40th Meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee
| CONVENTION ON WETLANDS (Ramsar, Iran, 1971) 40th Meeting of the Standing Committee Gland, Switzerland, 11-15 May 2009 |
DOC. SC40-2, rev. 1
Ramsar Secretariat budget 2009
| Action requested: The Standing Committee is requested to note this report on the budget for the current year and advise the Secretary General as appropriate. |
1. Attached to this note is the Core Budget for 2009 to 2012 as approved by the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties (COP10).
2. The Secretary General is not at this stage seeking any changes to the budget for 2009, but he notes the following:
- Cost of living increases for 2009 of 2.6% have been given to all staff entitled to receive them. A few staff members have also been given performance-related increases. The total cost of salary increases has been limited to the 4% budget increase available.
- The new budget line for the Partnership Coordinator allocates CHF 88,000 for expenditure in 2009.
- The 2009 budget of CHF 279,190 is to be allocated to Regional Initiatives – see document SC40-10.
- 2009 travel budgets may not support the currently anticipated travel plans of the Secretariat.
- IUCN charges to Ramsar for 2009 are currently being finalised but are expected to be in line with the 2009 budget. The final charges agreed for 2009 will be communicated to the Standing Committee at its May meeting.
3. The Subgroup on Finance is requested to recommend this 2009 budget for the Standing Committee approval.
4. No budget has traditionally been proposed for non-Core activities. Points to note include:
- There have been no 2008 or 2009 contributions from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
- Danone 2009 income – Danone General Communications Funding (Eur 250,000 expected) and Evian Ecole de l’Eau (Eur 131,000 and Eur 182,000 expected).
- Additional voluntary funding is required for the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP), the Wetlands for the Future Fund (WFF), the Small Grants Fund (SGF), and Swiss Grant for Africa (SGA).
- For all non-Core activities, expenditure commitments are only made following cash receipt.
- 2009 Voluntary additional contributions from African nations (Resolution X.2, para 15) have to date amounted to CHF 2000 and are being accumulated in a non-core budget line for expenditure on African Regional Initiatives as stipulated in the Resolution.
5. For 2010 contributions we would like to suggest that the Secretariat does not raise provisional invoices in mid-2009, which would then be superseded by final invoices in December 2009 when UN contribution scales are revised, but instead just issue final invoices in December 2009. Contracting Parties can be reminded in writing before the end of the year that the principal of a 4% overall increase applies and that they should budget for a 4% increase for 2010. There is a risk to this approach that cash flow in early 2010 may be detrimentally affected. However, larger Contracting Parties will not pay until final invoices are issued anyway, and the benefit of less administrative work at the Secretariat and less scope for error and confusion for Contracting Parties in considered to be greater.
Core Budget 2009-2012 as approved by COP 10
RAMSAR FOUR % GROWTH BUDGET 2009 to 2012 | |||||||||||
COP9 approved | |||||||||||
EXPENDITURES | 2008 | 2008 | 2009 | 2009 | 2010 | 2010 | 2011 | 2011 | 2012 | 2012 | |
CHF | CHF | ||||||||||
A. SECRETARIAT SENIOR MANAGEMENT | 476,466 | 494,365 | 512,979 | 532,338 | 552,472 | ||||||
i. Salary & social costs (SG)(Ass’t) (20%DSG) | 447,466 | 465,365 | 483,979 | 503,338 | 523,472 | ||||||
ii. Travel on Official Business (International) (2K for NCD) | 29,000 | 29,000 | 29,000 | 29,000 | 29,000 | ||||||
M. PARTNERSHIP Co-ordinator | 87,278 | 141,696 | 198,290 | 257,149 | |||||||
i. Partnership Account | 87,278 | 141,696 | 198,290 | 257,149 | |||||||
