What's
New @ Ramsar What's
New @ Ramsar
4 August 2001
Headline
story. Azerbaijan joins the
Ramsar Convention. The
Ramsar Bureau is delighted to announce that on 21 May 2001 Azerbaijan deposited
with the Director General of UNESCO its instrument of accession to the Convention
on Wetlands, as amended by the Paris Protocol of 1982 and Regina Amendments
of 1987, and thus the Convention and amendments will enter into force for Azerbaijan
on 21 September 2001. Two wetlands have been designated as the new Party’s
first additions to the List of Wetlands of International Importance: Agh-Ghol
(500 hectares, 40º01’N 047º38’E) is listed as wetland types Q and
Sp (permanent saline/brackish/alkaline lakes and marshes/pools) and is said
to be particularly important for wintering waterbirds (Criterion 5), with some
130,000 birds counted in 1994/95, the most recent year for which data are available.
Ghizil-Agaj (99,060 hectares,
39º07’N 048º59’E) includes both coastal lagoons and shallow marine
waters with permanent lakes and marshes/pools both brackish and freshwater;
like Agh-Ghol, this site has been designated under the representativeness criterion
and under the 20,000+ waterbirds Criterion 5. The data for both sites exist
presently only in Russian but translations are being arranged. This accession
brings the Convention to 125 Contracting Parties and is the 22nd in the Bureau's
Asian administrative region, with 1075 wetlands on the List of Wetlands of International
Importance. [03/08/01] [français
et/y español]
Headline story. Call for applications for Ramsar Intern for Europe. The Ramsar Bureau welcomes applications for the position of Intern for the European Region / Assistant to the Regional Coordinator for Europe, a 14-month posting (with possible extension to 18 months) to begin 22 October 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 Europe and have lived most of their lives in the region. Full ability to work in English is required for this post, while fluency in Spanish and/or French would be a clear asset. 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 detailed curriculum vitae with a covering letter, both in English, with two letters of reference, to the Bureau’s Administration Coordinator, Mrs Annette Keller, keller@ramsar.org. The deadline for applications is 31 August 2001. [27/07/01]
Who's where?
Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is participating at the 6th Living Lakes Conference "Water Quality and Traditions in Lake Areas", 27 July to 4 August at Ulan Ude, Lake Baikal, Russian Federation, local costs to be supplied by the Global Nature Fund. [15/07/01]
Who was where? Cumulated record of travels throughout the year.
New
on the Site:
Call for nominations for the Wetland
Conservation Award; Summary of
decisions of STRP10 (English), French and Spanish to follow;
Ramsar Camargue self-indulgent photos.
[15/07/01]
Ramsar
signs MOC with Ducks Unlimited. At
a ceremony on Saturday 21st July at the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill, Washington,
Mr Delmar Blasco, Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention,
Mr D.A. (Don) Young, Executive Vice-President of Ducks Unlimited
USA, Mr Rod Fowler, Executive Vice-President of Ducks Unlimited
Canada, and Sr Eduardo Carrera, Director General of Ducks Unlimited
México, signed a Memorandum of Cooperation to strengthen the working relationship
between the Ramsar Convention and the three sister organizations of Ducks Unlimited.
With over one million supporters, Ducks Unlimited (DU) is a leading NGO in the conservation of wetlands and their waterbirds in North America. Following the new MOC, DU will use its extensive networks of partners, representatives, Associate Organizations and experts to further the work of the Convention in the region, and both Ramsar and DU will explore the scope for specific initiatives of further cooperation such as exchanges of staff, joint projects and publications. Here's the text of the MOC and a press release from Ducks Unlimited. [24/07/01]
Call
for nominations for the Wetland Conservation Award.
The Ramsar Wetland Conservation Award was established in 1996 by Resolution
VI.18 in order to recognize and honor the contributions of individuals,
organizations, and governments around the world towards promoting the conservation
and wise use of wetlands. It was awarded for the first time at the 7th
Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (San José, Costa Rica, 1999) (1999
winners' profiles, ceremony photos).
The Ramsar Standing Committee, i
n
October 2000, revised the criteria and procedures for adjudicating the Award
and determined to select three winners for presentation at the 8th
Conference of the Parties, to be held in Valencia, Spain, from 18-26 November
2002. The Committee gratefully accepted the offer of the Danone
Group (France) to complement the Ramsar Award with the Evian
Special Prize, a cash prize of US$ 10.000, which will be
granted to each of the three laureates who will receive the Award at COP8.
