Karaginsky Island. An inventory of the wetlands and evaluation
of natural resources was carried out, and an economic valuation of the natural
values of the area provide the following figures (in USD) - the estimated cost
of vertebrate animals alone in Parapolsky Dol Ramsar site is 21.0 million, Moroshechnaya
River - 37.5, Utkholok Cape is 27.5 million USD and estimate reaches 60 million
USD in the Karaginsky Island Ramsar site. The official protection status of
the sites was enhanced when documents regulating economic activity in the sites
and their protection, as well as determining the site boundaries and area, were
prepared and approved by the Administration of the Koryak Autonomous Area as
a result of the project. The project was supervised by Prof. Vitaly
G. Krivenko of the Research Institute for Nature Conservation
(a Ramsar Award winner in 1999) and implemented by the Centre of International
Projects of the State Committee on Ecology of Russia and the Centre of Study
of Eurasian Migratory Animals. See
a bit more here. (reported by Inga Racinska, Ramsar). [02/05/01]
Living
Water info pack available.
The WWF’s Living Waters Campaign is making available a superb info pack
as a "WWF response to the global freshwater crisis". Eminently useful
for anglophone educators and public awareness officers everywhere, the pack
begins with a main brochure that outlines the essential need for fresh water
and the scope of the impending crisis in freshwater availability ("By the
year 2025, two-thirds of the world’s population could experience water
shortages"!) and then focuses on the river basin (or catchment) approach
to integrated freshwater management. Several ways forward are alluded to briefly,
including the Ramsar Convention’s contribution to conservation and wise
use at international level. Also included in the pack are richly informative
pamphlets on five key river basins: ‘The River Niger, river of rivers’;
‘The Vistula River, an aging queen’; ‘The Orinoco River, a South
American jewel’; ‘The Yangtze River, taming the dragon’; and
‘The Mekong River, an unknown and threatened kingdom’, all of them
including maps, stats, thumbnail photos, and literary quotations, and explanatory
text. No wetlands educator should be caught without this new info pack, which
can be sought free of charge from Amalia Romeo of WWF International
in Gland, Switzerland, aromeo@wwfint.org.
See a few photos here.
[30/04/01]
Added
value feature. M.
Tiéga sinks in Niger.
Devoted members of the Anada Fan Club
will be delighted to learn that, thanks to Mr
Denis Landenbergue of WWF's Living Waters Campaign, the Bureau
is able to supply poignant photos of the Regional Coordinator for Africa steeling
himself in a creaky boat [left] for sinking deep into
a proposed Ramsar site in Niger, and then celebrating his narrow escape afterwards.
Prepare yourself.
[26/04/01]
Wetlands
International's review for 2000 now available. In just 16 colorful pages, Wetlands International's International Coordination
Unit has summarized the present state of play throughout the organization, with its
accomplishments for the past year. The new pamphlet summarizes global programmes,
including work with Ramsar, CMS, and CBD, then proceeds to descriptions of progress in
Europe (particularly with the Russia and Black Sea Programmes, the Central European and
Upper Tisza Projects, and the GEF Lower Volga Management Project), in Africa, in Asia (and
in particular the programmes based in China, Indonesia, the Lower Mekong Basin, Malaysia,
and South Asia), in Oceania, and in the Americas. The work of the 21 Specialist Groups is
also described, and lists of member countries and sponsoring organizations are included.
This extremely useful publication is available free of charge from icu@wetlands.agro.nl. [30/04/01]
Update
on the Participatory Management Clearinghouse.
The Participatory Management Networking Service, a joint service of IUCN, the
Ramsar Bureau, and WWF, managed by the IUCN Social Policy Group, has changed
its name to the Participatory Management Clearinghouse,
and has made a great deal of progress in assembling abstracts and references
for published materials sorted into the categories: Collaborative Management,
Indigenous Peoples Management, and Community-based Management, cross-referenced
by regional emphases and cross-cutting themes. The Internet-based resource project
was endorsed by Ramsar Standing Committee Decision SC25-8 and continues to make
progress. View the latest state of things at http://iucn.org/themes/pmns/.
[27/04/01]
News
from the UK: new Ramsar policy statement for Wales.
Following on from the UK Government's policy statement on Ramsar sites in England,
issued on 14 November 2000 (reprinted
here), Ms Sue Essex, Minister for
the Environment, took the occasion of World Wetlands Day 2001
to issue the National Assembly for Wales' policy statement for Ramsar sites
in Wales. Like its precursor, the statement lays out the present policy and
legal situation of Ramsar sites and their relation to Natura 2000 sites and
Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), and it describes the government's
expectations in terms of management and development decision-making at all levels
concerning Ramsar wetlands, including multi-sectoral consultation. In general,
the policy accords Ramsar sites the same protections found in the EC Birds and
Habitats Directives; amongst other interesting features, the policy supplies
guidance on such key Ramsar issues as Article 2.5 on "urgent national interest"
and Article 4.2 on compensation. The policy statement for Wales has been reprinted
here, with permission, in its English
and Welsh versions.
[25/04/01]
European
Space Agency invites tenders for studies on environmental treaties. The
European Space Agency has just published an invitation to tender for studies
investigating the future contribution from Earth Observation to support the
implementation of international environmental treaties. The studies are collectively
called TESEO (Treaty Enforcement Services using Earth Observation).
At least four projects will be started, each with a budget of maximum 250,000
Euros and duration of maximum 15 months. Each project will correspond to a theme
related to an international environmental convention. At least the four following
themes and corresponding conventions will be covered: Wetlands - Ramsar Convention;
Carbon - Kyoto protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climatic Change; Desertification
- UN Convention to Combat Desertification; Marine Pollution - MARPOL 73/78.
Read further specifications
here, and get your bids in. [24/04/01]
Ramsar
Award winner 1999 takes Goldman Environmental Prize for 2001.
Dr Myrsini
Malakou, who received one of the Ramsar Wetland Conservation
Awards in San José in 1999 on behalf of the Society
for the Protection of Prespa, has won one of the Goldman Environmental
Prizes for 2001. The announcement notes that she and Giorgios Catsadorakis "have
used their research to create and advise community-based programs to restore
Greece’s Prespa wetlands, one of Europe’s most biologically diverse
regions. Thanks to the advocacy and leadership of Catsadorakis and Malakou,
last year Albania, Macedonia and Greece signed an unprecedented agreement to
create the first transboundary park in the Balkans, a region better known for
conflict than cooperation". The announcements of the six Goldman Prizes
for 2001 are at www.goldmanprize.org.
(Our report of the creation of the transboundary Prespa Park on World Wetlands
Day 2000 is available here.)
[24/04/01]
More to follow. Watch this space. Feedback and suggestions are welcome to: the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ramsar@ramsar.org). 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.