River Basin Initiative announces meeting and calls for material

(posted to the Ramsar Forum, 11 January 2002)

Dear RBI Members,

I wish all RBI members a Happy New Year and hope we will have a successful and peaceful year ahead of us.

Just a brief note to update everyone on what is going on with RBI. There will be a meeting on "Wetlands, Biodiversity and Climate Change - Key Issues for the Future" in Kuala Lumpur on the 17th of January 2002. It is organised by the Global Environment Centre and sponsored by the Ramsar Convention and the ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity Conservation.

Some of the world's top environmental experts have been invited to make presentations at the Meeting, including Delmar Blasco - Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, Bob Watson - Head of the Environment Department of the World Bank and Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The meeting will also provide information on options for involvement in and support from new global programmes including the River Basin Initiative and the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment - both coordinated by secretariats established in Malaysia.

The outcome of the meeting will be published in RBI's first newsletter, which will be printed by the end of this month. Articles from members on river basin projects, issues on river basin management and water resource management, announcements etc are welcome. Please do not hesitate to send them to me, articles will be included in the 2nd issue if it does not make it in time for the premier issue. Members are also welcome to provide comments on the values of the Initiative.

Last but not least, I have also been busy with the development of the RBI's Web portal. Soft launch of the portal will take place at the Meeting in Kuala Lumpur next week (17th of Jan). Therefore, I am really in need of information on any river basin projects, country profiles, river basin profiles, wetland conservation, biodiversity conservation, policies and legal instruments of integrated river basin management, demonstration projects, institutional arrangements, planning procedures, monitoring and transboundary/International cooperations. You can view the portal at: http://www.tomoye.com/simplify/riverbasin   .

The RBI portal will not be successful without your cooperation and the main purpose of developing the portal is to facilitate sharing of information and experiences among countries. So, what are you waiting for?

Best Wishes

Oi May
oimay@genet.po.my
River Basin Initiative, Moderator

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