What's
New @ Ramsar What's
New @ Ramsar
2
February 2004
Headline story.
World Wetlands Day celebrated all round the world, 2 February.
The seventh annual WWD is being celebrated now - or recently, or soon, depending
on local calendars - in nearly 80 countries around the world, according to plans
already reported to the Secretariat. WWD provides the opportunity for governments,
site managers, NGOs, and citizens to celebrate and raise public awareness about
their wetlands in general and about the Ramsar Convention in particular. Plans
already reported include everything from TV screenings of the Ramsar
video in local languages, art contests and raft races for children, clean-up
days, seminars and open houses, newspaper articles, birdwatching and guided
wetland tours, and on and on. The organizers of many of these activities will
be sending us their reports and photos over the next few weeks, and they'll
be appearing here to serve as an inspiration to us all throughout the next year.
A global press release by Ramsar's
Sebastià Semene is available here (and en
français aussi).
RAMSAR STAFF are helping out with some of these activities: Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, is in Mexico for the designation of 34 new Ramsar Sites there, a vast array of wetland types ranging from highland lakes to coastal lagoons and offshore coral reefs, and evidently a world record for the number of Ramsar Sites designated in a single day. Nick Davidson, the Deputy Secretary General, is in Athens to assist in a celebration hosted by the Greek Minister for the Environment and the Convention's MedWet Coordination Unit. Abou Bamba, the Senior Advisor for Africa, is in Mopti, Mali, with representatives of WWF's Living Waters Programme, for the ceremonial designation of the third-largest Ramsar Site in the world, the Delta Intérieur du Niger, and Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Strasbourg, France, participating in a public debate on the future of wetland management in the Alsace region, hosted by Alsace Nature and WWF. The rest of us are keeping the home fires burning.
New Ramsar Site designations have been made in four Parties - 41 of them totaling 7,866,516 hectares (and Finland is today announcing the intended designation of 49 more!):
| Ramsar Trivia: Who can join the Ramsar Convention? Answer. |
Who's where?
Peter
Bridgewater, Secretary General, is in Mexico,
2 February 2004, for World Wetlands Day ceremonies. [02/02/04]
Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Athens, Greece, 2 February 2004, for World Wetlands Day ceremonies sponsored by the Government of Greece and the MedWet Coordination Unit. [02/02/04]
Tobias
Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is in Strasbourg,
France, 2 February 2004, for World Wetlands Day activities sponsored
by Alsace Nature and WWF-Auen-Institut. [02/02/04]
Abou
Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, is in Mopti,
Mali, 27-31 January 2004, for the workshop
"A Ramsar network for the Niger Basin -- Subregional
Networking for Ramsar Sites in the Niger Basin".
See the programme here, followed
by World Wetlands Day ceremonies announcing the designation of the Ramsar Site
"Delta Intérieur du Niger" [02/02/04]
Who was where? Cumulated record of travels throughout the year.
New
on the Site: Standing
Committee 30 report and decisions;
SGF
Operational Guidelines, 2004 edition; SC30
Participants List and contact details. [31/01/04]
Newly
available. Report of the Standing Committee's
30th meeting. The Ramsar Standing Committee met in Gland, Switzerland,
13-16 January 2004, and the report is now ready. As is Ramsar custom, the full
report is presently being transmitted to the Contracting Parties by diplomatic
notification in its English version, along with the 21 thoughtful Decisions
themselves in English, French, or Spanish as appropriate. Now, those of you
who've been waiting with bated breath can exhale -- the English report and
the English Decisions are available here
and here respectively, and
the French and Spanish Decisions won't be too far behind. The
heart-melting photographs will be along later, after the rush of
World Wetlands Day has subsided. [31/01/04]
Superb
new publication on Eastern European transboundary wetlands. The
question of the collaborative international management of transboundary wetlands,
and of transboundary Ramsar Sites, has become increasingly prominent over the
past few years. A new publication from the Institute of Ecology of Vilnius University
and OMPO Vilnius provides an excellent model for further development of this
promising concept -- Important Transboundary Belarusian-Lithuanian
and Lithuanian-Russian Wetlands, by Saulius Svazas (et al), with
financial support from the NGO OMPO (Migratory Birds of the Western Palearctic)
and the Ramsar Convention is an extremely well-produced and well-illustrated
96-page softcover book, which can be obtained from OMPO Vilnius (svazas@ekoi.lt)
and for which Ramsar's Tobias
Salathé has provided this following insightful foreword. [29/01/04]
Call
for SGF project proposals for the 2004 cycle. The Ramsar Small Grants
Fund was established by Ramsar COP4 in 1990 as a mechanism to assist developing
countries and those with economies in transition in implementing the Convention
and to enable the conservation and wise use of wetland resources - since that
time, it has provided funding and co-funding, up to 40,000 Swiss francs (about
US$ 32,000) per project, for something like 165 projects totaling about 6 million
francs. Suitable project proposals are those which contribute to the implementation
of the Convention's Strategic Plan 2003-2008 for the conservation and wise use
of wetlands; provide emergency assistance for Ramsar sites; or provide 'preparatory
assistance' to allow non-Contracting Parties to progress toward accession. The
call for proposals is now being made for the 2004 cycle, and here is the announcement.
