What's New @ Ramsar

The Ramsar Bulletin Board

2 April 2004

Headline story. MedWet Unit seeks new Communications Officer. The MedWet Initiative is a long-term collaborative effort under the Ramsar Convention for the conservation of Mediterranean wetlands. The MedWet Coordination Unit (based in Kifissia, Athens, Greece), an outposted unit of the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, announces the position vacancy (full-time) of the MedWet Communications Officer. The MedWet Coordination Unit collaborates closely with the expert wetland centres around the Mediterranean that make up the MedWet Team, in order to develop and implement the programme of activities of MedWet. The terms of reference are available here [link later removed] -- the deadline for applications is 24 April 2004 with a starting date of June 2004. [02/04/04]

Headline story. WetKit Ramsar launched in Canada. Wetkit Ramsar is a brand new Web site designed to help Canadians find information and resources on the Ramsar Convention and their own Wetlands of International Importance. This extremely attractive and well-organized site provides resources for learning about wetlands and wetland conservation; for nominating a Ramsar site; for managing wetlands in a sustainable manner; and for assessing Canada`s progress on the Ramsar Convention. WetKit Ramsar is supported by the Canadian Wildlife Service of Environment Canada, the North American Wetlands Conservation Council (Canada), and Ducks Unlimited Canada, and is a subset of the popular WetKit Web site. Here is the announcement (version français). [02/04/04]

Headline story. UK designates salt lake on Cyprus. The Ramsar Secretariat is extremely pleased to announce that the United Kingdom has designated as it latest Wetland of International Importance a salt lake and associated marsh located within its Sovereign Base Area of the Royal Air Force on the Akrotiri Peninsula in southernmost Cyprus. "Akrotiri" (2,171 hectares; 34°37'N 032°58'E), also an Important Bird Area, is being added to the Ramsar List today but its designation is effective as of a year ago, 20 March 2003, because of some minor technicalities in sorting out the RIS data for the site. Ramsar's Assistant Advisor for Europe, Estelle Gironnet, has prepared a succinct description of the site based upon the RIS information provided by the UK's Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), right here. In addition, in June 2002 the Senior Advisor for Europe, Dr Tobias Salathé, was invited to visit Akrotiri and advise the authorities and local NGOs and stakeholders on its conservation and wise use, and his report on that visit can also be viewed here. [01/04/04] [français et/y español]

Who's where? 

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is in Jeju, South Korea, for a seminar organised by UNEP on MEAs and Capacity Building, 25-28 March, followed by the UNEP Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum, 29-31 March, and finally by discussions on Ramsar matters with Republic of Korea officials in Seoul. [26/03/04]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Glasgow, Scotland, for the 12th meeting of the Convention on Migratory Species' Scientific Council, after which, 2 April, he will go to Edinburgh for the Wetlands International Board of Directors meeting and the Wetlands International/UK/Netherlands global flyways conference "Waterbirds Around the World", where he will make a plenary presentation on the African-Eurasian flyways. [30/03/04]

Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer, is in Edinburgh, Scotland, for discussions with Chris Prietto and members of the Wetlands International CEPA Specialist Group at the fringes of the Wetlands International Board meeting there, 1 April, and will then take a few days holiday in the old homeland. [01/04/04]

Margarita Astrálaga, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is in Quito, Ecuador, 27-30 March 2004, for a meeting, co-organized with IUCN South America, to works towards developing a strategy for the conservation and wise use of High Andean wetlands (as a follow-up to Resolution VIII.39 from COP8, 2002), with the participation of all relevant Parties in the region, the four partner organizations, some other NGOs, and a representative of the private sector. On 31 March Margarita will go to Bogotá, Colombia, for discussions with the Administrative Authority there, some national NGOs, and a conference on urban wetlands, 2 April. Following that she'll be on well-deserved leave until 17 April. [29/03/04]

Who was where? Cumulated record of travels throughout the year.

