What's
New @ Ramsar What's
New @ Ramsar
1
March 2004
Newly
available. Coral reefs and the Ramsar Convention.
In what one can hope will be the beginning of a new series, on Under-Represented
Wetland Types in the Ramsar List, the Secretariat is posting a Web
page on one of the most prominent of these, coral reefs.
The new index page is meant to provide links toRamsar news items, reports, and
Resolutions/Recommendations on coral issues available on this Web site, as well
as links to a handful of the most important external Web resources on coral
and a more-or-less up-to-date list of Wetlands of International Importance with
significant coral components. Here it is.
If our luck holds, we'll come along later with similar index pages on other
under-represented wetland types, such as mangroves, mountain wetlands, peatlands,
seagrass beds, wet grasslands, and maybe even temporary pools! [01/03/04]
News
from the SGF. Armenia completes 2002 Small
Grants Fund project. Armenia has completed its 2002 SGF project "Current
issues of conservation and wise use of wetlands and wetland biodiversity in
the European new independent states". The project centered upon
a seminar that was carried out by the NGO Professional
and Entrepreneurial Orientation Union (NGO Orientation)
and was additionally supported by LakeNet through
U. S. Agency for International Development funding. The seminar's five-day programme
was composed of plenary and poster sessions, work groups, excursions and other
cultural events. In total, 64 participants from Armenia, Belarus, Czech Republic,
Denmark, Georgia, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kyrgyz Republic, Lithuania, Moldova,
Netherlands, Russian Federation, Switzerland, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United
Kingdom and USA took part. These participants were representatives of central
and regional state environmental bodies, protected areas programmes, research
institutes and universities, international organizations, national NGOs and
private sector. The outcomes of the seminar are three sets of recommendations
on "Conventions and International Cooperation", "Ramsar Sites
and Wetland Conservation" and "Wise Use of Wetland Resources"
and 43 presentations on many very interesting topics that you can find in the
summary report from Simon Papyan, Karen Jenderedjian and Gagik Kirakossian,
here. [27/02/04]
Headline
story. Ramsar in Österreich. The
Lebensministerium of Austria and the provincial environmental authorities have
produced a fine little 40-page brochure on Ramsar Sites in that beautiful country,
both the eleven previous sites designated over the years since Austria joined
the Convention in 1983 and the five most recent peatland and karst sites designated
for the Ramsar List on World
Wetlands Day 2004. Edited by Michaela Bodner, Wolfgang Pelikan, Gerhard
Sigmund, Gert Michael Steiner and their colleagues, the leaflet discusses
Austria's Ramsar and wetland conservation progress in general and then devotes
a page-spread to each of the Ramsar Sites, mostly in
the German language, naturally, but with a cameo overview in English for each
of them. A fold-out map of Ramsar Sites comes at the end, and there's
a contacts list showing Austrian addresses for government agencies, BirdLife,
WWF Austria, Distelverein, Ramsar OEG Schrems, and other national and local
points of wetland interest. The Ramsar Secretariat has been blessed with about
50 copies of this booklet and we'd be pleased to send you one free of charge
if you'd like to have it and will promise to show it to your friends as well.
Just write to Valerie Higgins (higgins@ramsar.org)
and give her your postal address. Here
are some sample pictures. [26/02/04]
| Ramsar Trivia: Who can join the Ramsar Convention? Answer. |
Who's where?
Who was where? Cumulated record of travels throughout the year.
|
Highlights from World Wetlands Day. In Dominican Republic, children in the schools in Oviedo and Pedernales labored long over their wetland artwork, WWD 2004. See it here. |
New
on the Site: Updated
SGF Operational Guidelines in Spanish; Text
of Ramsar MOC with IWMI; SC30
decisiones en español; Media
release for CBD's COP7 (PDF). [20/02/04]
New
Africa Assistant joins the Secretariat. Mr Ahmed
El-Sabban of Egypt has taken up his post as the Secretariat's new
Assistant Advisor (or Adviser) for Africa, overlapping (if that's the right
word) for a week with our irrepressible Nassima Aghanim of Algeria, who will
be sorely missed. Ahmed, an agronomist with an MSc in Environmental Management
from the International University for African Development in Alexandria, Egypt,
has until recently been 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 and will be supporting the Senior Advisor for
Africa, Mr Abou Bamba. This week Ahmed will be immersed in learning the Secretariat's
sometimes bizarre office procedures, but after that you can send him a welcoming
message at africa@ramsar.org. The farewell lunch for Nassima will be on Friday.
