The Ramsar Archives The Ramsar Archives
3
August 1998
Headline
Story: Excellent
new data from Greece. In
conformity with Resolution VI.13 from the Brisbane COP, and a Bureau notification
sent to all Contracting Parties last year, Greece has supplied detailed Ramsar
Information Sheets for its 10 Listed sites. These have been compiled by the
Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works, in conjunction
with the Greek Biotope/Wetland Centre (EKBY). Each RIS is completed to a high
standard, and the data series as a whole is amongst the best available for any
Contracting Party in the Western European Region. It is especially good to see
that the 'Fish Criteria', adopted at the Brisbane COP, have been applied, and
that all 10 sites are reported to meet both criteria 4a and 4b. The RISs also
clearly show the pressure which many Greek wetlands are under; currently all
of the Ramsar sites are inlcuded in the Montreux Record. The conservation management
measures being implemented to address site pressures are detailed in the RISs,
and the Ramsar Bureau is currently working with the Greek Government on a mechanism
to establish which sites might be removed from the Montreux Record.
Another
Headline Story:
Four new interns for the Ramsar Bureau.
The Ramsar internship programme, after its first year of operation, has proved
to be an enormous success. The four young interns, assisting the Regional Coordinators
for Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Neotropics respectively, have contributed
significantly to the work of the Convention, presumably learned a good deal
about the operations of an international environmental treaty secretariat, and
enlivened the office with their presence. But now it is time for a changing
of the guard, as one by one the first generation of interns complete their duty
tours and make way for their successors. Here
is a little background on the four incoming interns. [29/7/98]
Another
Headline Story: Brazilian
Web site created with WFF assistance. Wetlands
for the Future is a capacity-building funding programme for the Neotropical
region administered by the Ramsar Bureau, the United States Department of State,
and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. One of its key objectives is encouraging
modern mechanisms for disseminating information on wetland conservation and
management, and so it's a notable event that what seems to be the first Web
site created with Wetlands for the Future support has just come on line. The
brainchild of Profa. Dra. Yara Schaeffer-Novelli, with webmaster assistance
from Elena Carvalho and Adriana Brito, the site presents Portuguese-language
material on the Bioma programme (Laboratório de Bioecologia de Manguezais) and
on the Ramsar Convention in Brazil. It's an excellent site and we hope
the first of many: http://www.io.usp.br/~bioma/index.html. [28/7/98]
Who's Where?
Rebecca D'Cruz, Regional Coordinator for Asia, is off on an ambitious summer cruise for much of August and will 1) take in discussions in London with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) on a joint proposal for the Mekong subregion; 2) shuffle on to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for meetings with the Administrative Authority there, with DANCED, Wetlands International, WWF, and the Malaysian Wetland Foundation, and with a visit to Tasek Bera Ramsar site; 3) leap over to Manila for talks about the prospective Asian Regional Meeting with government officials there; 4) limp gamely on towards Bangkok, Thailand, to meet the Administrative Authority and the National Wetland Committee there and talk with IUCN SEA regional officers; and 5) then take a deep breath, and begin again.
New
on the Site: Diplomatic
Notification 1998/7, in three
languages, right here in front of your very eyes. An important notification
for Standing Committee members, but possibly not for you. -- A key concept index
to the Ramsar treaty, the Strategic Plan 1997-2002, and all the Decisions of
the Conferences of the Parties, in partial fulfilment of Resolution
VI.11; it's a draft and not ready for the public [i.e., you] yet, but if
you push on this little cyan star 
,
you can get a sneaky preview of the unfinished version. [31/7/98]
Reefs
at Risk published.. "Although they
occupy less than one quarter of 1 percent of the marine environment, coral reefs
are home to more than a quarter of all known marine fish species. These habitats
have been called the rainforests of the marine world." So begins the introduction
to an excellent new book from the World Resources Institute, co-published by
the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management, the World
Conservation Monitoring Centre, and the UN Environment Programme. Entitled Reefs
at Risk: a Map-Based Indicator of Threats to the World’s Coral Reefs,
the 56-page softcover full-color report presents a detailed analysis of threats
to and pressures upon the world’s coral reefs, with informative maps and
decorative photographs on almost every page. Read
more about it here. [24/7/98]
Global
Biodiversity Forum set for Ramsar COP. A
session of the Global Biodiversity Forum will be convened in San José, Costa
Rica, on 7-9 May 1999, immediately prior to the 7th meeting of the
Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Wetland (Ramsar, Iran, 1971),
which meets 10-19 May. Themes currently proposed by the NGO organizers for GBF
Ramsar presently include: 1) Defining a "vision" for the Ramsar List;
2) Responding to the threat of invasive species to wetland ecosystems; 3) The
private sector and wetlands; 4) Restoration of wetlands, protect or repair?
5) Global action to conserve peatlands and mires. Here
is a somewhat more detailed prospectus, and we will reprint further announcements
here as they become available. [16/7/98]
Tidal
Marshes of Long Island Sound (USA). Ron Rozsa (maron@snet.net) reports that the Connecticut College
Arboretum, with assistance from his office, the Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection - Office of Long Island Sound Programs, applied for and received funding from
that agency’s Long Island Sound license plate program to produce a new bulletin on
the Living Resources and Their Habitats of the lower Connecticut River (a Ramsar Site).