[29/01/04]
World
Wetlands Day - China. Ms. Yin
Hong, Ramsar National Focal Point, China State Forestry Administration,
and Mr. Bao Damin, Ramsar National STRP
Focal Point, have informed the Bureau that the Chinese
translation of the WWD 2004 poster
has been printed in 10,000 copies for distribution to governmental offices,
Ramsar sites, NGOs, schools, etc. Here's
a look at it. (The cameo, right, is just
a tiny bit of it.)
 |
 |
Niger
Basin Ramsar workshop begins in Mali. The workshop "A
Ramsar network for the Niger Basin -- Subregional Networking for Ramsar Sites
in the Niger Basin", supported by the Danone Groupe through
WWF's Living Waters Programme and by Ramsar's Swiss Grant for Africa, is presently
underway in Mopti, Mali, 27-31 January 2004. A considerable number of government
and NGO experts are speaking on technical and 
policy
issues in the sustainable development and integrated management of watershed
catchment basins and, in particular, the Niger River Basin, and a final report
and recommendations will be expected at the end of it. Ramsar-related participants
include Abou Bamba, the Secretariat's Senior Advisor for Africa, Thymio
Papayannis, the MedWet adviser, and Christophe Lefèbvre, the
contact person for the Danone/Evian-Ramsar Fund, as well as Denis Landenbergue
of WWF's Living Waters Programme, Anada Tiéga, former Ramsar Coordinator
now head of a GEF project in Chad, and Aboubacar Awaïss, a former
STRP member from Niger. A report and photos will follow in due course, but in
the meantime, here is the programme.
Following the workshop, on 1 February, the President of WWF and Amadou Toumani Toure, the President of Mali, will preside over World Wetlands Day ceremonies celebrating the designation of the Inner Niger Delta as Ramsar's third largest Wetland of International Importance. More on that later. [28/01/04]
News
from the SGF. Syria completes community participation
project for Al Jaboul Lake. The Ramsar Secretariat is very pleased
to report that the Syrian Arab Republic has completed the SGF 2001 project dedicated
to 'Strengthening the participation of local community
in the management of Al-Jaboul Lake'. As Atef Deib, the Ramsar
National Coordinator and 
coordinator
of the project, reports, the principal objective of this project was to encourage
the active and informed participation of local communities in the conservation
and wise use of this wetland. The outputs achieved are twofold. First, the personnel
of the Ministry of Irrigation have been trained in areas related to wetland
management and particularly the participatory practices; and second, the local
communities (including women and children) have increased the level of understanding
of the impacts from existing activities on the lake's environment, activities
that are carried out by stakeholders whose livelihood depends on the resources
provided by the wetland, including the local industry, agriculture, hunters
and fishermen. Liazzat Rabbiosi, Ramsar's
Assistant Advisor for Asia, has prepared this illustrated report on the project.
[28/01/04]
New
low tide bird counts published in the UK. On 25 January 2004, Elliot
Morley MP, Minister for the Environment in the UK, launched a new
book called Estuarine Waterbirds at Low Tide,
the distillation of seven years of observations by 600 volunteer birdwatchers.
Estuarine Waterbirds at Low Tide is published by the International
Wader Study Group, on behalf of the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), a partnership
of the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust
(WWT), RSPB, and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC).