Nominations are encouraged of persons, organizations, or government agencies that have taken initiatives which have contributed significantly to the long-term conservation and sustainable use of a wetland site or group of wetlands, especially those initiatives which might serve as inspirational or practical examples for others. Look here for a reprint of the explanatory brochure and forms for nomination in English, French, and Spanish and in a variety of formats. [15/07/01]
Ramsar Newsletter 32 is now on
the stands. To those many librarians
round the world who have inquired whether they've been dropped from the subscription list
of the quarterly Ramsar Newsletter, since they haven't received a single quarterly issue
since Newsletter 31 a year ago, we can report "it's okay now" and you can begin
updating your records. Newsletter 32, after many adventures, is now being posted to its
5000 subscribers from the Bureau, in English, French, and Spanish versions. With lead
stories on the cultural heritage of wetlands and 16 pages of news of recent Contracting
Parties and new Ramsar sites, as well as brief background items on recent important
meetings, Ramsar Advisory Missions, and cooperative agreements with other environmental
instruments, Newsletter 32 lends tangible weight, body, and archival librariness to the
news that all readers of the Ramsar Web site having been enjoying, usually in somewhat
greater detail and with better photos, over the past 1.42% of our lifespans (using Dante's
estimate of 70 years).
Physical copies of Ramsar Newsletter 32 can be got from the Ramsar Bureau (higgins@ramsar.org) in English, French, and/or Spanish, and free-of-charge subscriptions to future issues can be arranged the same way -- hopefully the next quarterly issue will be ready before July 2002. Adobe Acrobat PDF versions are available on this Web site in English, French, and Spanish, about 400kb filesize. [15/07/01]
Russian poster on Ramsar classification now available.
The Wetlands International Russia Programme has produced a fine poster introducing the
Ramsar Wetland Classification system in Russian. It is simple, with nice pictures, and
explains the codes used for description of the main wetland types (as approved by Rec.4.7
and Res.VI.5 of the COP), including marine and coastal, inland, and human-made wetlands.
It has been published thanks to financial support from Dutch Ministry of Agriculture,
Nature Management and Fisheries. You are most welcome to request the poster, just e-mail,
call or fax to the Wetlands International Russia office: e-mail: wetlands@wwf.ru , tel: +095 7270939, fax: +095 7270938.
Reported by Inga Racinska, Ramsar. [15/07/01]
International Conference on
Freshwater. The Government of the
Federal Republic of Germany will be hosting the International Conference on Freshwater, as
announced at the 6th meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The
Conference will take place from 3 - 7 December 2001, in Bonn, Germany and there an
informative Web site has been set up for it at http://www.water-2001.de.
Further information is available from Ms Ulrike Kelm, International Conference on
Freshwater, Tulpenfeld 7, 53113 Bonn, Germany (Tel: +49-(0)228-280 46 57, Fax:
+49-(0)228-280 46 60, ulrike.kelm@water-2001.de
).
As part of the supporting documents available on this Web site, the lucky reader will find "Biodiversity and International Water Policy: International Agreements and Experiences Related to the Protection of Freshwater Ecosystems", 36-page paper commissioned by the Bundesministerium and written by Drs Axel Klaphake, Waltina Scheumann, and Rainer Schliep of the Technical University of Berlin. This extraordinarily thorough paper studies "an emerging global framework for action" particularly through the CBD, the Ramsar Convention, the UNFCCC, and the Convention on International Watercourses. Many other global, regional, and local agreements are also considered, however. To read this paper in either Word (big file!!) or Adobe PDF format, go to http://www.water-2001.de and hit the Supporting Studies button in the little mouse-over menu thingie in the lefthand frame. [11/07/01]
Additional
stuff. The
Camargue in southern France, part of the delta of the Rhône river into
the Mediterranean, is one of Europe's greatest wetlands, and certainly one of
its best-managed wetlands. No wonder, then, that Ramsar Bureau staff and friends
should wish to investigate what's really going on down there. Tobias Salathé
led us there, and here is the
report. [11/07/01}
Bureau Technical Officer for
COP8 appointed. The Ramsar Bureau is
pleased to announce that Carlos Villalba
from Spain has accepted the position of COP8 Technical Officer with funding provided by
the Government of Spain. Carlos will start on 1 September 2001 and will be with the
secretariat until 31 December 2002. His main duties will be to assist the Deputy Secretary
General, Dr Nick Davidson, in the preparation of the Technical Sessions at COP8, but he
will also assist with the workshops under the Global Biodiversity Forum and side events
during the COP. Carlos has a particular interest in computers, so he should also be able
to assist the Ramsar webmaster in COP8-related Web issues, as well as with the
Bureau’s Power Point presentations for the COP. [10/7/01]
Other staff news. New MedWet Coordination leaders come on board. The Secretary General has announced that Spyros Kouvelis will formally take up his functions as MedWet Coordinator in Athens on 15 July 2001. So too will Mr Nejib Benessaiah, working 40% of his time, as Policy Advisor in the MedWet Coordination Unit. More background is available here. [10/07/01]
New
docs and pix. STRP's
10th meeting report and photos are ready now. The
course of wetland conservation and wise use has been put back on track -- thirty-four
formal decisions in the end, so that's good, that's progress!!