New on the Site: Ramsar and mangroves index page; New Protocol of Cooperation with Danone Group; Photos of Costa Rica's Caño Negro Ramsar Site; Under-represented wetland types index launched. [28/03/04]

Now available. Ramsar intervention at Global Ministerial Environment Forum. UNEP's Global Ministerial Environment Forum has been taking place in Jeju, Republic of Korea, in recent days, and Ramsar's Secretary General, Peter Bridgewater, made a number of contributions to the discussions, including this intervention on Ramsar and emerging water issues. [01/04/04]

From the Ramsar Forum, 31 March 2004: Preliminary results of the WWF waterbird survey of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China, from Mark Barter; The third "Mangrove Forest Ecology, Management and Restoration" training workshop will be held in Florida, USA, 21-24 February 2005, from R. R. Lewis. [01/04//04]

Ramsar visit to Uganda to scope out COP9 preparations. In mid-March 2004, a Ramsar team of three -- Peter Bridgewater, the Secretary General, Abou Bamba, the Senior Advisor for Africa, and Sebastià Semene -- visited Kampala in order to liaison with Ugandan government officials and wetlands staff on the progress of the preparations for the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, scheduled for mid-November 2005, and to assess the planned facilities in light of the past COP exigencies, which are many and varied. The Ramsar team came away profoundly cheered by the level of COP-enthusiasm in all the people they met and confident that suitable facilities will be readied for the occasion. With the help and prior planning of Paul Mafabi, Assistant Commissioner for Wetlands and for many years our 'daily contact' in the Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment, Dr Bridgewater's team had the opportunity to view the prospective facilities, take part in delayed World Wetlands Day celebrations, meet ministers, hold press conferences, and liaison with the in-country COP team, and promulgate a "media release". It's all here. [31/03/04]

Spotlight on the Evian Project. Since early 1998, the private-sector Danone Group has devoted considerable sums of money to assisting the Ramsar Convention in achieving our common goals for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands and water resources. Dedicated principally to capacity-building and outreach activities, Evian Project funds have been instrumental in holding training and awareness workshops all over the world, facilitating the setting up of Ramsar information centres, producing communications and CEPA materials for the Convention (including our leaflets, our magnificent exhibition, and most of our World Wetlands Day materials provided free to the public), and ... and ... and too many more things to mention here. An additional protocol signed in Paris on 22 March 2004 will provide matching funds for the WWF Living Waters Programme in the pursuit of Ramsar objectives in the Andean paramos region, the Niger River Basin, the wetlands of the Himalayas, and the Mekong River Basin. For the occasion of that ceremonial signing, Christophe Lefebvre produced a succinct PowerPoint summarizing the achievements of the Evian Project over the past six years, and you may view that here (in French, English to follow) as a Web page. And further to honor the occasion, we've revised our introductory page on the Evian Project to gather as much of our disparate material into one place as can conveniently be done without having to hire a consultant. [30/03/04]

Now available. Mangroves and the Ramsar Convention. In the burgeoning series of indexes -- "burgeoning" is not too strong a word! -- to Ramsar and other materials on "under-represented wetland types in the Ramsar List", another bud, leaf, or sprout has newly emerged, to wit, mangroves. Mangrove swamps are forested intertidal ecosystems that occupy sediment-rich sheltered tropical coastal environments, occurring from about 32ºN (Bermuda) to almost 39ºS (Victoria, Australia), and are represented in the Ramsar Classification Scheme chiefly by Wetland Type I ("Intertidal forested wetlands; includes mangrove swamps, nipah swamps and tidal freshwater swamp forests"). Mangroves join coral reefs and peatlands in our under-represented indexes, and may soon be followed by wet grasslands, seagrasses, mountain wetlands, temporary pools, and what not else. Each index page provides links to 1) relevant Ramsar Resolutions, Recommendations, and guidance documents; 2) pertinent and up-to-date external Web resources; 3) related news stories and background materials on the Ramsar Web site; 4) up-to-date lists of Ramsar Wetlands of International Importance that have that wetland type as its dominant wetland type or significantly present within the site (in PDF format, exported from the Ramsar Sites Database at Wetlands International); and 5) related Ramsar background documents on our Web site. These index pages are meant to be dynamic and we earnestly solicit readers' suggestions for additional links, especially to high-quality external Web resources. Here is the new mangrove page and here is the general under-represented wetland types index. [28/03/04]