Here's a BTO press release with a comment from Ramsar's Nick Davidson, with
photos of Louise Vall and Colin McLeod making a pre-launch presentation of the
book to the Ramsar Secretariat. [27/01/04]
Flamingo
Conservation and Ramsar Site Management at Lake Bogoria National Reserve, Kenya.
The
University of Leicester, in association with Earthwatch
Institute (Europe), has received Darwin
Initiative funding from the British Government for three years from
July 2003 to further the conservation of lesser flamingo and the Lake Bogoria
National Reserve Ramsar site. In 2000, Lake
Bogoria (0° 11'-20' N, 36° 06' E) was designated as
a Ramsar wetland of international importance. One of the requirements of this
status is the development of a conservation management plan, but there is almost
no scientific information concerning the lake's ecology to aid this process.
Here is the project leader David
Harper's description of the new project. [26/01/04]
Now
available. Update on the Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment and the Ramsar Convention. During the recent SC30 meetings,
Walt Reid (left),
Director of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), came along to make an
informative and succinct PowerPoint presentation that provided background on
the MA and addressed the issue of how to link the MA into Ramsar governmental
processes. He provided overviews of the MA's structure, participants, work model,
and time line, organized around the principle of "ecosystem services"
and the consequences of ecosystem change for human well-being. The products,
he said, will include lengthy assessment reports, a summary reports, and synthesis
reports for each of the user conventions (CBD, Ramsar, etc.). He described inputs
from Ramsar to the MA's work and board and from the MA to the Convention's STRP
and said that the MA Synthesis Report for Ramsar should be completed by February-March
2005. Walt Reid's impressive 34-frame PowerPoint (980kb) stands by itself as
a very helpful update, and it's available right here. [22/01/04] [The
PowerPoint presentation has since been removed. January 2005]
Available
right now. SC30 Opening statements.
No major meeting gets off the ground without inspiring words of welcome
from hosts and other worthies, many of these well worth mining for clues to
the directions in which the meetings may go or fail to go. The 30th
meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee was no exception, and three
opening statements speak briefly to the themes that the three speakers hold
most dear. No sooner had Jean-Yves Pirot,
director of IUCN's Wetlands and Water Resources Programme, leapt up to welcome
the participants on behalf of his Director-General, than in strode Achim
Steiner himself, who had been able to catch an earlier flight and
could now welcome everyone on his own, emphasizing the close cooperation between
the two organizations. Dr Peter Bridgewater,
the new Ramsar Secretary General, then set the tone for the week's work with
a view of the opportunities facing the Convention, and Andreas
Wurzer (left) of WWF's
Living Waters Programme spoke on behalf of the four International Organization
Partners (BirdLife International, IUCN, Wetlands International, and WWF International)
about the goals that the international NGOs would like to see the Standing Committee
set for itself. Here are their
statements. [23/01/04]
Announcement.
Society
for Ecological Restoration International
call for papers. The
restoration community is invited to join the Society for Ecological Restoration
International for its 16th annual meeting and conference, to be held in Victoria,
British Columbia, Canada, from August 23rd to 27th, 2004. The
Society's announcement and call for papers has been reprinted here.
[22/01/04]
Announcement.
Brochure for the WATC International Course on Wetland Restoration.
Saskia Vos (s.vos@riza.rws.minvenw.nl
), Course logistics & Student affairs, RIZA-IHL in Lelystad, The Netherlands,
writes: "Over the past 10 years, WATC has organised the annual, 6-weeks
International Course on Wetland Management for 180 wetland managers active in
the sustainable management of wetlands. The last International Course on Wetland
Management was held in 2003. WATC continues to organise one open course per
year: The 4-weeks International Course on Wetland Restoration, in which wetland
and water professionals are trained to make sustainable wetland restoration
plans. This year the restoration course will be held for the 5th time."
The course will run from 30 August to 30 September 2004, in Lelystad, and the
closing date for applications is 1 March 2004. You'll find PDF versions of
the course brochure and application form here. [since
removed] [23/01/04]
Announcement.
RSPB seeks officer to manage country programmes in Eastern
and Southern Africa. The Royal Society for
the Protection of Birds (UK) is seeking to employ "a mature
individual to manage a suite of RSPB international country programmes in Eastern/Southern
Africa and possibly elsewhere. The aim of the international officer is to work
with BirdLife International Partners to develop their conservation work and
ultimately achieve self-sufficiency." More details are available here.