The last meeting of this triennium's Scientific and Technical Review Panel is
history, though the Expert Working Groups will be carrying on over the next
few months finalizing their documents for consideration and endorsement by Standing
Committee in December. It was an exceptional meeting in many ways, not only
for the rapid progress with a large number of guidance documents for presentation
to the next Conference of the Parties, but also for the invaluable contributions
of representatives from the other Multilateral Environmental Agreements, observer
organizations, and invited experts, in addition to the STRP members and observer
organizations. Two days of working group workshops, three days of plenary sessions,
one reception, one dinner, all worth a toast (photo
left), and a promise
to gather again in Valencia in 2002 to help us all get through the next COP
(shudder). Click here.
[09/07/01]
Ramsar
squooshes turtles in Cuba.
As part of the "III Congress on Environment and Development:
10 years after Rio" in Havana, Cuba, Ramsar’s Margarita
Astrálaga, Denis Landenbergue
of WWF’s Living Waters Campaign, and Julia
Langer of WWF Cuba offered a special session for Cuban professionals
on "Wetland Conservation and Implementation of the Ramsar Convention in
Cuba", 21 June 2001. The primary objective of the session is to discuss
future actions and management activities in the Ciénaga de Zapata (452,000 ha)
in Matanzas province, Cuba’s first Ramsar site recently designated with
assistance from WWF’s Living Waters Campaign and WWF
Canada. More information
and some great photos here. [07/07/01]
New
report available.
Use of the Swiss Grant
for Africa fund for 2000. Read
it here. Four exemplary projects funded by the Government of Switzerland
through the Ramsar Bureau, totaling 140,000 Swiss francs: 1. Continuation
of the work on the formulation of an integrated management plan for the Okavango
Delta in Botswana. 2. Formulation of a management plan for the Manambolomaty
Ramsar Site in Madagascar. 3. Coordinating mechanisms for a joint implementation
of environment-related conventions. 4. Communication capacity in Sierra Leone.
Excellent
Africa wetlands information here!
[03/07/01]
International
Association for Impact Assessment signs Memo with Ramsar.
In recognition of the fact that the IAIA and the Ramsar Convention share many
common objectives in ensuring that the ecological, social, and economic effects
of development projects on wetlands are taken into account in the decision-making
process – and seeking to solidify the fruitful cooperation that has been
growing between the two bodies, particularly because of IAIA participation in
the work of Ramsar’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) –
the President of IAIA, Elvis Au, and the Secretary
General of the Convention, Delmar Blasco, have signed a Memorandum
of Cooperation on 22 June 2001 which lays out those common objectives and formalizes
future cooperation and a framework for joint activities. The
text of the new agreement is available here. [27/06/01]
Update
on the revivification of Wetland Link International.
