The Ramsar Archives The Ramsar Archives
3
October 1999
Headline
story. Guatemala significantly extends the El Tigre Ramsar site. Ing. José Juventino Galvez Ruano, Secretario Ejecutivo
of the Consejo Nacional de Areas Protegidas in the office of the President of the Republic
of Guatemala has informed the Bureau that the Ramsar site Biotopo Laguna del Tigre,
designated on 26 June 1990 with an area 48,372 hectares, has been extended to include the
Parque Nacional Laguna del Tigre (289,912 ha) to a total area of 335,080 hectares.
[3/10/99]
Former
Headline story. Ramsar signs
MOU with Eurosite. Eurosite,
the network of organizations that manage Europe's natural heritage, has signed
a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ramsar Convention secretariat.
At a ceremony in Steenwijk, the Netherlands, 24 September 1999, Delmar Blasco,
Secretary General of the Convention on Wetlands, delivered a sparkling address
and performed the ritual signatures -- here are the text
of the MOU and the
SG's address. [30/9/99]
Who's Where?
Delmar Blasco, Secretary General, has gone to Seville, Spain, for discussions with the Autonomous Government of Andalucia about support for the MedWet Coordination Function to be located in the future IUCN office in Malaga. Thence he proceeds to Huelva, 4-6 October, for the International Expert Meeting on the Hydrological Rehabilitation of Doñana.
.New
Announcements. Three studies
on local communities and wetland management now available.
Dr Max Finlayson
of the Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist in northern
Australia has announced the availability of three new studies that might be
helpful for practitioners in many other countries. Here
is his posting to the Ramsar Forum. [17/9/99]
Ramsar
Bureau welcomes four new staff members. Four
new staff members have joined the Ramsar secretariat in Gland, Switzerland,
over the past month. The two new Regional Coordinators are Ms Margarita
Astrálaga of Colombia, for the Americas, and Dr Tobias
Salathé of Switzerland, for Europe. Two new interns are Ms
Flor de Maria Salvador Perez of Peru, for the Americas and
Alexander Belokurov of the Russian Federation, for Europe.
Here's a brief text on the newcomers,
with photo. [28/9/99]
New book solves all wetland rehabilitation problems. .
. . or . . . many of them
anyway. Kluwer Academic
Publishers has just published a new
physical book edited by Bill Streever of the
US Army Corps of Engineers research station in Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA, and chair of
the International Comittee of the Society of Wetland Scientists, stuffed full with 337
pages of 30 case studies on wetland rehabilitation all round the world.
'Rehabilitation' seems to mean something between 'conservation' and 'restoration', but you
can judge that for yourself. The new book includes chapters by many old friends of Ramsar,
including Eric Gilman, Geoff Cowan, George ['Georgios'] Zalidis, Peter Bacon,
Alfredo Quarto, Eduardo da Silva, and Tom Crisman. The case studies cover the Marianas,
Australasia, the Mekong, the Philippines, the Mediterranean, Africa, Central Europe,
England, the Carribean, New Zealand, Thailand, Mozambique, Botswana, Kenya, Israel,
Turkey, the Netherlands, Brazil, and the Canadian Arctic, to name only a few!!, and there are a host of thematic
chapters as well. As with Rolls Royces, if you have to ask the price you probably can't
afford it, but notwithstanding, the book will be procurable from all kind and worthy
booksellers under ISBN 0-7923-5724-8. This is probably not the ideal Christmas present for
friends, family, and neighbors you haven't met yet, but your institution's library has got
to have it or retire in shame. The Ramsar Bureau has one copy, but we will guard till the
sun sets over the last wetland. [30/9/99]
Society
of Wetland Scientists kicks off Ramsar-related grants programme.
The SWS,
an association of more than 4,500 scientifically-oriented wetland enthusiasts
mostly in North America, has announced a new grants programme of US$5,000 per
year to support Ramsar-related activities by SWS members in developing countries.
Only SWS members are eligible, but the Society also hosts a Gratis Membership
Programme for developing countries, so that may not be a problem. Note that
applications for this year's cycle must be received by 19 November 1999. The
Society of Wetland Scientists and the Ramsar Convention signed a Memorandum
of Cooperation on 11 and 30 June 1999, and the chair of the SWS
International Committee, Dr Bill Streever, has just been participating
in the work of the Ramsar Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) as an
Observer Organization. Here is Eric
Gilman's announcement to the Ramsar Forum announcing the new grant
programme. [27/9/99]
STRP8 is history. The 8th meeting of the
Ramsar Scientific and Technical Review Panel ended its work on Friday, 24
September, under the capable leadership of newly-elected chairperson Dr Jorge
Jiménez of Costa Rica, replacing Dr Yaa Ntiamoa-Baidu of Ghana,
who guided the STRP over the past triennium. With enthusiastic participation by 12 STRP
members elected by COP7 as individual experts from the six Ramsar regions of the world, as
well as 12 representatives of the four International Organization Partners (BirdLife
International, IUCN, Wetlands International, and WWF International) which also serve as
partner members, a good deal of work was accomplished. Other official participating
observers from the Society of Wetland Scientists, the International Association of
Limnology, the Global Wetlands Economics Network, the International Mire Conservation
Group, the International Peat Society, and the Center for International Earth Science
Information Network at Columbia University in New York, USA, also contributed
substantially. The minutes will be here by the end of next week, and the hilarious
tell-all photos won't be far behind. [24/9/99]
International
Conference on Sustainable Management of Coastal Ecosystems,
scheduled for 3-5 November 1999 at Fernando Pessoa University, Oporto, Portugal.