[link
later removed] [22/01/04]
Ramsar
signs two MOUs with the USA -- 
USA
makes continued funding available for two key Ramsar small project assistance
programmes. The Ramsar Convention Bureau and delegates from the United
States State Department and Fish and Wildlife Service took the occasion of the
30th meeting of the Standing Committee, in Gland, Switzerland, to sign two memoranda
of understanding that open an area of even greater cooperation in the funding
of small projects in pursuit of the Convention's principles of wetland conservation
and wise use. The Wetlands for the Future Fund,
which has been disbursing US$ 250,000 a year through the Ramsar Bureau since
1995 for capacity-building wetland projects in Latin America has now 
been
continued to 2008 in a new agreement. And in an innovative programme, the Corporate
Wetlands Restoration Partnership (CWRP), a public-private partnership
between the United States federal government, U.S. state governments and private
corporations to restore wetlands and other aquatic habitats, has decided to
expand its activities to fund international projects, and has elected to fund
Ramsar's WFF and SGF programs as one means of accomplishing this goal. The mechanism
for disbursing CWRP funds will be through the Coastal
America Foundation (CAF), and project proposals evaluated and recommended
by the Ramsar Bureau will be circulated for donations for potential support
by CWRP partners. WFF projects are restricted to Latin American proposals but
the Ramsar Small Grants Fund is open to proposals from all OECD DAC-list countries
in the developing countries and those with economies in transition. Here's
the news item and signing photos, leading to the texts of the two new MOUs.
[21/01/04]
Announcement.
UNDP position in Kazakhstan. The United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) invites applications from the non-citizens of Kazakhstan
for the position of the Chief Technical Adviser (CTA)
for the project “Integrated Conservation of Globally
Significant Migratory Bird Wetland Habitat ”. The
objective of the project (project details on www.caresd.net) is to develop
integrated and participatory approach to the conservation and sustainable use
of biological diversity in three priority wetland sites, lying along two globally
significant migratory flyways. The project will demonstrate solutions to different
threats to Kazakhstan’s wetland biodiversity resources and will assist
the Government to meet its commitments under the Ramsar Convention. The Project
office will be based in Astana. Details here. [link
later removed] [21/01/04]
Ramsar/WWF
visit to Lac de Réghaïa, Algeria. Following its designation
by Algeria as a Ramsar site in June 2003, the Lake
of Réghaïa is increasingly recognised as a model wetland
for the southern Mediterranean. In
the framework of the partnership between the WWF Living Waters Programme,
the Algerian Forestry Service (DGF, Direction
Générale des Forêts) and Ramsar, a new phase is under
way, with the first step a public Information Centre
on Wetlands now being established in an existing building, currently
managed as a wildfowl breeding centre. On 12th December 2003, a joint visit
by representatives from WWF (Denis Landenbergue,
Living Waters Programme) and the Ramsar Secretariat (Nassima
Aghanim, Assistant Adviser for Africa, followed by Abou
Bamba, the Adviser for Africa, a few days later) gave a great opportunity
to note how well this project is advancing. This visit was guided by Ammar
Boumezbeur [photo left],
Ramsar Focal Point for Algeria, and by Taleb Abderrahmane,
Director of the Reghaïa Centre. Here
is Denis Landenbergue's brief report with photos of the site and the visit.
[version française].
[19/01/04]
Standing
Committee 30 has come and gone. The 30th meeting of the Ramsar Standing
Committee, which concluded on Friday, 16 January, was applauded as extraordinarily
successful and much livelier than most meetings of its type. The 70 members
and observers were able to review the preparations for COP9 in November 2005
and offer further guidance to host-country Uganda in its already impressive
progress; take steps to resolve some knotty intersessional budgetary problems;
take note of mid-term progress of the STRP in its scientific and technical work;
hear a pithy presentation from director Walt Reid on the progress of the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment vis-à-vis the Ramsar Convention; approve Small Grants
Fund allocations for the 2003 cycle; and stuff down a fine dinner hosted by
the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests, and Landscape [photo
left], amongst other happy results. The report of the meeting
will be available in English, after final sign-offs, in about ten days, and
the decisions will be available in English, French, and Spanish not too long
after that. And the photos will be, as Armenia's Karén Jenderedjian might
say, "splendiferous"! [18/01/04]
News
from the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN). Heidi
Luquer (Luquer@manomet.org), WHSRN Outreach, writes: "A draft
five-year strategic plan is posted on the WHSRN
website, in both English and Spanish. The plan has been developed over
the past nine months and is now open for comments. You are invited to read it
closely and share your ideas with us through the e-mail link provided on the
webpage. The comment period is open until the end of January 2004. Thanks in
advance for your feedback if you choose to share it with us." [18/01/04]
ICRI
CPC meeting, Turks & Caicos Islands, November 2003.