B. REGIONAL ADVICE & SUPPORT | 1,128,931 | 1,170,903 | 1,214,554 | 1,259,951 | 1,307,164 | ||||||
i. Salaries & social costs (SRAs, Assistants, Oceania officer) | 1,049,304 | 1,091,276 | 1,134,927 | 1,180,324 | 1,227,537 | ||||||
ii. Travel on Official Business (International) | 79,627 | 79,627 | 79,627 | 79,627 | 79,627 | ||||||
C. SUPPORT TO REGIONAL INITIATIVES | 279,190 | 279,190 | 279,190 | 279,190 | 279,190 | ||||||
i. Regional networks (cooperation) | 179,190 | 179,190 | 179,190 | 179,190 | 179,190 | ||||||
ii. Regional centers (training & capacity-building) | 100,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | ||||||
D. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SERVICES | 567,360 | 574,415 | 581,752 | 589,383 | 597,319 | ||||||
i. STRP (implementation/meeting & staff costs) | 205,985 | 205,985 | 205,985 | 205,985 | 205,985 | ||||||
ii. Ramsar Sites Information Service | 170,000 | 170,000 | 170,000 | 170,000 | 170,000 | ||||||
iii. DSG (60%) | 176,375 | 183,430 | 190,767 | 198,398 | 206,334 | ||||||
iv. Travel on Official Business (International) (NCD) | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | ||||||
E. CEPA - COMMUNICATION, EDUCATION & PUBLIC AWARENESS | 590,738 | 607,131 | 624,181 | 641,912 | 660,352 | ||||||
i. Salaries & social costs (DSG 20%)(SrAdminAss’t - 34%) | 409,835 | 426,228 | 443,278 | 461,009 | 479,449 | ||||||
ii. CEPA Programme | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | ||||||
iii. Communications & Reporting implementation | 150,903 | 150,903 | 150,903 | 150,903 | 150,903 | ||||||
F. ADMINISTRATION & PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT | 360,244 | 371,224 | 382,642 | 394,518 | 406,868 | ||||||
i. Administration (salaries & social costs) | 237,512 | 247,012 | 256,893 | 267,169 | 277,855 | ||||||
ii. Human Resources (salaries & social costs) (SrAdminAss’t - 33%) | 36,976 | 38,455 | 39,993 | 41,593 | 43,257 | ||||||
iii. Other employment benefits | 50,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | 50,000 | ||||||
iv. Staff hiring and departure costs | 35,756 | 35,756 | 35,756 | 35,756 | 35,756 | ||||||
G. FINANCE MANAGEMENT | 197,321 | 205,214 | 213,422 | 221,959 | 230,838 | ||||||
i. Salaries & social costs (SrAdminAss’t-33%) | 197,321 | 205,214 | 213,422 | 221,959 | 230,838 | ||||||
H. OPERATING COSTS | 88,529 | 88,529 | 88,529 | 88,529 | 88,529 | ||||||
i. Operating Costs (photocopying, printing, courier) | 76,529 | 76,529 | 76,529 | 76,529 | 76,529 | ||||||
ii. Purchase & Maintenance of Equipment/Office Supplies | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | 12,000 | ||||||
(including depreciation) | |||||||||||
I. STANDING COMMITTEE SERVICES | 72,812 | 72,812 | 72,812 | 72,812 | 72,812 | ||||||
i. Standing Committee delegates’ support | 47,056 | 47,056 | 47,056 | 47,056 | 47,056 | ||||||
ii. Simultaneous interpretation at SC meetings | 25,756 | 25,756 | 25,756 | 25,756 | 25,756 | ||||||
L. COP related costs incurred by the Secretariat | 34,952 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | ||||||
SubTotal | 3,796,543 | 3,951,061 | 4,111,758 | 4,278,882 | 4,452,693 | 4,452,693 | |||||
K. IUCN SERVICE CHARGES (13% of expenditures) | 493,551 | 513,638 | 534,529 | 556,255 | 578,850 | ||||||
(Administration, Human Resources, Finance & IT services) | |||||||||||
J. MISCELLANEOUS | 75,000 | 75,000 | 75,000 | 75,000 | 75,000 | ||||||
i. Bad debt provision | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | 15,000 | ||||||
ii. Exchange loss | 35,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 | 35,000 | ||||||
iii.Staff termination & repatriation provisions* | 25,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | ||||||
4,365,094 | |||||||||||
TOTAL FORECAST EXPENDITURE | 4,539,698 | 4,721,286 | 4,910,137 | 5,106,543 | |||||||
4,539,698 | 4,721,286 | 4,910,137 | 5,106,543 | ||||||||
* Accounting requirement, can be treated as a reserve amount. | - | - | - | - | |||||||