[26/02/04]
New
Director for the Ramsar Regional Center - Panama. The Regional
Ramsar Centre for Training and Research on Wetlands in the Western Hemisphere
(Centro Regional Ramsar en Panamá para la Capacitación
e Investigación en Humedales en el Hemisferio Occidental)
has begun operations as of 5 January 2004, under the supervision of its new
Executive Director, Ms Rosa Montañez.
The establishment of the Regional Centre was first proposed to Standing Committee
by the Government of Panama in October 1998 in order to "support the implementation
of the Ramsar Convention through research and studies on the management and
rational use of wetlands, with attention to biodiversity and the benefits that
wetlands offer to the human population. It will promote the Convention's objectives
through the development of seminars, conferences, and meetings at the regional
level and will establish links among the Contracting Parties to facilitate the
application of the Convention through coordination and exchange between the
Western Hemisphere and other regions of the world." Standing Committee
welcomed the proposal in Decision
SC21-5 and has watched its progress closely since. Ms Montañez will
be visiting the Secretariat in early March 2004 for discussions on the developing
work plan and regional priorities. Here is a news release
from our Americas team, Margarita Astrálaga
and Iván Dario Valencia, on Ms Montañez's background
and new appointment, in Español
and English.
[24/02/04]
Announcement.
EPCEM course
announcement. The
European Postgraduate Course in Environmental Management (EPCEM) provides an
advanced international training in environmental policy and management. In addition
to specialist university education (at MA/MSc level), this can be an excellent
preparation for the environmental professional practice. EPCEM 2004/2005 starts
in September and contains a training in knowledge and skills needed to solve
environmental problems. An interdisciplinary research project and internship
in one of the European countries are part of the training. Find
more information about the course, and the application deadlines, here.
[24/02/04]
MedWetCoast
technical seminar on "National Strategies and Policies for Wetlands".
"National Strategies and Policies for Wetlands" was the theme of a
regional technical seminar organised by the Ministry of Environment of the Republic
of Lebanon in Beirut from 16-18 February 2004 in the framework of the UNDP-GEF
"MedWetCoast" project. It attracted more than 60 participants from
ten countries plus representatives from UNDP, IUCN, WWF, Tour du Valat, the
MedWet Coordination Unit and the Ramsar Secretariat. The seminar provides a
very good example how the Ramsar Convention can provide a good framework and
operational tools for international cooperation and transfer of know-how and
expertise. Tobias Salathé
provides this brief illustrated report of the seminar and an overview of national
wetland policy development in the Mediterranean region. [23/02/04]
Announcement.
WWF Living Waters opening. WWF International is
seeking applications for the post of Deputy Director,
Living Waters Programme, based in Zeist, Netherlands. Applications
close 15th March. The position will be responsible for day to day administration
of WWF's international freshwater programme plus some key conservation activities.
Terms of reference for the post may be obtained from either http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/jobs/index.cfm
or by e-mailing Ms B. Heikamp at bheikamp@wwf.nl.
Regards - (Mr) Jamie Pittock, Director, Living Waters Programme. [23/02/04]
Chile
designates privately-owned coastal lagoon.
The Ramsar Secretariat is
delighted to announce that Chile has named its 8th wetland to the List of Wetlands
of International Importance, effective 2 February 2004. As described by Iván
Dario Valencia from data received in the Ramsar Information Sheet,
Santuario de la Naturaleza Laguna Conchalí (34
hectares, 31º53'S 071º30'W) is a Nature Sanctuary and Private Reserve
in Región IV, a brackish coastal lagoon representative of wetlands in
central Chile, where the wildlife of the Atacama-Sechura Desert and Chilean
Matorral ecoregions meet, and a key staging area for migratory birds along the
central Chilean coast. The Pelambres copper mining company purchased the area
in 1997, and the site was cleaned, fenced and is undergoing a restoration process.
Footpaths, observatories and information panels have been placed to attract
ecotourism and carry out environmental education. The mining port nearby has
a contingency plan in place to avoid impacts on the site and there are no major
threats currently affecting the area. Here
is further description and some photographs. [20/02/04] [français,
español]
Announcement.