On 17-19 November, in the Turks & Caicos Islands, the International
Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) held the Coordination
and Planning Committee's first meeting of the two-year tenure of
the UK/Seychelles Secretariat. Thanks to the generous support of the UK Government,
the Ramsar Secretariat was able to attend, joining 52 experts representing governments,
NGOs and IGOs. The full report of the meeting can be found on the ICRI Web site
(http://www.icriforum.org - About
ICRI), but Margarita Astrálaga
reports briefly on the proceedings from a Ramsar perspective, and includes
a few photographs. [14/01/04]
From
the Ramsar Forum. A small bog in Bariloche.
Grace in Patagonia wrote on 10 January 2004:
"Hello all: For the past year and a half I have been working on a plan
to protect a small bog of about 22 hectares in the Province of Rio Negro, Patagonia,
Argentina. . . . 
At
the moment this site is privately owned by several people who are filling it
up little by little destroying its ecosystem. Even so there is a large area
which could be preserved and protected." Here
are Grace's questions and a reply from Michael
Trepel from the Ecology Centre of the University of Kiel. [14/01/04]
From the Ramsar Forum. Wetland restoration in Europe. Yvonne Scheidegger wrote on 13 January 2004: "I am doing research on the restoration of wetlands in Europe as a way of protecting birds of EU Bird Directive annex I. I am going to build a supply and demand model, with supply being agricultural land (adequate for the restoration of wetlands) and the demand being the population/minimal area of a species. The method of making the decision which birds will be protected on which land area, will be made by linear optimization (optimizing the costs)." She is looking for information on the costs of wetland restoration and on the historical distribution of wetlands in Europe. Here is her message to the Forum. [14/01/04]
Announcement.
Short course in Integrated Water Resources Management.
Jesper Goodley Dannisøe (jda@dhi.dk),
Senior Project Manager & Head of Vocational Training Activities, writes:
"DHI Water & Environment, Denmark, is offering a 5-day short course
in Integrated Water Resources Management, 1-5 March 2004. The course is given
in Denmark and you can find more info on: www.dhi.dk/courses.
The course is directed towards professionals who are responsible for the water
resources, whether for drinking water, for hydropower, for irrigation or for
other types of water use." [14/01/04]
Now
available. Les parlementaires africains en action
pour la conservation et l'utilisation rationnelle des zones humides.
[English] Les
parlementaires de l'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre, réunis à
Cotonou du 27 au 28 Novembre 2003 à l'invitation conjointe du Secrétariat
de la Convention de Ramsar sur les Zones Humides, du Réseau pour l'Environnement
et le Développement Durable en Afrique (REDDA) et le Gouvernement de
la République du Bénin. Conscients de l'importance
des zones humides pour le bien-être des générations actuelles
et futures; Profondément préoccupés par la tendance constante
de dégradation de l'environnement avec pour corollaire l'aggravation
de la pauvreté, plus particulièrement dans les zones à
écosystèmes fragiles telles les zones humides des pays africains;
Les députées d'Afrique de l'Ouest et du Centre recommandent la
création d'un réseau de parlementaires sur les zones humides au
niveau continental. Le
rapport final de cette réunion ainsi que la déclaration (en français)
sont maintenant disponibles ici. Quelques photos sur la sortie de terrain
sont aussi diponibles. [13/01/04]
The French version of the final report of the "first meeting for Parliamentarians of West and Central Africa on Wetlands" held in Benin, November 2003, with the financial support of the Swedish Government, including the "Cotonou Declaration" and with photos of the meeting and field excursion, can be seen here.
Dr.