Now available and more soon. New Zealand symposium on wetland restoration - results are coming in. In early February, Dr Philippe Gerbeaux (pgerbeaux@doc.govt.nz), New Zealand's Ramsar STRP National Focal Point based in the West Coast Conservancy, Department of Conservation, in Hokitika, informed us of the forthcoming the National Wetland Symposium "Restoring Wetlands - a practical forum", Wellington, New Zealand, 27-28 February 2004. The Symposium was "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", with details here. Now Philippe writes: "Melanie Dixon from Greater Wellington Regional Council, one of the organisers, has just sent me a notice that information on presentations made at the Forum had started to be loaded on http://www.biocommunity.org.nz/detail.php?ar_id=197. More will be loaded in the near future but for those interested they can already open the link and read a few interesting items. It would be great to put another article on your Ramsar News (with the link) when you can." [29/03/04]

Now available. "NigerWet" recommendations from the Mopti workshop. A Ramsar Network for Niger River Basin: "Atelier sur l'Établissement d'un Réseau de Sites Ramsar dans le Bassin du fleuve Niger", a workshop supported by local and national authorities of Mali, the Ramsar Convention, WWF's Living Waters Programme, and the Danone Evian Project, took place in late January 2004 in Mopti, Mali, on the shores of the Niger River. Amongst the significant conclusions of the meeting was a recommendation to begin work on creating a NigerWet regional wetland initiative for the Niger Basin nations, modeled on the Ramsar Convention's MedWet regional initiative. Here you may see the Report of the workshop (in French only), the Recommendations (in French so far, but English to follow, we're told), the List of Participants (in PDF), and a page of photos of the participants with and without fish and stranded on the associated field trip with an overheated automobile engine. [26/03/04]

Now available. UNESCO's list of Ramsar Party accessions and ratifications. John Donaldson of UNESCO's Office of International Standards and Legal Affairs writes: "We now have the list of the States parties to the UNESCO-deposited treaties on Unesco's website. Anyone wishing to know the latest status can go to www.unesco.org and click on legal instruments in the right column, then click on conventions in the left column, then on the Ramsar Convention, then on States parties." [26/03/04]

From the Ramsar Forum. Tropical river flows. "Dear All, Do you know of any specific guidelines for deciding the minimum flows, ecological flows of TROPICAL RIVERS (where more than 80% discharge occurs in less than two months or so). Has anyone implemented such guidelines for a river basin in a developing country? Please let me know whom I can contact to get more details about the guidelines and its implementation. Thank you. (please respond to bgujja@wwfint.org or b.gujja@cgiar.com). Biksham Gujja, Policy Adviser, Global Water Issues and Partnerships, WWF Living Waters Programme." [26/03/04]

Soon available. New Ramsar brochure coming soon. The first Ramsar introductory brochure (or flyer, leaflet, handout) was created in 1996 as a quick "at a glance" introduction to the Convention suitable to be handed out to casual inquirers, included in our information packs, and left out in piles on tables as party favors at big meetings -- over the years the facts and figures have been updated in subsequent reprintings, but the text has remained unchanged. Now an almost entirely new version is expected back from the printers by mid-April 2004, and in anticipation, it has been reprinted on this Web site in English, Français, and Español. To view the cover and a sample page and marvel a bit at the pithy and insightful text, click here and follow the links to the language of your choice. [25/03/04]

