What's
New @ Ramsar What's
New @ Ramsar
3
July 1999
Headline story. Senior position opening at the Ramsar
Bureau. With the departure of
Dr. Bill Phillips, the Ramsar Bureau's second-in-command, who's planning
to return to Australia in January 2000 for family reasons, the
secretariat is going to need a new Deputy Secretary General. It's
not an easy job by any means, but on the other hand, there's all the prestige! Here
is the Secretary General's announcement of Bill's lamented leaving and, attached to that,
an application form for readers who aspire to greatness. [3/7/99] [This position has been filled.]
Headline
story. Executive
Director sought.
Wetlands International
Africa, Europe, Middle East is seeking to fill a senior vacancy for an Executive
Director who, under authority of the governing body (Regional Council), will
be responsible for development and coordination of Wetlands International's
programme in the Africa, Europe, Middle East region. The post will be based
at the regional headquarters in Wageningen, The Netherlands. For a detailed
job description, go to http://www.wetlands.agro.nl/news/wetl_news_1999july1.html
. For an information pack please contact: Nicole Thewessen, Executive Assistant,
Wetlands International - AEME, P.O. Box 7002, 700 CA Wageningen, The Netherlands
(Fax: +31 317 478885, E-mail: thewessen@wetlands.agro.nl ). Closing date for
applications: Friday 10 September 1999 [2/7/99] [This
position has been filled.]
Old
Headline story. MOC signed
with the Society of Wetland Scientists.
Dr Janet Keough, President of the 1998-1999 Executive Board
of Directors of the Society of Wetland Scientists, and Mr. Delmar Blasco,
Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention, have signed a Memorandum of Cooperation
the stated aim of which is the "cooperation for the knowledgeable management,
conservation, and wise use of wetlands". Resolution VII.2 of the
San José COP called for the STRP in particular to develop cooperative relationships
with the SWS among other bodies, and Article 1.6 of the new MOC identifies the
SWS focal point for Ramsar cooperation as the Chair of the SWS International
Committee, presently Dr William Streever of the US Army Engineers Research and
Development Center in Vicksburg, USA. The
text of the MOC is available here. [1/7/99]
New
on the site. Texts
of new agreements signed with BirdLife
International and the Society
of Wetland Scientists. [2/7/99]
East
Asian Anatidae Site Network launched.
On 14 May in San José, Environment Agency of Japan and Wetlands International
launched the East Asian Anatidae Site Network, which includes 14 sites in Japan,
6 in Russia, 2 in Mongolia, and 1 each in P.R. China, Korea, and Philippines.
Here is the original press release,
with an photo. [30/6/99]
Ramsar
delivers on the Joint Work Plan with CBD.
Dr Bill Phillips, the Deputy Secretary General, reports from
Montreal that at the opening of the 4th meeting of the CBD’s
Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-4),
21 June 1999, Ramsar officially delivered the first products of the Joint Work
Plan between the two conventions. Many of the guidelines recently adopted by
Ramsar’s COP7 speak directly to issues covered in the JWP’s programme,
and several countries, including Canada, Japan, Malawi, the Netherlands, and
the USA, spoke in support of the JWP’s progress, urging the CBD to make
good use of the new Ramsar "tools". The Ramsar-CBD Joint Work Plan
is recognized as a model for international conventions working in partnership.
[24/6/99]
Deadline extended. Internship for Africa still
open till 31 August. Because Ms.
Musonda Mumba, the present intern, will be staying on for a while to complete some pending
projects, the deadline for applications for her replacement has been extended till 31
August 1999. [18/6/99]
New Ramsar Intern for the Neotropical region. Ms Flor de María Salvador Perez of Lima,
Peru, will be joining the Ramsar Bureau on 1 August 1999 as the new Intern for the
Neotropics, replacing Carmen Elena Padilla Velasco of Honduras, whose
one-year posting is drawing to a close. Ms Salvador has a bachelor of science degree in
Botanical Science from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, and is
currently in progress on her Master’s degree in Tropical Botany in the same
university. She is also presently a collaborator in the university’s Laboratorio de
Dicotiledóneas, Departamento de Botánica, Museo de Historia Natural. Ms Salvador will be
assisting Ms Margarita Astrálaga, the secretariat’s new Regional
Coordinator for the Americas, who will also be taking up her duties on 1 August. [22/6/99]
New Ramsar Intern for Europe. The Ramsar Bureau is delighted to welcome Mr Alexander
Belokurov of the Russian Federation as a new Intern for Europe, to begin on 1
August for a year’s term and to replace Ms Anett Zellei of Hungary.
Mr Belokurov has a Master of Science degree in Physics and Engineering from Moscow State
Technical University and a Master of Environmental Management from the European
Postgraduate Course in Environmental Management at the University of Amsterdam, the
Netherlands. He has already served as an Intern at Wetlands International-AEME in
Wageningen and is presently Head of the Laboratory "Environmental Information and
GIS" in the State Institute for Applied Ecology in Moscow. [21/6/99]
Australia
names four new Ramsar sites.
True to the promises made at the COP a few weeks ago, Australia's Minister for
the Environment and Heritage, Robert Hill, has informed the Bureau of four new
designations for the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance, sites
numbered 992 through 995 in the List. Australia now has 53 Ramsar sites,
more than any other nation except the United Kingdom. Here is a brief
introduction to the four new sites. [16/6/99]
Interesting
new Ramsar sites in and around Europe.
The United Kingdom announced at COP7 in San José, effective 11 May 1999, the
designation of 8 new sites: seven teensy new sites in Bermuda in the Overseas
Territories and another in the British Virgin Islands dependency. That’s
not all! The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia
has communicated the Ministry of the Environment’s Ramsar designation of
Skocjanske jame, an extensive
subterranean karst wetland system covering more than 300 ha. No room for
details here; you need to view this
fuller description and take comfort in the fact that since 1986
a "tourist escalator" has been there in Skocjanske jame when most
you needed it. [11/6/99]
Ramsar
picks a new scientific subsidiary body.