Change of date for STRP's 12th meeting. For reasons
that are way too complicated to be mentioned in this brief note, the date of
the 12th meeting of the Scientific and Technical Review
Panel has been changed from December 2004 to 1-4
February 2005 at the Secretariat's facilities in Gland, Switzerland.
Members and Observers are beseeched to note that date in their calendars and
to find something else to do in December. Readers requiring more of the rationale
for this change may click here.
[20/02/04]
Seychelles
progresses towards Ramsar accession. Just after World Wetlands Day,
Abou Bamba, Ramsar Senior Advisor for Africa,
visited Mahe, Seychelles, in order to facilitate
the Seychelles pre-accession workshop, 2-7 February 2004, hold discussions with
officials on the next steps for Seychelles' ratification, and make a series
of field visits of the Seychelles wetland sites to be designated. The meeting
was jointly organized with WWF-Madagascar, and financial support was provided
by the Ramsar Swiss Grant for Africa (Government of Switzerland) and WWF-Madagascar.
Here is Abou's brief report on the
workshop's encouraging results. [19/02/04]
Now
available. Recommendations
from the Coral Reef Management Issues Workshop, Global
Conference on Oceans, Coasts and Islands, UNESCO, Paris, 10 to 14 November 2003.
[19/02/04]
New
RBI guidelines announced. On 14 February the Secretary General of
the Ramsar Convention, Peter Bridgewater, launched a new version of the Guidelines
on Integrating Conservation and Wise Use into River Basin Management.
These guidelines are unusual in that they contain local examples from Southeast
Asia, as well as being available in Malay, Indonesian, Thai and Vietnamese –
as well as English. The guidelines were produced with funding support from the
ASEAN regional centre for biodiversity conservation, a joint venture between
ASEAN and the EU. "Wise use is ultimately in the hands of local people,
so having the guidelines in local languages and with local case studies is an
excellent example for other regions to follow,” said Dr Bridgewater. As
it was Valentine’s Day, Faizal Parish, Director of Global Environment Centre,
who managed the project, urged everyone to “learn to love a river or wetland,
today and for the rest of the year!” The guidelines are available in hardcopy
and on CD from the Global Environment Centre
in Malaysia (http://www.gecnet.info).
-- reported by Sebastià Semene. [18/02/04]
Ramsar
Sites Database now online! From Wetlands International: "Wetlands
International manages and develops the Ramsar Sites Database under contract
to the Ramsar Convention Secretariat. We are very pleased to announce that the
Ramsar Sites Database is now fully accessible
through the internet! Via this new information tool, we hope to reach as many
interested people as possible and to provide useful data to the public for designated
wetlands around the globe in order to promote their conservation. A search facility
now makes it possible to find one or more Ramsar sites by selecting on nearly
any combination of criteria. Not only is it possible to do a "quick search"
on site name or country, an "advanced" query even allows the user
to select on criteria such as coordinates, designation date, wetland type or
land use, to name a few. There are several ways to view the information on each
Ramsar site that result from your query. Reporting includes a Site Overview,
the original Ramsar Information Sheet, and the Ramsar Site Directory Report.
In addition, there is a possibility to export the data for further analysis
and/or mapping purposes. For any further information on the Ramsar Sites Database,
the Ramsar team will be pleased to help you. Please contact Ellen
Diémé at Wetlands International: ellen.dieme@wetlands.org.
The Ramsar Sites Database is available on the Wetlands International website
at http://www.wetlands.org/RSDB/default.htm."
[17/02/04] [français et/y español]
Announcement.
Nordic
Wetland Conference / Ramsar meeting set for May 2004.
The
Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management (DN) is pleased to announce
that a Nordic Wetland Conference/Ramsar Meeting will
be arranged 4-7 May 2004 in Brekstad in Ørland Municipality outside Trondheim
this spring. The report "Nordisk våtmarksvern" ("Nordic
Wetland Conservation") has been worked out by a group of experts nominated
by the Nordic Council of Ministers, with the Norwegian Directorate for Nature
Management as lead and secretary. This report is expected to be available in
printed format in March 2004. Findings from this report and selected recommendations
from Ramsar COP8 (Valencia, Spain 2002) will form the basis for the conference.