A few years ago, Wetland Link International (WLI), a programme of the Wildfowl
and Wetlands Trust (WWT) based in the UK, operated a successful network of wetland
education
centres, encouraging the sharing of information and exchange of expertise, particularly
through its exemplary newsletter. Budgetary difficulties forced a brief hiatus,
but WLI is presently being revivified in the context of the Ramsar
Convention’s Outreach Programme. Ramsar Resolution VII.9
(San José, 1999) identified wetland education centres as key locations for promoting
the principles of wetland conservation and wise use through CEPA activities,
and it also identified WLI as the key organization to assist the Contracting
Parties in this area of work. Here is
Ramsar’s Sandra Hails’ briefing on WLI to the members
of the Communication, Education, and Public Awareness (CEPA) e-mail list, linking
to a position paper by Doug Hulyer of WWT with a call for comments.
These new developments will be interesting to everyone involved in the work
of wetland interpretation and visitors’ centres. [27/06/01]
STRP converges upon Gland. The members and observers of the Convention’s
Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP), and a number of invited experts, are
descending upon Gland for the 10th meeting of the Panel. Yesterday, June 25th,
the Expert Working Group on Climate Change huddled throughout the entire day, in
discussions with a representative of IPCC amongst other things, and today, Tuesday the 26th,
there are concurrent morning and afternoon sessions of many of the other Working Groups,
in which group members assess their progress and plan their presentations to plenary. From
Wednesday to Friday, the Panel will meet in plenary and work its way through an
astonishingly bulky agenda, reviewing the draft guidance documents so far produced and
reaching agreement on how best to finalize them for Standing Committee’s
consideration and forwarding to the 8th meeting of the n. Well known for his
work on Mediterranean wetland issues, particularly in connection with IUCN and Tour du
Valat, Jamie most recently served as Senior Environment Adviser with the secretariat of
the World Commission on Dams, which has recently completed its mandate. The new IUCN
regional programme is presently being established, under a framework agreement signed
among IUCN and Spanish national and regional authorities last December. [26/06/01]
Romania
names its second Ramsar site.
After a hiatus of ten years, the Government of Romania has supplemented the
Danube Delta in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance by the
addition of "Small Island of Braila"
(17,586 hectares), effective 15 June. The site has been a Natural Reserve in
the county of Braila since 1994, and consists of a group of wetlands in the
Lower Danube region, one of the rare areas along the river that has preserved
its natural hydrological conditions and which contains a representative sample
of habitats characteristic of floodplains as well as a former inland delta.
Comprising seven small islands stretching over 61 km between two arms of the
Danube just south (upstream) of Braila, Romania’s second largest city,
the site is of major interest for at least 34 internationally protected bird
species, two of which, Phalacrocorax pygmeus (pygmy cormorants) and Pelecanus
crispus, are considered priorities for LIFE financing, and 65 species of
fish. The wetlands perform important hydrological functions, particularly during
seasonal inundations, and affect the local microclimate. The adjacent "Big
Island of Braila", five times greater in size, was largely drained during
the previous political era. Regional management plans in the past have tended
toward intensive agriculture and aquaculture, but more recently sustainability
has emerged as an objective. This new designation brings the Ramsar umbrella
to1073 sites covering 81,766,195 hectares. [22/06/01] [français
et/y español]
Ramsar
appoints new MedWet Coordinator.
The Ramsar Bureau is delighted to announce that Mr
Spyros Kouvelis of Greece has been selected from an excellent
field of candidates to be the new MedWet Coordinator, replacing Mr Thymio
Papayannis, one of MedWet’s founders, who will continue
to contribute his efforts as Senior Policy Advisor on a part-time basis. Mr
Kouvelis has a BSc in Economics from the University of Athens and an MSc in
Agricultural/ Environmental Economics from the University of Reading in the
UK. He has worked extensively with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as a
member of a number of policy teams with WWF International, as chair of the WWF
Mediterranean Regional Team, and as Acting Chief Executive Officer of WWF Greece
from 1995 to 1997. From 1997 to 2000 he has assisted as an Athens-based consultant
to the WWF European Policy Office, whilst at the same time employed as Advisor
to the Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Environment, Planning and Public Works
in the Government of Greece. The MedWet Coordinator is an outposted Ramsar Bureau
position, reporting directly to the Secretary General, and more
detail on the establishment of the new MedWet Coordination Unit in Athens is
available here. [22/06/01] [français,
español]
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
.
Updated regularly by Dwight Peck, Ramsar Bureau.
Back Issues of the Bulletin Board. Early in every month, the
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perpetuity.
visitors to this site
since........ Wait . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . ?? Oooh, I must have dropped
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