Announcement. Ramsar pre-COP9 European meeting set for Yerevan in December 2004. "We informed you about Armenia's invitation to host a regional meeting on the Implementation and Efficiency of the Ramsar Convention in Europe in the capital Yerevan. We are now pleased to tell you that the dates for this meeting have been set for the week 4-10 December 2004. The exact dates within this time bracket (including time for international travel) of the three-day conference plus one excursion day will be announced as soon as the meeting hall availability will have been confirmed, at which time invitations and a programme outline will be circulated. We hope to meet you in Yerevan in early December and will keep you updated regularly on the preparations of this meeting. Sincerely yours, Estelle Gironnet & Tobias Salathé, Ramsar Secretariat - European Team." [25/03/04]

New Protocol of Cooperation with the Danone Group. At a signing ceremony in Paris timed to celebrate the UN World Water Day, 22 March 2004, a new agreement was signed between Ramsar and the private-sector Danone Group to collaborate in a new programme over 2004-2006, in collaboration with WWF's Living Waters Programme. In the broader context of the highly successful Evian Initiative, whereby Danone has generously supported Ramsar capacity-building and public awareness activities since 1998, the new programme will be co-funded by Danone and Living Waters and will focus on four geographical areas: the South American paramos region, West Africa and specifically the Niger River Basin, Central Asia and in particular the Himalayan wetlands, and Southeast Asia and the Mekong River Basin. The protocol was signed by Franck Riboud, President Director General of Danone, Peter Bridgewater, Ramsar Secretary General, and Mr Jamie Pittock, head of WWF Living Waters -- the text (in French) is available here, and Peter Bridgewater's address to the meeting can be seen here. [24/03/04]

First ICWRP project: Mexico's Sian Ka'an Ramsar Site. The International Corporate Wetlands Restoration Partnership (ICWRP) is an innovative voluntary public-private global initiative to restore impaired but ecologically important wetlands and other aquatic habitat in watersheds around the world. The ICWRP partnership -- a combined effort of several partners, including The Gillette Company, the United Nations Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the Coastal America Foundation -- will engage the private sector and develop cohesive partnerships that join technical, financial, and administrative resources to help reverse the disappearance of wetlands. The ICWRP was launched yesterday, 22 March 2003, in Miami, Florida, USA, with Ramsar's Margarita Astrálaga participating, and it was announced that the ICWRP's inaugural project will focus on Mexico's Sian Ka'an World Heritage site, Biosphere Reserve, and (since November 2003) Ramsar Site. The US$750,000 project seeks to protect Sian Ka'an's critical coastal habitats and ensure the viability of the region's freshwater and marine systems against threats from coastal development, unregulated tourism, and unsustainable farming and fishing practices, and the project is being implemented by the Mexican environmental organization Amigos de Sian Ka'an. Here is a press release on this important development, reprinted from the Web site of The Nature Conservancy. [23/03/04]

Announcement. "Limestone Coast 2004" to be held in October 2004. "Limestone Coast 2004" is the name of the workshop to be hosted by the Naracoorte Caves World Heritage Area in South Australia, 10-16 October 2004. The meeting will focus on the "Global Karst Correlation", part of the UNESCO International Geoscience Programme agenda, and will at the same time be the first International Workshop on Ramsar Subterranean Wetlands: "At the 6th [COP] in Brisbane in 1996, it was decided that a special program should be set up to examine and advise upon the issues relating to karst and other subterranean wetlands. A small working group met in Slovenia in 1998 and prepared a series of recommendations for implementation of the subterranean wetlands program. These were accepted, the formal recognition of subterranean wetlands of international importance has since proceeded [Resolution VII.13], and this will be the first workshop for the exchange of experience in this area" (from the announcement circular). More details are available here about the workshop itself and associated events -- related workshop, short course, and field trips -- in two circulars in PDF format.