Here is the announcement.
[8/9/99]
Tip.
See the excellent short article by Diane Jukofsky, dated 23
August, based on the work of Elier Tabilo Valdivieso of Costa
Rica: "Villagers Once Ignored, Now Cheer Wetlands",
Environment News Service, http://ens.lycos/com/ens/aug99/1999L-08-23-02.html
[link
later removed].
Feature
article on Costa Rica's Mata Redonda. Here's
a brief article (Spanish language only) by Gabby Somarribas
and Juan Bravo introducing a project on researching
and encouraging stakeholders participation in wetland management. The site of
the project is the Mata Redonda Lagoon in the Tempisque river basin in Costa
Rica. The site is particularly important for some 60 species of aquatic birds.
At the same time the Lagoon area is used for extensive cattle ranching, which
is a very useful means to maintain control over some very aggressive plant species.
Landowners are also cultivating rice in very extensive rice fields. The wetland
is being drastically altered by the various land uses in the area. The main
aim of this Ramsar Small Grants Fund-assisted project is to extend the wetland
area under protection, with the consent and active involvement of stakeholders.
[22/9/99]
Internet assistance for Contracting Parties.
Thus far in 1998 and '99, the Ramsar Administrative
Authorities in eleven Contracting Parties have been assisted by the Ramsar Bureau in
gaining access to the Internet, through financial assistance for the purchase of hardward
and software, telephone and ISP charges, and related expenses. The funds have been
provided from communications module of the Evian Project [background info here], a joint venture of the Danone Group, the
Ramsar Bureau, and the French Global Environment Facility. The Parties that have benefited
from this programme so far are Armenia, Bangladesh, Bulgaria,
Comores, Côte d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Ghana,
Namibia, Papua New Guinea, the Russian
Federation, and Togo. [17/9/99]
Wetlands,
Water and the Law. That's
the title of a brilliant new book from the IUCN Environmental Law Centre. Written
by Clare Shine and the late Cyrille de Klemm, this very well written and thoroughly
researched 330-page new study offers an astonishing breadth of coverage over
the role of law in wetland conservation throughout the world, amply illustrated
with examples and case studies from nearly every nation. Focused primarily,
of course, on the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, it also covers the contributions
of other global and regional legal regimes, and investigates such thematic issues
as land-use planning, river basin and coastal zone management, EIA, permit systems,
economic incentives, enforcement, transboundary wetlands, and much more. Get
some more information here. [17/9/99]
Economic Valuation book in Chinese.
Chen Kelin, Director of the
Wetlands International - China Programme has announced that Ramsar's Economic
Valuation of Wetlands book (1997) has been translated into Chinese by Mr. Li
Lukang, Senior Advisor in the Programme, and is now in press, soon to be ready
for distribution. Wetlands International expects that the book will strengthen the
management of wetlands in China and make a major contribution to the understanding of
policy-makers of the real value of wetland functions. [17/9/99]
Two 'Wise Use of Floodplains' LIFE-project
vacancies in the UK. The Royal
Society for the Preservation of Birds announces two job openings in the UK as
part of the EU LIFE Environment project on Wise Use of Floodplains. Here is the announcement. [15/9/99]
Ramsar and the Barcelona Convention. As part of Ramsar Bureau efforts to pursue closer working
partnership with other environment conventions, both international and regional, Bill
Phillips, the Deputy Secretary General, attended the first day of the meeting of
National Focal Points under the Mediterranean Action Plan
(MAP) of the Barcelona Convention in Athens earlier this week. In his statement to the
opening session, the DSG urged a closer working partnership, especially between the MAP
and its related programmes, on the one hand, and the Ramsar Convention and its
Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative (MedWet) on the other. He noted that both programmes are
now seen as models for international cooperation on the regional scale, and that
governments, NGOs, scientific centers, and the two convention secretariats need to strive
for collaboration, synergistic activities, and joint work planning. The DSG also pointed
out that just as Ramsar's COP7 adopted a toolkit for its Parties, the Barcelona Convention
also has an impressive toolkit, and that working together to promote these instruments
will have great benefits and avoid duplication of effort. The Ramsar Bureau will be
represented at the upcoming COP of the Barcelona Convention in Malta in late October and
will once again convey messages of partnership and collaboration. [9/9/99]
Staff vacancy in the Ramsar Bureau.
The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention is
welcoming applications until 30 October 1999 for the position of Regional Coordinator for Asia, to begin in mid-February 2000. [8/9/99] [This position has been filled.]
Planning
progresses for the Millennium Wetland Event. Preparations
for the Millennium Wetland Event, set for Québec City, Canada, 6-12 August 2000,
is progressing rapidly, with over 60 proposals for symposia and short courses
already being considered. Here is a new
press release with a list of the symposia already proposed. [8/9/99]
AEWA enters into force soon.
Bert Lenten, secretary of the
Interim Secretariat of the African-Eurasian Waterbird
Agreement, has announced that on 30 August 1999 Congo (Brazzaville) signed
and ratified the AEWA, which means that the Agreement will enter into force on 1 November
1999. Congratulations to the AEWA and the Convention on Migratory Species, and may
many more nations add their signatures in the near future. [6/9/99]
BirdLife International World
Conference. The BirdLife International
World Conference, hosted by BirdLife's partner in Malaysia, the Malaysian
Nature Society, will be held 13-17 October at the Awana Hotel, in the Awana Genting
Highlands one hour's drive from Kuala Lumpur. Lots of excursions are promised.
Watch for summaries of the meeting's results here. [3/9/99]
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.
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