The bulletin is intended to educate the public, public officials and managers/regulators
about the ecological importance of this Ramsar site, and it is being produced through a
collaboration of scientists at Connecticut College, DEP staff (OLISP, Wildlife and
Fisheries) and the US Fish & Wildlife Service's Southern New England - New York Bight
coastal program located in Charlestown, Rhode Island. The anticipated publication date is
circa August 1999. The Web version of the document will be created by DEP-OLISP and will
likely be found at the Connecticut College Arboretum web site (http://camel2.conncoll.edu/ccrec/greennet/arbo/).
The web address for the LIS license plate program is http://dep.state.ct.us/lis/licplate/licplate.htm
The license plate program is used to fund activities in four areas, one of which is
education.[23/7/98]
Position opening in Guatemala. Nature Conservancy announces a position opening for a Team Leader in
Guatemala, with an application deadline of 31 July 1998. Here
are the terms of reference in Spanish and English. [20/7/98]
Coastal
Ramsar sites. In response to a routine data request
from the Bureau, Edith Hubert of Wetlands International has provided a one-page
overview of coastal Ramsar sites
and the distribution of wetland types found within them. We include it
incidentally here as a kind of a up-to-date snapshot of an important part of
the Ramsar List. [17/7/98]
Draft decision on involving indigenous people. The Social Policy Group of IUCN-The World Conservation Union is coordinating a
project, which involves several other NGOs and responds to Resolution 6.3, to develop
guidelines for Ramsar Contracting Parties on local and indigenous people's involvement in
wetland management. Reprints of the draft decision and its annex, the draft
guidelines, have been placed here for public review and comment [version en
español]. Alex de Sherbinin, Interim Head of the Social Policy Group, is awaiting
your responses to the draft documents. [16/7/98]
Ramsar
"Hot Topic" no. 1 reports in. Launched
on World Wetlands Day last February, the "Hot Topics" section of the
Wise Use Resource Centre called for information on the issue of canal estates
and their effects on wetlands. The final report on the experiences and
references received by the Bureau, prepared by Robin Reilly and Bill Phillips,
is now ready, and here it is.
Simultaneously, the Bureau is opening the floor for comments and data on a second
"hot topic", that of buffer zones and their role in wetland management.
Take a moment to read over the call for information,
and see if you can help. [15/7/98]
Announcement:
The Centre for Tropical Wetlands Management at the Northern Territory University,
Darwin, Australia, will hold a workshop on "Wise Use of Wetlands
by Indigenous People in Northern Australia" on 29-30 September
1998 at Batchelor, approx 100 km south of Darwin. Find
out more here. [16/7/98]
Ecuador names a new Ramsar
site. The Government of Ecuador has designated
Reserva Biológica Limoncocha (4,613 hectares) for the List of Wetlands of International
Importance. The new site is a system of swamps and marshes along the floodplain of
the Napo River, in the tropical rain forest; it is very rich in biodiversity, especially
in blue-green algae and diatoms. Several indigenous communities live in the area
and are dependent upon traditional fishing. A biological research station was
established in the site last year, but as yet there is no management plan. The main
threat to the ecological character of the site comes from oil extraction by a foreign
company. At the same time, Ecuador also nominated a second site, Laguna de Cube, and
the Bureau is only awaiting submission of a map to accompany the Ramsar Information Sheet
before including this designation in the Ramsar List. [14/7/98]
Colombia
becomes the Convention’s 112th Contracting Party. The Ramsar Bureau is delighted to welcome Colombia as the 112th Contracting
Party. Colombia's instrument of ratification reached UNESCO on 18 June, so the treaty will
come into force for that country on 18 October 1998. Colombia's first Wetland of
International Importance is "Sistema Delta Estuarino del Río Magdalena, Ciénaga
Grande de Santa Marta" (ca. 400,000 hectares) in Magdalena province, comprising 20
lagoons of different water salinity, of which Ciénaga Grande (45,000 ha) is the largest.
The mangroves are of special relevance as this is the largest area of mangrove ecosystem
on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Fishing is very important for the local economy, and
the biodiversity of the area is especially high. Colombia's accession to the Convention
leaves only Guyana on the South American continent still to become a member. [10/7/98].
Congo becomes the Convention’s 111th
Contracting Party. UNESCO has informed the Bureau that the
Republic of the Congo has joined the Convention as of 18 June 1998, so that the treaty
comes into force for Congo on 18 October 1998. La Réserve Communautaire du Lac
Télé/Likouala-aux-Herbes has been designated as its first Ramsar site, an immense
438,960-hectare expanse of swamp forest and floating prairie along the Likouala-aux-Herbes
and its tributaries, located in the north of the country about 85 km west of Impfondo. The
reserve is part of the vast wetland area described in the Hughes’ Directory of
African Wetlands (IUCN, 1992) as the Cuvette Congolaise, or Congolese Basin (p. 494). Lac
Télé is the legendary home of the giant dinosaur-like animal called Mokele Mbembe.
