30th Meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee -- Agenda paper SC30-11, Addendum 1

Small Grants Fund: approval of project proposals for 2003

1. Further to the information contained in DOC. SC30-11, this note provides an update on the funding available for allocation to SGF 2003 projects, as well as recommendations from the Secretariat on the allocation of funds to projects, for consideration by the Subgroup on Finance.

2. The Secretariat is pleased to report that, since the preparation of DOC. SC30-11, further voluntary contributions totaling Sfr. 117,317 have been received. The Secretariat is grateful to the governments of Belgium, Denmark, Japan, Sweden and the United Kingdom for these additional contributions. Moreover, a further Sfr. 8,000 has become available in the surplus from previous years owing to the completion of previous projects that do not require the full amount of funds allocated. The contributions received up to 5 January 2004 are shown in the attached revised Annex 1, which indicates that the funds now available for allocation to SGF projects in 2003 amount to Sfr. 345,901.

3. The Secretariat is also pleased to advise that WWF's Living Waters Programme has pledged Sfr. 10,000 towards the funds required for the Nigeria project (SGF/03/NR/01), subject to the anticipated completion by Nigeria by March 2004 of related work currently funded by WWF.

4. The Secretariat noted in DOC. SC30-11 that one country (Mali) with an A1-rated project had not yet submitted a final report for an SGF 1996 project. This outstanding final report has not yet been received. Therefore, in line with the Operational Guidelines and Resolution VII.5 para. 13, the Secretariat recommends that the Mali SGF 2003 project not be allocated funding from this current cycle. The Standing Committee may wish to urge Mali to submit its SGF 1996 final report without delay and to re-submit its 2003 project proposal for the SGF 2004 cycle.

5. On this basis, and with the funds presently available, the Secretariat recommends that the following nine projects be rated A1 and funded immediately. These are 2 projects from Africa, 2 from Asia, 1 from Europe, 2 from the Neotropics, and 2 from Oceania . The projects are:

Nigeria (SGF/03/NR/01)
Kenya (SGF/03/KE/01)
Lao PDR (SGF/03/LA/01)
Kyrgyz Republic (SGF/03/KG/01)
Republic of Moldova (SGF/03/MD/01)
Bahamas (SGF/03/BS/01)
Guatemala (SGF/03/GT/01)
Marshall Islands (SGF/03/MH/01)
Tonga (SGF/03/TO/01)

6. As recommended in DOC. SC30-11, if the Standing Committee establishes a reserve list of A2-rated projects for priority funding based on geographical equitability, the Secretariat recommends that the following four projects in order of priority (one from each eligible Ramsar region with A2-listed projects) be placed on the reserve list:

Ukraine (SGF/03/UA/01)
Bangladesh (SGF/03/BD/02)
Zambia (SGF/03/ZM/01)
Bolivia (SGF/03/BO/01)

7. Alternatively, if the Standing Committee establishes an A2 reserve list in order of priority of the highest ranked A2 projects, the following six projects are recommended to be placed on the reserve list:

Bangladesh (SGF/03/BD/02)
Zambia (SGF/03/ZM/01)
Bolivia (SGF/03/BO/01)
Togo (SGF/03/TG/01)
India (SGF/03/IN/01)
Ukraine (SGF/03/UA/01)

8. Four countries (Bolivia, India, Togo and Zambia) with projects on the A2 list have previous SGF projects yet to be completed. It is recommended that the Standing Committee should indicate that approval for funding for these projects (if additional funds become available) is conditional upon satisfactory compliance with the reporting requirements from the country's previous SGF project. Furthermore, the Standing Committee may also wish to recommend that if funds become available for A2 projects, the next country in order of priority which has, by that time, fully complied with reporting on any previous SGF projects should receive the available funding.

Annex 1 Revised

SMALL GRANTS FUND - FUNDS AVAILABLE

SGF funds available for allocation in 2003
(in Swiss francs, as at 05.01.2004)