New addition to the Ramsar Sites Database Team. "Wetlands International is delighted to welcome Agnès Bracke, who this week joined the Ramsar Sites Database team in Wageningen as a Technical Assistant. Agnès has a bachelor's degree in Agronomy specialising in Horticulture and is fluent in Dutch, French and English. She has been working since November as a volunteer within the Ramsar team and will continue to assist with the compilation of the Ramsar Sites Directory and other database management matters." [23/03/04]

World Water Day today. The United Nations World Water Day is today, 22 March 2004. "22 March is therefore a unique occasion to remind everybody of the extreme importance of water for maintaining the environment and increasing development in human societies. Practical efforts can help us to increase worldwide awareness of both problems and solutions. To make a difference our tasks consist in turning words into commitment and action, in the framework of a general theme." World Water Day 2004 focuses on the theme: Water and Disasters, and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the World Meteorological Organization have been charged with coordinating events. Visit the Web site here. [link later removed][22/03/04]

Ramsar on World Water Day. Ramsar is celebrating World Water Day with a ceremony in Paris, France, for the signing of a memorandum of cooperation with the Danone Group (including Evian Water) and WWF to promote awareness of water issues, especially those concerning wetland management. The areas of cooperation include promotional activities, seminars and the creation of Wetland Ambassadors, to carry the message of water conservation to the broader community. See the Water Day activities list. [link later removed]

Other Water Day news. Stockholm Water Prize 2004 awarded for work on lakes and wetlands. David Trouba, Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), has informed the Ramsar Forum that the Stockholm Water Prize has been awarded to Sven-Erik Jørgensen, Denmark, and William J. Mitsch, USA, for their contributions to our understanding of how lakes and wetlands function and of how they can be more sustainably used. Read the announcement here.

MA Ramsar Synthesis session in Bali. Nick Davidson writes: "The Ramsar Convention has been recognized as a key user of the information prepared by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA), and Contracting Parties to the Convention have welcomed the MA's work. Representatives of the Convention (Standing Committee, STRP, Secretariat) contribute to guiding and implementing the MA's work, through membership of its Board and Executive Committee, participating in its design process, and acting as lead authors on some of its chapters." In addition to the 23 chapters of the full MA report, there will be four "synthesis reports" more tightly focused on the needs of the Ramsar Convention, the CBD, the UNCCD, and the private sector, and the co-leads of the synthesis report team for Ramsar, Max Finlayson and Rebecca D'Cruz, as well as Ramsar's Nick Davidson, met in Bali, Indonesia, 8-10 March 2004, to progress that work. Here is Nick's brief illustrated report of the process and the meeting. [17/03/04]

Now available. Photo essay on Costa Rica's Caño Negro. Julio Montes de Oca, former Ramsar staff member and now with IUCN-ORMA, writes that "El Refugio de Vida Silvestre Caño Negro fue el primer sitio designado como Humedal de Importancia Internacional (junto con Palo Verde) en Costa Rica, el 27 de diciembre de 1991 [The Caño Negro Wildlife Refuge was the first designated Ramsar Site (together with Palo Verde) in Costa Rica, on December 27, 1991]". Here is Julio's contribution of 23 photos of the site, its attractions, and a few of its problems, with English translations by his successor at Ramsar, Iván Dario Valencia. [18/03/04]

Under-represented wetland types and the Ramsar Convention. For the past 32 years, the Ramsar Convention has been the principal instrument for international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. Parties to the Convention have committed themselves to designating all of their "suitable wetlands", based upon criteria developed over the years, for inclusion in the List of Wetlands of International Importance (the "Ramsar List") and maintaining their ecological character through management planning for their conservation and sustainable use. As the Ramsar List has grown (presently to about 1,400 recognized sites of International Importance), certain types of wetlands, as loosely defined in the Ramsar Classification System for Wetland Type, have been identified by the Contracting Parties as having been neglected in favor of other, more common and obvious types (e.g., swamps). Numerous Resolutions and Recommendations over the years have called for greater attention to these under-reported wetland types, and in Resolution VIII.11 (2002) the Parties provided guidelines for the designation of peatlands [photo left], wet grasslands, mangroves, and coral reefs in particular, and others include mountain and Andean wetlands, seagrass beds, and temporary pools. A new index page is intended to provide an up-to-date entry into Ramsar and related materials on the Convention's progress in bringing renewed conservation attention to these so-far under-represented wetland types. Readers with knowledge of additional fruitful links of Ramsar-related significance are heartily invited to bring them to our attention (ramsar@ramsar.org). Go here when you're ready. [16/03/04]

