The Ramsar Bulletin Board, 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.