The main audience of the conference will be national Ramsar authorities of the
Nordic countries and other national authorities relevant for implementation
of the Convention. Furthermore, participants from the Baltic countries and northwest
Russia as well as from relevant non- and inter-governmental organisations will
be invited as observers. Participation in the conference will be limited
and by invitation only. Here is
the text of the announcement. [17/02/04]
Vacancy
announcement. Wetlands International
seeks Business Development Officer. Wetlands International is seeking
to fill the new position of Business Development Officer. This new post has
been established to consolidate and to continue the growth of Wetlands International's
fundraising capability. This is a demanding, challenging and exciting role,
requiring a creative individual with highly developed communication skills.
The position requires the ability to convince and influence others to support
our work, by working with the CEO and the Global Management Team to build and
maintain relationships with new and current funders. For the full announcement
go to http://www.wetlands.org/aboutWI/vacancies/BDO.htm.
[17/02/04]
Now
available. Photos of the Ramsar/Swiss
side event at the CBD's COP7. The Ramsar Convention, the Swiss
Agency for the Environment, Forests and Lanscape, and the Global Environment
Centre hosted a side event to the CBD's COP7 in Kuala Lumpur, 13 February
2004, entitled "Wetlands, Rivers & Water:
the Developing Ramsar Convention", during which Ambassador Beat
Nobs of Switzerland argued that "the Ramsar Convention is the major global
convention on water". Speakers included Peter Bridgewater (Ramsar), Gordana
Beltram (Slovenia), Beat Nobs (Switzerland), Tomme Young (IUCN Environmental
Law Centre), and Faisal Parish (Global Environment Centre). Here
are some photos. [17/02/04]
Uganda,
host of the next Ramsar COP, lists second wetland. The Secretariat
is extremely pleased to be able to announce that Uganda has listed its second
Wetland of International Importance, following Lake George designated 15 years
ago. The new designation, an extraordinarily interesting site in its own right,
is also very timely as Uganda is pursuing its preparations for hosting the Convention's
9th COP in November 2005, and very appropriate since Uganda has long been a
leader in wetland policy in Africa and developed one of the world's first National
Wetland Policies based on Ramsar principles (in 1995, following
Canada and New Zealand). As described by Ramsar's Nassima
Aghanim, based upon the RIS compiled by Paul
Mafabi, Uganda's national focal point for the Convention, "Lake
Nabugabo wetland system" (22,000 ha; 00°24'S 031°54'E)
is a shallow freshwater lake 8.2km long by 5km wide, with three smaller lakes,
separated from Lake Victoria by a sand bar ca.2km wide. The lakes, separated
from Victoria for the past 3,700 years, are very interesting for the evolutionary
history of the fish: several endemic fish remain that have become depleted or
extinct in Victoria by the introduction of Nile perch. But that's not all --
here is Nassima's brief report on the
site, with a JPG of the map. [16/02/04] [français,
español]
Sri
Lanka names mangrove lagoon for the Ramsar List.
The Ramsar Secretariat is pleased to announce that the Democratic Socialist
Republic of Sri Lanka has designated the Maduganga Mangrove Estuary for the
Ramsar List as its third Wetland of International Importance, effective 11 December
2003. Maduganga (915 hectares, 06°18'N
080°03'E) in Southern Province is a mangrove lagoon joined to the sea by
a narrow canal and containing 15 islands of varying size, some of which are
inhabited. It is formed of two shallow waterbodies, Maduganga and smaller Randombe
Lake, connected by two narrow channels. On the islands and shores relatively
undisturbed mangrove vegetation contains a rich biodiversity qualifying the
wetland for 7 Criteria of International Importance.