Revive Our Wetlands renewed till 2006. Conservation Volunteers Australia and the private-sector company BHP Billiton have renewed their successful community-business partnership for the period 2004-2006, Revive Our Wetlands, the largest wetland conservation partnership in Australia. "Over the next three years, Revive will continue to help local communities address the degraded state of their wetlands by providing an additional AUS$ 1.5 million in practical assistance at ten significant and threatened wetlands around Australia. A target of 15,000 volunteer days at the sites has been set and CVA will employ a national coordinator and a network of project officers. They will work directly with the community to revegetate the wetlands, build new walking tracks, control feral animals, monitor and improve water quality and bird life and raise public awareness about these priceless national assets." Thus far, Revive has contributed more than $2.5 million worth of assistance and more than 15,000 volunteer days in revitalizing 100 of Australia most significant wetlands, including a number of Ramsar Sites. More information is available at http://www.reviveourwetlands.net/. [12/03/04]

Announcement. UN World Water Day approaching, 22 March. The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro -- the UN General Assembly designated 22 March of each year as the World Day for Water, to be observed starting in 1993. Actions and activities are encouraged at country level to develop awareness campaigns in countries by government and their partners. The partnership between governments, private sector, NGOs and professional organizations can be enhanced through their participation and collaboration in these events. "22 March is therefore a unique occasion to remind everybody of the extreme importance of water for maintaining the environment and increasing development in human societies. Practical efforts can help us to increase worldwide awareness of both problems and solutions. To make a difference our tasks consist in turning words into commitment and action, in the framework of a general theme." World Water Day 2004 focuses on the theme: Water and Disasters, and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction and the World Meteorological Organization have been charged with coordinating events. Visit the Web site here. Ramsar supports the World Water Day but is not directly associated - nonetheless, the Convention will be celebrating the day in Paris with a signing ceremony of new wetland initiatives involving the WWF Living Waters Programme and the private sector Danone Group: more on that later. [08/03/04]

Announcement. RSPB seeks European Programmes Manager. "We are looking for a mature manager to oversee our work with our NGO partners in Europe. European Country Programmes Manager (£25,000 - £29,000), Sandy, Bedfordshire. Internationally, the RSPB works for the conservation of biodiversity through the empowerment and involvement of local people. We work to build the capacity of local partner organisations through cooperation and direct conservation work. This challenging position combines the active role of Country Programmes Officer with the added duties of managing the Country Programmes Team, currently three members of staff overseeing the Society's activities throughout Europe. The successful candidate will have good knowledge of European conservation issues and will need to demonstrate experience of team management, working with NGOs and project management. This post would suit a self-motivated, diplomatic negotiator. The RSPB is the BirdLife International Partner in the UK. For further information and application form, please send an A4 SAE to Sue Robinson, RSPB, The Lodge, Sandy, Beds, SG19 2DL. Closing date: Friday 26 March 2004. Interviews mid April 2004". [08/03/04]

Web stats. Presumably as a result of World Wetlands Day, February 2004 was the first month in which the Ramsar Web site has received more than 3,000 user visits per day. An average of 3,024 users visited the site per day and viewed an average of 13,075 Web pages per day, or 379,197 page views for the month (403,881 "hits"). The previous highest daily average for a month was 2,818 users per day, November 2003. [09/03/04]

From the Ramsar Forum. "Hola a todos, estoy evaluando los efectos de la restauración mecánica sobre las aves residentes y migratorias en un sitio Ramsar e incluido en el registro de Montreux, en Costa Rica. El humedal cuenta con aproximadamente 1300 ha y se han manejado alrededor de 250 al dia de hoy. Al empezar mi trabajo decidi tomar los datos en dos parcelas de manejo (diferente manejo en espacio y tiempo) y un control. Las parcelas son de aproximadamente 80 ha. Sin embargo, son adyacentes. Mi consulta es si existe algún análisis estadístico que no requiera independencia espacial. Muchas Gracias."