[8/7/98]
Oceania regional meeting set
for NZ. The Government of New Zealand has offered to host
the Ramsar regional meeting for the Oceania region, with the endorsement of the Standing
Committee's Oceania representative, Papua New Guinea. It will probably be held in early
December in the Waikato region of the country, where there are presently three Ramsar
sites. All Pacific Island nations are expected to participate, as well as the region's
three Contracting Parties, and a key feature of the agenda will be the question of
harmonizing the implementation of the Ramsar Convention with the CBD, Climate Change, and
other conventions. Final venue and dates will be announced soon. With the recent
Pan-European and Pan-American regional meetings, and the Pan-African meeting going on now
in Kampala, most Ramsar Parties are now assured of having the benefit of a regional
gathering before the 7th Conference of the Parties in May 1999, and the Bureau is very
hopeful that firm plans for an Asian meeting will be announced quite soon. [8/7/98]
South Africa names its 16th
site. The Republic of South Africa’s Minister of
Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Z. Pallo Jordan, has designated Nylsvley Nature Reserve
(3,970 ha) as his country’s 16th Ramsar site. Part of the largest
floodplain "vlei" in South Africa, the reserve hosts over 370 bird species and
102 waterbird species, as well as the endangered Roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus)
and the rare Tsessebe (Damaliscus lunatus). Land use on the reserve is primarily
conservation-oriented with tourism and environmental education also being important
activities. Minister Jordan noted that he was "honoured to be able to put forward the
proposed site for designation to the List, and in so doing reinforce South Africa’s
commitments to the international effort to protect wetlands". The Friends of Nylsvlei
and Nyl Floodplain NGO has established a Web site for the reserve: http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Canopy/6590/.
[8/7/98]
News from the far north. Finland has recently submitted updated information sheets for the 11 Ramsar
sites which have been included in the Ramsar List since 1975. It is hoped that additional
Ramsar sites in Finland may be designated prior to COP7. The Bureau has also learned of
the retirement of Dr Antti Haapanen, who has been the Convention's focal
point in the Finnish Ministry of Environment for the past quarter century! Dr Haapanen
attended the 1st COP in 1980, and has since been a regular participant at Ramsar meetings.
On behalf of the Convention, we thank Dr Haapanen for his commitment to wetland
conservation over the years, and send our best wishes for many long summers in the field.
[8/7/98]
Ramsar Management Planning
Questionnaire; survey concluded. The Bureau wishes to thank
all those who contributed responses to the Follow-up on the Questionnaire on Management
Planning for Ramsar Sites and Other Wetlands. Respondents from 29 Contracting Parties
returned completed questionnaires covering about 100 Ramsar sites and other wetlands --
although a somewhat greater response had been hoped for, these proved adequate for drawing
solid conclusions concerning the suitability of the Ramsar Management Planning Guidelines
to the purposes for which they are intended. After thorough analysis of the responses,
Ramsar’s Scientific and Technical Review Panel will make its report to the 7th
Conference of the Parties in May 1999. Analysis has begun, and no further responses can be
included.
The general consensus of the responses seems to be that the Management Planning Guidelines are adequate for their purpose, but that additional guidance might be in order to reflect lessons learned since their adoption at Kushiro in 1993. Contracting Parties that responded to the Questionnaire were Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ecuador, Estonia, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, India, Israel, Liechtenstein, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Sweden, The FYR of Macedonia, Turkey, United Kingdom, Venezuela, and Zambia. [8/7/98]
News from Hungary. The Bureau has recently received the English version of the 1996 Hungarian Act
on Nature Conservation, which entered into force on 1 January 1997. The Act makes several
notable references to wetlands. For example, Article 18 requires that 'In natural or
near-natural wetland habitats, the water reserve ecologically necessary for the
subsistence of natural values as well as for the conservation and maintenance of natural
systems shall not be artificially abstracted'. In relation to specific wetland types,
Article 23 provides for protection of all springs, bogs, sink-holes and salt lakes. For
further information, contact the National Authority for Nature Conservation at the
Ministry of Environment and Regional Policy. Fax: +36-1-75.74.57. [8/7/98]
Announcement:
An international conference entitled 'Ponds and Pond
Landscapes of Europe: appreciation, conservation, management' will
take place in Maastricht, The Netherlands, from 30 August to 2 September 1998.
For further details, contact Dr John Boothby at Liverpool John Moores University,
UK: j.boothby@livjm.ac.uk [8/7/98]
Mongolia
names three new sites. Despite the fact that
Mongolia joined the Convention only a few months ago, the Ministry of Nature
and the Environment has already submitted three additional nominations to the
Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance, bringing the total number
of Ramsar sites in Mongolia to four (264,220 hectares) and the number of Ramsar
sites in all the 110 Contracting Parties to 927 (68,203,343 ha). Here's
a brief description of the new designations. [6/7/98]
More to follow. Watch this space.
Feedback and suggestions to: the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney
28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail
). Updated
regularly by Dwight Peck, Ramsar.
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