Here is a description of the new site prepared by Ramsar's Liazzat Rabbiosi
from the RIS, with some photographs and a map. [15/02/04] [français,
español]
CBD
COP7 -- Ramsar/Swiss side event on global water issues. "The
water issue has become one of the first priority in the international agenda
after the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, but two years
on, we still lack a global strategy for water, the CBD discussions have hardly
started to solve a part of the problem, and no international instrument is really
focusing on the issue." To address this question, the Ramsar Convention,
the Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Lanscape, and the Global
Environment Centre hosted a side event to the CBD's COP7 in Kuala Lumpur,
13 February, entitled "Wetlands, Rivers &
Water: the Developing Ramsar Convention", during which Ambassador
Beat Nobs of Switzerland argued that "the Ramsar Convention is the major
global convention on water". Speakers included Peter Bridgewater (Ramsar),
Gordana Beltram (Slovenia), Beat Nobs (Switzerland), Tomme Young (IUCN Environmental
Law Centre), and Faisal Parish (Global Environment Centre). Here
is the invitation, here is the
associated media briefing (PDF),
and here are the photos.
[13/02/04]
Ramsar
and IWMI sign Memo of Cooperation. The International
Water Management Institute (http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/)
is a nonprofit scientific research organization focusing on the sustainable
use of water and land resources in agriculture and on the water needs of developing
countries. IWMI's mission is "Improving water and land resources management
for food livelihoods and nature", and it works with partners in the South
to develop tools and methods to help these countries eradicate poverty through
more effective management of their water and land resources. It has research
projects running in 21 countries in Asia and Africa, and its work is coordinated
through regional offices located in India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka,
and Thailand, with subregional offices in Ethiopia, Ghana, Nepal, Uzbekistan,
China, and Laos. The research team is composed of approximately 100 scientists
from 16 different countries. IWMI's staff have already for some time been extraordinarily
helpful to the Convention's work - IWMI's Rebecca Tharme
is the Co-Lead of the Ramsar STRP's Working Group 3
on "Water Resource Management" and the lead on the cross-cutting
issue of agriculture - and have been collaborating closely with the MedWet Coordination
Unit on Mediterranean projects. Now this relationship has been formalized in
a Memorandum of Cooperation signed by Ramsar's Peter
Bridgewater and Prof. Dr Frank Rijsberman,
Director General of IWMI based in Sri Lanka, effective 26 January 2004. The
text of the new MOC is available here. [13/02/04]
Now
available. Ramsar intervention on inland waters,
CBD's COP7. The Secretary General, Peter
Bridgewater, made an introductory intervention in Working Group I's
discussion on inland waters under the thematic programmes of work, 13 February
(as part of the 7th meeting of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention
on Biological Diversity, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), and here
is the text. [13/02/04]
Publications
on river biodiversity conservation launched on World Wetlands Day.
"Conserving Natura 2000 Rivers" is mammoth four-year project,
sponsored by seven British conservation agencies led by English
Nature, which consisted of field-based trials, original research
and the collation of up-to-the minute scientific discoveries. The result is
a body of work that conservation organizations around Europe can use to achieve
best practice in managing their special rivers and threatened freshwater species.
Dr Lynn Parr (L.Parr@ccw.gov.uk), Technical
Editor, English Nature, and Countryside Council for Wales, writes that a series
of 44 publications have been launched in London on World Wetlands Day which
embody these reports on the multifarious aspects of conserving freshwater species
of European importance, and they are available free of charge in hard copy or
CD-ROM and for
downloading. Here is her announcement.
[13/02/04]
UNESCO's
MAB Programme joins Conservation Finance Alliance. In a rapid follow-on
from our item about UNEP last week (see below),
Ramsar's Alain Lambert and UNESCO's Peter Dogse report that UNESCO, through
its Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB),
is joining the Conservation Finance Alliance. [12/02/04]
Now
available. Mangrove publications on Southeast
Asia. Proceedings of the International
Symposium on Conservation and Wise Use of Mangroves in Southeast Asia, 6th-8th
of October 2003, Bander Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, has
been published by the Ramsar Center Japan
and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies,
at the beginning of 2004. All presentations at the workshop have been nicely
divided into two volumes. The first one is entitled "Mangroves in Southeast
Asia, Status, Issues and Challenges" -- the second is entitled "Education
for Sustainable Development, Putting Research Knowledge into Action". Copies
available from Ms. Reiko Nakamura, Secretary General, Ramsar Center Japan, 2-10-3
Minamikugahara. Ota-Ku, Tokyo 146-0084 Japan, Tel: +81-3-3758-7926, Fax: +81-3-3758-7927,
email: reiko.nakamura@nifty.ne.jp. For more information on the symposium, please
visit http://www.ramsar.org/mtg/mtg_brunei_oct2003.htm.