"Hi all, I am assessing restoration impacts on aquatic resident and migratory birds on a Ramsar and Montreux Recordsite in Costa Rica. The wetland is about 1300 ha and the area under management is about 250 till now. I have three plots (two with different management) and a control, but these are adjacent. I would like to know if there are any statistical analyses which do not require spatial independence. Thanks so much." Licenciada Florencia Andrea Trama (ftrama@jabiru.ots.ac.cr). Proyecto Restauración y Monitoreo de la Laguna Palo Verde. Organización para Estudios Tropicales, OET Apartado 676-2050. San Pedro Costa Rica. [07/03/04]

Announcement. IUCN seeks 'Water and Nature Initiative' Coordinator. The IUCN Water & Nature Initiative (WANI) in Asia is managed by the Regional Wetlands and Water Resources Programme (RWWP), housed in IUCN's Asia Regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand. The Coordinator will support the development, resourcing and management of the RWWP; be responsible for developing and implementing WANI projects in South Asia and Northeast Asia; and supervise the coordination of wetland activities in the region. He/she will also be required to provide technical advice on integrated water resource management or on wetlands, to IUCN's country, regional and global programmes, members and partners. Candidates should possess an advanced tertiary degree in natural resource management or related fields and at least 5 years work experience, preferably in integrated water resources management. Experience of project or programme development and management is desirable. Fluency in English, proven technical writing ability, computer skills in word-processing and spreadsheets, and demonstrated ability to work as part of a multicultural, multidisciplinary team are essential. The initial contract will be for a period of two years, with long-term prospects for the right candidate. Interested candidates should send their application and CV along with the names of two referees by 26 March 2004 to: Human Resources Unit, IUCN-The World Conservation Union, Asia Regional Office, # 63 Sukhumvit 39, 10110-Bangkok, Thailand. Tel: ++662 662 4061; Fax: ++662 662 4389; email: iucn@iucnt.org url: http://www.iucn.org. [05/03/04]

At long last. Photos from SC30 now available. The 30th meeting of the Standing Committee, the Convention's intersessional supervisory body, took place in Gland, Switzerland, 13-16 January 2004, with no casualties and more than a few tangible results. The report of the meeting is available here in English, and the 21 decisions of varying importance can be seen here in English, Français, and Español. The photos, some of them potentially collectors' items, most of them taken by Liazzat Rabbiosi and Nassima Aghanim, are now available here for better or for worse. We have the plenary sessions, the gala reception, the gala dinner, some other events, and a small collection of cameo portraits that ought to make many people cringe. "Gala", by the way, is a word that should normally only be used parodically, but in this case an exception can be made. You're welcome to tug your chin and nod appreciatively over these semi-awe-inducing artworks for as long as you like before you really have to get back to work on your own stuff. [04/03/04]

Newly available. River Basin Management guidelines for Southeast Asia. In Resolution VII.18 (1999), the Conference of the Parties adopted the Guidelines for integrating wetland conservation and wise use into river basin management, and these were published in 2000, with case studies and other illustrative material, as Handbook 4 in the Ramsar Toolkit. Now the Global Environment Centre has prepared a suite of new versions of Handbook 4 to meet the needs of the Southeast Asian region. With financial support from the ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, GEC has produced language versions in English, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, and Vietnamese, with 13 all new case studies from Southeast Asia, and is making these available as a 36-page softcover brochure and in PDF format both on CD-ROM and downloadable from the "RBI Portal". Here are the details from GEC's Oi May Chew. [01/03/04]

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]

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.