Taej Mundkur (taej@wiap.nasionet.net), Coordinator, Asia-Pacific
Waterbird Strategy Coordination Unit for Wetlands International,
writes: "Dear Educators/Managers/Shorebird enthusiasts. An excellent new
website "Feathers,
Flyways and Friends Program" (FFFP) being developed by The
Wetlands Centre, Australia, is now open for peer review. The Australian
Government Department of the Environment and Heritage has funded this project
to help fulfill Australia's obligations under the Asia-Pacific Migratory Waterbird
Conservation Strategy: 2001-2005. The website will build on the work already
achieved by key shorebird organisations and continue to promote shorebird conservation
and community education and public awareness in the East-Asian Australasian
Flyway. Please send your review suggestions to Helen Aitchison (CHRISTINE.PRIETTO@det.nsw.edu.au)."
[13/01/04]
Coming
attractions. SC30 looming. Members
and dedicated observers of the Ramsar Convention's Standing
Committee all over the world are packing up their garment bags and
stuffing their carry-ons with agenda papers in anticipation of the SC's 30th
meeting, slated to begin on Tuesday, 13 January, with preliminary working sessions
of the Subgroups on COP9, Finance, and Resolution VIII.45, followed by plenary
sessions for the rest of the week. The agenda
papers are available here, including the newly revised agenda, and the
entire history of the Standing Committee, from 1987 to the present, can be seen
here in all its refulgent glory.
[13/01/04]
New
Zealand wetland inventory now on line. From the Science
Publishing team, Science & Research Unit, Department of Conservation, Wellington,
New Zealand: "In 1996, the New Zealand Department of Conservation
(DOC) published A DIRECTORY OF WETLANDS IN NEW ZEALAND.
It was compiled by Pam Cromarty and edited by Derek A. Scott for DOC, the International
Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB), and the Ramsar Convention Bureau.
The Directory describes 73 wetlands and wetland complexes that meet the criteria
for international importance (it is not a comprehensive listing of ALL wetlands
in New Zealand). The wetlands have been selected on the basis of criteria developed
in relation to the Ramsar Convention. Although special attention is paid to
the importance of the wetlands for wildlife, all wetland values including water
storage, flood control, coastal protection and fisheries production have been
taken into consideration. The contents of this book (394 p.) are now available
on the DOC website, organised by the 13 Conservancies from North to South. Note
that the pdf files are an accurate representation of the text as first published,
except for some minor formatting changes (e.g. line and page breaks may be slightly
different). This is effectively a reprint, not a revision
of the 1996 publication. Some hardcopies are still available for
purchase: mailto:science.publications@doc.govt.nz (NZ$40.00)."
The list of URLs, or Web addresses, for these 13 PDF files can be seen here.
[12/01/04]
Now
available. Report of the seminar in Armenia
for New Independent States. The international seminar "Current
Issues of Conservation and Wise Use of Wetlands and Wetland Biodiversity in
the European New Independent States" was held in Sevan, Armenia,
15-19 September 2003, with financial support from the Ramsar
Small Grants Fund and from LakeNet.
The newly released report of the meeting provides a detailed look at the process
of organizing the event, a summary of the proceedings, the list of 64 participants
(from Armenia, Belarus, Czech Republic, Georgia, Iran, Kyrgyz Republic, Lithuania,
Moldova, Russia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine in the region), the Recommendations
that emerged from the deliberations, and some photographs (including Mr Pritchard's
"Swan Dance", left),
all of which have been reprinted here, as well as budgetary and Armenian-language
materials, which have not. Armenians and others planning similar meetings in
the future might do well to weigh this report as a model for their own preparations.
[09/01/04]
Now
available.
Ramsar Advisory Mission report for Spain's Doñana.