[12/02/04]
Now
available. Ramsar intervention on protected
areas, CBD's COP7. The Secretary General, Peter
Bridgewater, made a prepared intervention in Working Group I's agenda
item 24 discussions on protected areas, 11 February (as part of the 7th meeting
of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity,
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), and here
is the text. [11/02/04]
"Sustainable
management of wetlands and shallow lakes" workshop. In Palencia,
Spain, 27-31 January 2004, Senior Advisor for Europe
Tobias Salathé participated in the advisory board meeting
of a Life project on two Ramsar Sites in Spain and Greece and a seminar on the
management of protected areas, with his costs covered by the Global
Nature Fund. He reports that "Sustainable
management of wetlands and shallow lakes is the title of a demonstration
project carried out by the Living Lakes partnership of the German-based Global
Nature Fund, cofinanced (49%) through the European Commission's LIFE-Environment
budget line. The project focuses on the restoration and long-term sustainable
development of two demonstration wetlands and Ramsar Sites in Spain (Laguna
de la Nava de Fuentes and nearby Laguna de Boada) and Greece (Nestos delta and
adjoining lagoons), including the improvement of the water quality of the shallow
lakes and coastal lagoons, the protection and conservation of the biodiversity
and wildlife dependent on the sites and the development of management plans,
also in accordance with the requirements of the European Union Water Framework
Directive." Here is his brief
report on the project and some photos of the associated training workshop.
[10/02/04]
Now
available. Ramsar address to the CBD's COP7.
The Secretary General, Peter Bridgewater,
addressed the opening session of the 7th meeting of the Conference of the Parties
of the Convention on Biological Diversity, 9 February 2004, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
and here is the text. And here
is a media release prepared for the occasion (PDF). [10/02/04]
Now
available. Ramsar Advisory Mission report
on the Ukrainian Danube Delta. In October 2003 a joint mission was
carried out by the Man and Biosphere Programme (MaB)
of UNESCO and the Ramsar Secretariat to
the Danube Biosphere Reserve and Kyliiske Mouth Ramsar
Site. The core zone of this protected area covers the most pristine
and dynamic part of the large Danube Delta. The Delta region is internationally
recognized as a transboundary Biosphere Reserve and Ramsar Site, covering nearly
700,000 hectares in Ukraine and Romania. The State Agency for Protected Areas
(Ramsar's Administrative Authority in Ukraine) of the Ministry of the Environment
and Natural Resources invited two experts, Dr Jan Kvet,
chairman of the Czech National MaB Committee and member of the MaB Bureau, and
Dr Tobias Salathé from the Ramsar
Secretariat to advise the Ukrainian authorities about measures to improve the
functioning of the protected area, especially in the light of the planned construction
of a waterway through the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta. Their recommendations
regarding the different alternatives proposed for navigation routes through
the delta are now available as Ramsar Advisory
Mission report no. 53, and here again are some of Tobias'
photos of area at the time, including of course Vilkovo, the "Venice
of the East". [09/02/04]
Mangrove
rehabilitation Web page launched. Roy R.
"Robin" Lewis III, Professional Wetland Scientist (http://www.lewisenv.com),
of Salt Springs, USA, writes: "I am pleased to announce the opening of
the web site www.mangroverestoration.com
and the availability of the paper: Stevenson, N. J., R. R. Lewis and P. R.
Burbridge. 1999. Disused shrimp ponds and mangrove rehabilitation. Pages 277-297
in "An International Perspective on Wetland Rehabilitation", W. J.
Streever (Ed.). Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands. 338 pp., here.
Hard copies may be requested from: SherryCapaz@aol.com. Additional papers are
available at this site, and we are soliciting other papers for inclusion on
the site for general availability. Please respond to lesrrl3@aol.com."
[09/02/04]
Wetlands
International announces action plan for Central European peatlands.
Saskia Henderikse, Communications
Officer at Wetlands International, writes that "Wetlands International
is very pleased to announce the report Strategy and
Action Plan for Mire and Peatland Conservation in Central Europe. The
Central European Peatland Project (CEPP) involved eight countries in
the Baltic-Black Sea corridor: Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania,
Slovakia, Poland, and Ukraine. . . . The Strategy and Action Plan has now been
finalised thanks to the work of the focal countries' representatives, managed
by the Danish National Museum and Wetlands International. The publication is
available for downloading on the Wetlands International website at http://www.wetlands.org/pubs&/CEPP.htm."
