The Danone-Evian Fund for Water Resources
Objectives
This fund started in 1998 and was the first one developed with Danone-Evian. It has been based upon three-year agreements and the present agreement runs from 2007 to the end of 2010. Under the terms of the agreement, the Danone Group contributes € 250’000 per year for the development of various agreed activities that will help the Convention to implement its Strategic Plan.
The main objectives of the fund are:
To promote the Ramsar Convention around the world
Through support for the Ramsar communications programme (e.g., World Wetlands Day material, Web site redesign)
To promote concrete actions in the field
Through technical exchanges on know-how and best practices (e.g., wetlands managers’ networking through workshops, High Andes workshop, High Himalayan workshop, League of Arab States workshop, helping to designate new Ramsar sites)
To develop a network of experts for water management
Through raising awareness and exchange among decision-makers (e.g., Evian eEncounters, Ramsar Wetland Conservation Awards)
Activities
Each year the activities developed thanks to this Fund are planned by the Secretariat in agreement with Danone-Evian. Through the years a great many activities have been developed in different domains, and the implementation of thes actions have involved a number of partners.
The major activities in pursuit of the fund’s objectives have been:
World Wetland Day materials
The support of Danone has enabled the creation by Ramsar staff each year of all of the World Wetlands Day communication materials, which are sent free of charge to all WWD contacts and requesters all over the world to enliven and give a focus to their World Wetlands Day celebrations. Each year materials such as posters, informative leaflets, information packs stickers, and gifts for kids are created in the Convention’s three languages (English, French, and Spanish) and provided in various formats, including in the original design files so that they can be modified by users in local languages and to local conditions.
In France, the Fund support the NGO “Ligue de protection des oiseaux” (LPO) to organize various visits in wetlands as part of its World Wetlands Day plans and to create an awareness brochure distributed to the general public.
The development of regional workshops in order to implement regional strategies and help to raise awareness and protection of wetlands in each region
High Andean workshops: This workshop in 2007, for example, helped to monitor the implementation of the High Andes Strategy. This strategy is defined for a period of 10 years and will encourage a sustainable use of different types of wetlands in the Andes region.
High Altitude Himalayan workshops: In order to promote the regional cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands in the Himalayan region , workshops have been held in collaboration with WWF, ICIMOD,and other organizations since 2002 . These meetings have allowed the concerned countries to develop a strategy for the Himalayan Wetland Initiative, which is still under development.
League of Arab States meeting: This conference was held in Cairo in 2009 and encouraged a regional initiative and new countries to join the Ramsar Convention.
The Fund has also been very important in supporting the designation of new Wetlands of International Importance, or Ramsar sites:
- In India: with the support of WWF India, a sustainable management plan was developed in order to prepare a new Ramsar site designation in Arunachal.
- In Argentina and Bolivia: with the support of the Yuchan Foundation, three new Ramsar sites will be designated that will help in the protection of pink flamingos in this sensitive area.
The Evian Special Prize for the Ramsar Wetland Conservation Awards
The Wetland Conservation Awards are bestowed by the Ramsar Convention every three years on the occasions of the meetings of the Conference of the Contracting Parties, and since the beginning the Danone-Evian Fund has added the “Evian Special Prize” of US$ 10,000 for each of the three category winners in the 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2008 rounds.
The Evian Encounters
The Evian Encounters seminar series, supported entirely by the Danone-Evian Fund, permits the Convention to bring high-level decision-makers together in the French resort city of Evian on Lake Geneva/Lac Léman for multi-day presentations and discussions of a number of Ramsar-related and wise use issues.
The first of these events, the “High Level Round Table for officials from Ramsar Contracting Parties in the Neotropical Region”, was held in October 1998, and the second, in October 1999, was aimed at Ramsar officials from francophone Africa. That was followed by another for African officials, this time for English-speaking countries, and the fourth, held in November 2001, focused upon officials for Arabic-speaking countries. After two days of briefing sessions about the wise use of wetlands and the Ramsar Convention's role, the participants traveled to the Camargue in southern France for hands-on experience with exemplary wetland management practices.
The Evian Encounter for the Himalaya-Hindu Kush-Pamir-Allay region and the Mekong River basin countries, the fifth in the series, was held in Evian, 1-6 November 2004, to progress the development of the Himalayan Regional Initiative and begin the development of a "Himalayan Initiative Framework Agreement".
The sixth Evian Encounter focused on the Carpathian Wetland Initiative – in November 2006, 19 wetland and water experts gathered in Evian including ministerial focal points of all seven Carpathian countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Ukraine) to define the fields of activities to be addressed by the Carpathian Wetland Initiative.This was followed by a guided tour in the nearby Pré Curieux Water Gardens and Ramsar Centre established by the municipality and the mineral water company of Evian (www.precurieux.com).
Key documents of the Danone-Evian Fund and Ramsar partnership
News archives of the Danone-Evian Fund and Ramsar partnership