At the 7th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, the COP conveyed
its gratitude to the outgoing Scientific and Technical Review Panel and elected
a new STRP for the triennium 1999-2002. Following the same proportional regional
system adopted by Resolution VII.1 for the Standing Committee, the Panel now
has 13 members instead of seven; the system of alternate members has been abandoned,
but substitute members have been elected for the North America and Oceania regions
on the "what if a bus" principle, since those regions earn only one
full member each. The first STRP meeting is set for the Bureau's offices
in Switzerland in September 1999. Here
are the names of the new members. [9/6/99]
New
Regional Coordinator for the Americas joins the Bureau.
The Bureau is pleased to announce the appointment of Ms. Margarita ASTRÁLAGA,
a citizen of Colombia, as the Regional Coordinator for the Americas. Ms. Astrálaga
will take up her duties at the Bureau on 1 August 1999. Here's a brief
curriculum vitae in English and Spanish. [9/6/99]
Bureau
seeks a new Intern for the Asia-Pacific region .
. . but only because it's time now and Paratsu has to get on with her life.
The general Terms of Reference for Ramsar Interns
are available on this Web site. The TOR for the Asia-Pacific Intern add
this specifically: "The ability to communicate in at least one Asian language
would be a definite asset. Candidates from the Pacific Island States,
developing countries and countries whose economy is in transition are strongly
encouraged to apply." The starting date of this one-year appointment
is 1 November 1999, and the deadline for applications is 15 July. Look
at the TOR and send your CV with a carefully wrought cover letter (no application
forms are required). [9/6/99]
COP7 picks a new Standing Committee. In the final plenary session, 18 May, the Conference of
the Parties in San José elected a new Standing Committee to direct Ramsar affairs for the
period 1999-2002, following the new proportional representation system adopted in
Resolution VII.1. For Africa, Algeria, Togo, and Uganda;
for Asia, India and Japan; for Europe, Armenia,
France, Norway, and the Slovak Republic;
for the Neotropics, Argentina and Trinidad & Tobago;
for North America, Mexico; for Oceania, Australia; with Costa
Rica and Spain as hosts of the most recent and the next COP. The
Netherlands and Switzerland remain as permanent observer
states, and the four International Partner Organizations (BirdLife International,
IUCN, Wetlands International, and WWF) also remain as invited
observers.
At SC23, the new SC’s first meeting, Mr Stephen Hunter (Head of Biodiversity Group, Environment Australia) was elected as Chair of the Standing Committee, and Mr Paul Mafabi (Manager of the National Wetlands Programme, Ministry of Water, Land and Environment, Uganda) was elected Vice Chair. (Under the newly-adopted Rules of Procedure, individuals rather than states are elected to the Chair positions.) The new Subgroup on Finance was determined to be Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, Japan, and Mexico, with Armenia as the Chair. Welcome to everybody! The next SC meeting has been set for 29 November-3 December 1999. [4/6/99]
Costa Rica names two
new sites. Just days before the
opening of COP7 in San José, Costa Rica sanctified the occasion by designating two new
Wetlands of International Importance, effective 6 May 1999. The first is "Manglar de
Potrero Grande" (130 hectares) in the northwest of the country on the Pacific Coast,
on the peninsula of Santa Elena in Guanacaste province; it’s listed as mainly an
Intertidal Forested Wetland in the Ramsar Classification System, but includes Intertidal
Marshes, Shallow Marine Waters, and Estuarine Waters. It has been selected under nearly
all of the available criteria so there’s no use listing them here. The second new
site is "Laguna Respringue" (75 hectares) in the same region, listed as a
Coastal Freshwater Lagoon and qualified under Criteria 1a, 1c, 1d, and 2c. Costa
Rica’s efforts here deserve applause, and its hospitality throughout the COP itself
(all ca.1000 delegates will agree) beggars mere gratitude.
This brings the total number of Ramsar sites to 982, so all those Contracting Parties presently striving to prepare the designation of the landmark "Ramsar Site 1000" (‘R1K’) need to calibrate their efforts very closely now. [3/6/99]
Lebanon signs on to the Convention. The Bureau has been informed by UNESCO that, on 16 April
1999, Lebanon deposited its instrument of accession, and the Convention on Wetlands will
come into force for Lebanon on 16 August 1999. Three wetlands have been designated as its
first Ramsar sites. 1) Ammiq Wetland (280 ha?) "is the last
remaining significant wetland in the country, a remnant of much more extensive marshes and
lakes that once existed in the Bekaa Valley". 2) Deir el Nouriyeh cliffs of
Ras Chekaa is part of a coastal limestone promontory just north of Beirut,
"a mosaic of woodland and olive groves" amid the highly developed narrow coastal
plain between Beirut and Tripoli. 3) Tyre Beach (380 ha) around Ras el
Ain, part of the best preserved stretch of sandy coastline in southern Lebanon, is
remarkable for its biodiversity but threatened by its proximity to the city of Tyre and
the Rachidieh refugee camp. The Convention heartily welcomes Lebanon as its 115th
Contracting Party. [1/6/99]
Headline
story.MOU with the World Heritage
Convention. Right in the
middle of the COP deliberations, 14 May 1999, the secretariat of UNESCO's World
Heritage Convention took time out to celebrate the signing in San José of a
Memorandum of Understanding
with the Ramsar Convention, and here is the text for your consideration
and opinion, if necessary. [1/6/99]
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.
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 . . . . . . . ? . . . . . . ?? Oooh, I
must have dropped it.