Here is WI's announcement, with a testimonial
by Ramsar's Secretary General. [06/04/04]
Announcement.
CBD database on economics, trade and incentives now
online. The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD) has revised its Web site material on economics, trade and incentives,
in part by creating a new database on case studies and related information on
incentive measures. The new information database on incentive measures allows
one to search, locate and retrieve information using different search criteria,
including regions, incentive measures, countries, ecosystems, keywords and words
in the title. Information is being added to the database on an ongoing basis
with the aim of creating an up-to-date unique resource that is freely available
to governments, stakeholders, and others. The information database on incentive
measures is available on the CBD's Web site at: http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/socio-eco/incentives/case-studies.aspx
. [06/02/04]
Final
Notice. Request
for Proposals, Society of Wetland Scientists' Ramsar Support Grant Program.
The Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS)
is soliciting proposals for their Ramsar Support Grant Program. The grant program
was established to advance Ramsar Convention objectives, including the selection,
designation, management, and networking of Ramsar sites; and the promotion of
Ramsar's Wise Use guidelines. Two to five projects are funded each year at a
level of US $5,000 on a competitive basis as reviewed by an evaluation committee.
Grant guidelines, an application form, and a description of previous grant awards
can be found on the SWS
web site or you can request these materials from: Eric Gilman, Society
of Wetland Scientists, Ramsar Support Grant Program, E-mail: ericgilman@earthlink.net.
Applications must be received by 1 March 2004.
[06/02/04]
New
Zealand plans symposium on wetland restoration. Dr Philippe
Gerbeaux, Senior Technical Support Officer (Freshwater/Wetland Ecology)
and New Zealand's Ramsar STRP National Focal Point, based in the West Coast
Conservancy, Department of Conservation, in Hokitika, announces the National
Wetland Symposium "Restoring Wetlands - a practical forum",
set for Wellington, New Zealand, 27-28 February 2004, with an optional field
trip to the Nga Manu Reserve on the Kapiti Coast on the 29th. The Symposium
"is intended to be a highly practical, participant driven, forum for knowledge
exchange, training and networking for landowners, iwi, people committed to wetland
biodiversity, local government staff and wetland scientists". Here
are more details. [06/02/04]
MedWet
celebration event for World Wetlands Day. Maria
Anagnostopoulou, MedWet Communications Officer, reports that "The
Coordination Unit of the MedWet Initiative, which is hosted in Athens
on the initiative and with the support of the Hellenic
Ministry for the Environment, Physical Planning & Public Works,
organised a special event for the celebration of the World Wetlands Day, on
Monday, 2nd of February 2004, in the conference hall of Villa Kazouli (its HQ).
The event aimed at informing government and non-government bodies, the MedWet
countries' embassies in Greece, the Press and representatives from agencies
involved in wetland management in Greece, about the activities, the benefits
and the perspectives that emerge from the implementation of the international
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and the operation of the MedWet Coordination Unit,
for the Mediterranean basin, and in Greece in particular." Some 60 VIPs
showed up and got quite a show, and lunch as well: the MedWet Coordinator Spyros
Kouvelis gave a frankly superb PowerPoint on MedWet's current achievements,
and Ramsar's Deputy Secretary General, Nick Davidson
(photo left), gave an exciting keynote address on MedWet's role in the Convention
and the Convention's path towards the future in a water-scarce world. Here's
Maria's brief report and Nick's
address, with some nice photos of Villa Kazouli at nearly its best.
[05/02/04]
New
resources. Wet
words. A decade or so ago the MedWet collaborators established a
glossary of wetlands terminology, as well as a set of equivalent terms in English,
Spanish, French,
and Italian (at that time, the MedWet phase
I secretariat was based in Rome, and WWF-Italia
seems to have done the heavy lifting), and ever since then we've all been thumbing
our ragged old paper copies in the belief that these invaluable tools had been
done on an early Remington stand-up typewriter and had either to be kept in
a safe deposit box or memorized and swallowed, because they were otherwise long
gone. Felicitously, however, Christian Perennou of
the Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat has somehow electronicalized
these two files and they are now available on the MedWet Web site. Thus, Agua
= Water = Eau = Acqua, as if you didn't know that already, and Bentonita = Bentonite
= Bentonite = Bentonite, which may come as more of a surprise. All humans who
need to work in wetlands lore in more than one language ought to bookmark these
pages immediately. English
glossary, four-language
translations. Thanks again Christian and
MedWet. [05/02/04]
IUCN
Netherlands Committee's Small grants for Wetlands Programme begins second phase.