The well-known Doñana National Park
became Spain's first Ramsar Site in 1982 and its core area is also listed under
UNESCO's World Heritage Convention and Man and Biosphere Programme. In 1990,
the site was included on the Montreux Record because of fears that excessive
water abstractions, mainly for intensive tourist developments along the coast
and irrigated cultures in the immediate vicinity of the Park, would irrevocably
degrade the ecological character of the site. The Spanish and Andalusian governments
have since undertaken many efforts to relieve pressure from the site, but in
1998 a great setback occurred when the wall of a waste holding pool of the Boliden
Apirsa pyrite mine, some 60 km upstream, broke and released some 5 million m3
of toxic sludge and acid waters along the Guadiamar river basin, downstream
to the very edge of the National Park, and into the core zone of the wetland
area. During the first of two Ramsar Advisory Missions, 1-4 October 2002, Ramsar
experts Francesc Giró from Barcelona
and Luis Costa from Lisbon, together with
Tobias Salathé
of the Secretariat, focused on the concrete results of the two programmes
"Corredor verde del Guadiamar" and "Doñana 2005"
in the field, but due to the extent and complexity of the issues at stake, a
second mission is planned for the not too distant future. The
report of this first RAM mission (in Spanish) is now available here
and the news story from the time of
the mission is available in English here. [07/01/04]
Ecuador
crea Comité Nacional Ramsar. Nos complace anunciar que el
Gobierno del Ecuador ha constituido oficialmente el Comité
Nacional Ramsar por decreto presidencial 1152, publicado el 23 de
diciembre de 2003. El Comité trabajará estrechamente con el Ministerio
del Ambiente y será la instancia política máxima de asesoramiento
en materia de planificación y coordinación de las actividades
relacionadas con la aplicación de la Convención de Ramsar en el
Ecuador. Esta buena noticia se suma a la reciente creación del Comité
Nacional de Humedales en Brasil en octubre de 2003. Más
detalles aquí. [06/01/04]
Ecuador establishes National Ramsar Committee. The Secretariat is pleased to announce that the Government of Ecuador has officially established its National Ramsar Committee by presidential decree No 1152 published on December 23, 2003. The Committee will work closely with the Environment Ministry and will be the highest political body assisting the planning and coordination of activities related to the application of the Ramsar Convention in Ecuador. This good news adds to the recent creation of the National Wetlands Committee in Brazil in October 2003. Read more here. [06/01/04]
Ramsar
adds new Assistant for Africa. The Secretariat is delighted to announce
that Mr Ahmed El-Sabban (Egypt) has been
appointed to the internship position of Assistant Advisor for Africa, to replace
the irreplaceable Nassima Aghanim in late February 2004. Ahmed, an agronomist
with an MSc in Environmental Management from the International University for
African Development in Alexandria, Egypt, is currently working with the Egyptian
Ministry of Environment on a GEF/UNDP project on medicinal plants in Egypt.
He has previously gained experience in wetlands management, as well as in Ramsar
Site designation, during training in surveys and field research for compiling
the Ramsar Information Sheet with the French Ministry of Environment and Landscape
in Montpellier. He is fluent in Arabic, French and English. [05/01/04]
Happy
New Year. The Ramsar Convention Secretariat
wishes everyone a happy and productive new year in 2004. Here
is a New Year's message from the Secretary General, Dr Peter Bridgewater:
"This is the final
day in the International Year of Freshwater, but it will be unfortunate if we
simply let the IYF "dry up", like so much of the world's water. For
our New Year's resolution, let us, as the Ramsar family, resolve to continue
to observe 2004, and 
every
year, as an international year of freshwater - or even IYW, as managing the
fresh/salty interface is important as well.
IYF was important to our convention, as wetlands are vital components of the world's water cycle, as well as sources of cultural and biological diversity. For the future, we must strive for an understanding of ecological systems - an understanding that places people in the ecological equation. And as the world struggles to understand the needs and demands of water, our convention's role in protecting, purifying and providing water will become even clearer. By bringing together the philosophy and accumulated technical wisdom of our Convention, and using Wetlands of International Importance as "real life" examples, we can approach sustainable living. And with a full understanding of the interlinkage between cultural and biological diversity, and their linkage with the diversity of place, sustainability can be assured.
At present there are 138 Contracting Parties to the Convention (with 3 waiting for action at the depositary), who together have designated 1328 wetland sites (totalling 111,884,289 hectares) as Wetlands of International Importance. The numbers are great: the challenge now is to put all these places to work for the world, to help the human population become more sustainable in it. A happy and watery New Year to everyone!" [01/01/04]
Peatlands
workshop set for February 2004. David Lee
(david@genet.po.my), Technical Officer, Global Environment Centre, has announced
that a Workshop on Integrated Management and Rehabilitation
of Peatlands, organized by the GEC and Wetlands International, will
take place 6-7 February 2004 in Kuala Lumpur, in association with COP7 of the
Convention on Biological Diversity and the 19th Global Biodiversity Forum. It
will be "an opportunity to showcase issues on peatlands that are related
to the different items of CBD such as Biodiversity and Climate Change, and Inland
Water and Mountain Biodiversity. . . . The workshop will also address issues
related to the ASEAN Peatland Management Initiative (APMI)." Further details
can be found at the www.peat-portal.net
or from David Lee directly. [01/01/04]
News
from the Wetlands for the Future Fund. News
from Nueva publicación sobre el pastoreo en humedales altoandinos.