The Small grants for Wetlands Programme (SWP) is managed by the Netherlands
Committee for IUCN (NC-IUCN) with funds from the Dutch
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The SWP financially supports small-scale
wetland conservation and sustainable management projects that are designed and
implemented by local NGOs in developing countries. The list of eligible countries
has been considerably extended and now includes some 130 countries. The next
deadline for the submission of project proposals by local NGOs to SWP is now
set on 1st March 2004. Esther Blom provides
the details here in English, Français, Español, and Português.
[04/02/04]
UNEP
joins Conservation Finance Alliance. The Conservation
Finance Alliance (CFA) was created to catalyze increased and sustainable
public and private financing for biodiversity conservation to support the effective
implementation of global commitments to conservation. Currently, the member
organizations are Conservation International, Convention of Wetlands (Ramsar,
1971), Danida (Royal Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs), GTZ, IUCN, KfW, National
Parks Conservation Association, The Nature Conservancy, RedLAC, The Royal Society
for the Protection of Birds, TFCA Secretariat, UNDP, Wildlife Conservation Society,
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF-International), World Wildlife Fund - U.S. (associate
member, World Bank), and Alain Lambert,
Ramsar's Senior Trade and Development Advisor, is presently the Chairperson.
On 25 January, Sheila Aggarwal-Khan of
the UNEP/GEF Coordination Office in Nairobi submitted UNEP's letter of intent
and added UNEP to that list of members. More information is available on the
CFA Web site. [04/02/04]
WWF
report: $70 billion worth of freshwater resources at risk annually.
"According to a new WWF report, US$70 billion worth of goods and services
from freshwater resources could be at risk annually if governments fail to manage
their wetlands sustainably. The report, The Economic
Values of the World's Wetlands, is the first comprehensive overview
of the economic values of the world's wetlands. It analyzes the 89 existing
valuation studies and uses a database covering a wetland area of 630,000 km²,
putting the annual value of wetlands at a very conservative US$3.4 billion.
But extending this figure using the Ramsar Convention's global wetland area
estimate of 12.8 million km², the WWF report concludes that the annual
global value of wetlands is US$70 billion. It shows that amenity and recreation,
flood control, recreational fishing, and water filtration are the most valued
functions of wetlands. . . . However, according to the report billions of dollars
are spent each year on the draining of wetlands for irrigation, agriculture,
and other land uses for immediate economic benefits. This has led to increased
flooding, water contamination, and water shortages worldwide, and costs governments
large amounts of time and money to later repair such damage.
"WWF believes that governments must recognize the economic, social, and environmental value of wetlands and include the sustainable management of these ecosystems in their national agenda. They should also list their most valuable wetland sites under the Ramsar Convention, the only international treaty on wetland protection." - from the WWF press release. The report, which was co-funded by the Swiss Agency for Environment, Forests, and Landscape, can be downloaded in PDF format from WWF's Web site here. [03/02/04]
Now
available. World Wetlands Day interview with
the Secretary General. Peter Bridgewater,
the Secretary General, participating in World Wetlands Day ceremonies in Jalisco
state in Mexico, was interviewed for Jalisco state television and radio by Miguel
Magaña Virgen, Director General de Planeación y Vinculación
Ambiental, Secretaria de Medio Ambiente para el Desarrollo Sustentable, for
broadcast by the Canal 7 TV show "Jalisco Natural" on Thursday, 5
February, and on radio on 7 February. His remarks cover the history and role
of the Ramsar Convention in global environmental efforts and Peter's views on
its role in the future. The 20-minute MP3 audio file of the interview (6MB)
is now available for download here; to save space, Sebastià Semene
has edited out translations, so the questions are in Spanish but Peter's replies
are in English. [03/02/04] [link
later removed]
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!):
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]
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 ramsar@ramsar.org). 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.