La Wildlife
Conservation Society - Bolivia, en coordinación 
con
el Grupo para la Conservación de Flamencos Altoandinos
y la Dirección General de Biodiversidad del Ministerio de Desarrollo
Sostenible de Bolivia; ha publicado las memorias del taller: "Uso
pastoril de humedales altoandinos", que tuvo lugar en Huarina
y La Paz - Bolivia, del 28 de octubre al 1 de noviembre de 2002 con auspicio
del Fondo Humedales para el Futuro. / Grazing in High Andean
Wetlands - New Publication. The Wildlife
Conservation Society-Bolivia, in coordination with the High
Andean Flamingo Conservation Group and the Ramsar Administrative
Authority in Bolivia, has published the proceedings of the workshop: "Grazing
use of high Andean wetlands", which took place in Huarina and
La Paz, Bolivia, in late 2002 with support from the Wetlands for the Future
Fund (WFF/01-2/BOL/1). Read more here in Español
and English. [27/12/03]
New
CEO appointed for Wetlands International. Wetlands International's
news announcement: "We are pleased to confirm that Jane
Madgwick has been appointed as the new CEO of Wetlands International.
A UK citizen, Jane Madgwick has an outstanding record of success while working
both in NGOs and government positions, and comes to us from WWF Australia, where
she was also a member of the core team for WWF's global Living Waters Programme.
Jane has over 15 years of experience of work in the field of wetlands conservation
and had previously set up WWF International's Freshwater Programme for Europe
and the Middle East while working with WWF International. She takes up her new
post in March 2004; meanwhile, Douglas Taylor will continue until then as Interim
CEO, to ensure continuity of leadership." [23/12/03]
From
the Ramsar Forum. Second National Conference
on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration, September 12-15, 2004
at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center and the Grand Hyatt in
Seattle, Washington. Clare
Stark (cstark@estuaries.org), Communications Coordinator for Restore
America's Estuaries, writes: "Restore America's
Estuaries is thrilled to announce that the Habitat Restoration Community
for our coasts and estuaries will be gathering together again - this time in
Seattle. The Second National Conference will advance the knowledge, pace, practice
and success of coastal and estuarine habitat restoration. The Conference will
address habitat restoration in coastal and estuarine areas of the United States,
including the Great Lakes region, as well as international initiatives and issues.
As part of our international focus, we will be having a presentation on the
restoration of Iraq's Mesopotamian Marshlands. The Conference will also feature
a focus on restoration challenges and opportunities in the Pacific Northwest,
with an emphasis on transferable lessons learned. For more information on the
Conference, visit our website at http://www.estuaries.org/2ndnationalconference.php,
or contact Nicole Maylett at nmaylett@estuaries.org. The Call for Presentations
and Posters is available online at http://www.estuaries.org/objects/2004RAECFP.pdf.
The deadline for presentations is February 2, 2004 and the deadline for
posters is March 1, 2004. Conference registration is scheduled to begin in March
2004." [22/12/03] [links
later removed]
The
Ramsar Convention in Thailand. In late November and early December
2003, Ramsar's Senior Advisor for the Asia/Pacific, Dr Guangchun
Lei, attended Thailand's National Workshop
on the Ramsar Convention and visited the two Wetlands of International
Importance -- Krabi Estuary and the Nong Bong Kai Non-Hunting Area -- that are
the subject of the DANIDA-funded 2001-2006 project "Implementation of the
Ramsar Convention in Thailand". Here
is Guangchun's brief illustrated report on the workshop and the visits
and his assessment of Thailand's rapid progress since joining the Convention
in 1998. [20/12/03]
More to follow.
Watch this space. Feedback and suggestions are welcome
to: the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, 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 Secretariat.
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 . . . . . . Take a number and a plastic
chair -- we'll call you when there's room at the head of the queue.