The Ramsar Bulletin Board, 10 August 2010

‘National Consultative Workshop on Wetlands’ in Bhutan

On 14 July 2010, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MoAF) of the Kingdom of Bhutan held a one-day ‘National Consultative Workshop on Wetlands’. The aim of the workshop was to provide updates on the progress of wetland conservation in Bhutan and to discuss the benefits of accession to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, and the commitments that the government would have to abide by if the country were to become a Contracting Party. More [05/08/10]

New Transboundary Ramsar Site declared by Belarus and Lithuania

The Secretariat is very pleased to announce that the governments of Belarus and Lithuania have added the existing Ramsar Sites “Kotra” (designated in 2002) in Grodno Oblast, Belarus, and “Čepkeliai” (designated in 1993) in Alytus county, Lithuania, to the list of Transboundary Ramsar Sites. More | español | français [04/08/10]

Ramsar's Senior Advisor for Europe reports on a "full size" river plan for the Loire in France

The river Loire in France is known to many for its outstanding cultural landscape of great beauty, containing historic towns and villages, great architectural monuments (the châteaux), and cultivated lands formed by many centuries of interaction between their population and the physical environment, primarily the river Loire itself. More [03/08/10] 

Vacancy for Technical Assistant at the CEDAMM training Centre, Lopé National Park in Gabon

This position vacancy was advertised earlier, but as there was no suitable candidate, the Centre decided to re-open it.

The CEDAMM training centre was created in 2004 for training professionals in the field of protected areas to conduct training for conservation, management of protected areas, project management, monitoring, inventories, etc. it also has an orchid garden and a museum that support the training. More [30/07/10]

Spain designates five new Ramsar Sites in Andalucía

The government of Spain has designated four new Nature Reserves (Reserva Natural) and one Natural Area (Paraje Natural) as Wetlands of International Importance in Andalucía, in the south of the Iberian peninsula of Spain. Ramsar’s Advisory team for Europe has prepared brief site descriptions, based upon the Ramsar Information Sheets provided by the Ramsar authority in Spain. More | Español | Français [29/07/10]

Workshop on Murray-Darling Basin climate adaptation options

In mid-July 2010 a group of 18 wetland and water management experts met in Canberra, Australia to review options for coping with adapting to a changing climate in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), south-east Australia’s major river catchment. More [29/07/10]

RRC-CWA Vacancy Announcement

The Ramsar Regional Centre for Training and Research on Wetlands in Central and West Asia (RRC-CWA) has vacancies for an Administrative Officer and a Communication Officer. A 12 month renewable contract is offered with a trial period of three months. Applications should be sent in English to the RRC-CWA Director before 30 August 2010. More [28/07/10]

 Who's Where?


Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer will be in Urmia, Iran, from the 9 -13 August running a workshop for CEPA National Focal Points in central Asia and eastern Europe. [06/08/10]

Lew Young, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia - Oceania, will be away from the Secretariat from 6 July until 22 August. He will be visiting Bhutan from 12-17 July, the Lao PDR from 19-24 July, and will then be in New Caledonia from 30 July - 7 August for a workshop on wetlands in the Pacific region. For the remainder of the time, he will be based in Hong Kong. [05/07/10]

For more old Ramsar Secretariat travel news, see also 'Who Was Where', 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

Ramsar's Senior Advisor for Asia/Oceania invited to join activities in Lao PDR to celebrate accession to the Ramsar Convention

In May 2010, the Ramsar Convention Secretariat announced that Lao PDR had completed the accession formalities with UNESCO and had joined the Ramsar Convention, as its 160th Contracting Party. In July 2010, a series of activities were organized to celebrate the accession. Read here the full report on the events by Lew Young, Senior Advisor for Asia/Oceania. [26/07/10] 

Vacancy at Ramsar Secretariat for Project Management Officer

The main focus of the work of the Project Management Officer is to assure regular contacts, coordination and best possible implementation of the partnership agreements between the Ramsar Convention and Danone Evian, and to prepare their renewal for 2011-2014.

This post is offered in the first instance as a fixed-term position until 31 December 2010, or for a period of up to six months. The position will be reviewed after a probationary period. It is anticipated that this review will lead to the creation of a new contract, according to the renewed partnership agreement 2011-2014 between Danone and the Ramsar Secretariat that provides the funding for this position. More | Français [22/07/10]

Vacancy at Ramsar Secretariat for Intern/Assistant for Europe

The Ramsar Secretariat welcomes applications for the position of Intern/Assistant Advisor for the European region, a 12-month posting (possibly extendable up to 18 months) in the Ramsar Secretariat in Switzerland to begin in mid-October 2010. More [22/07/10]

New "World Mangrove Atlas" shows the critical importance of mangrove forests and the alarming rate of their loss despite positive restoration efforts by some countries

The first global assessment of mangroves is the output of a joint project implemented since 2005 by the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), the International Society of Mangroves and other organizations from forestry and conservation sectors and from across the United Nations. It includes a new and comprehensive map and account of mangrove forests. Read the press release [15/07/10]

(Photo caption: ©Shigeyuki. Baba Mangrove plantation by schoolchildren for coastal defense, Kiribati)

The government of Sri Lanka has designated the Vankalai Sanctuary as its 4th Wetland of International Importance. As summarized by Marian Gwilliam, Assistant Advisor for Asia/Oceania, Vankalai Sanctuary (8°56’N 079°55’E) is located North-West of Sri Lanka in the District of Mannar.  More [12/07/10]

10th meeting of the Mediterranean Wetlands Committee. Ramsar’s Senior Advisor Tobias Salathé reports that MedWet/Com met for its 10th meeting near Bastia on the shores of Biguglia lagoon (Ramsar site N°520) in Corsica, hosted by the French Ministry of Ecology and the local authorities on 31 May-3 June 2010. More [12/07/10]

Society of Wetland Scientists creates a Ramsar Section; establishes a Ramsar-SWS Student project award; and gives Ramsar DSG its International Fellow Award for 2010

The Society of Wetlands Scientists (SWS) has been working closely with Ramsar’s Scientific & Technical Review Panel for some years. At its June 2010 annual conference in Salt Lake City, USA, the SWS agreed to further strengthen the mechanisms for linking the expertise of its membership with Ramsar’s work through the creation of a special-interest “Ramsar Section”... More [09/07/10]

Extractive industry in Republic of Congo: a Ramsar Advisory Mission visits the Ramsar site Cayo-Loufoualeba

At the invitation of the Ministry of sustainable development, forest economy and environment, Republic of Congo, a Ramsar Advisory Mission was undertaken jointly with the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and the Agreement on African-Eurasian Waterbirds (AEWA) in Brazzaville and the area of Pointe Noire from 23 to 28 June 2010. More | Français [09/07/10]

The Pomorie Lake Visitor Centre was officially opened on 10 June 2010. The two-storey building of the centre is situated on the bank of the lake Pomorie, close to the Salt Museum. The event was well attended by the public, and official guests cut the ceremonial ribbon to inaugurate the centre. More [08/07/10]

The Candaba Wetland Centre organized a Design Competition. Between December 2009 and May 2010, the Architectural Students Association of the Philippines – University of the Philippines and the Society for the Conservation of Philippine Wetlands, Inc. (SCWP), organized ‘The Candaba Wetland Centre Design Competition’. More [08/07/10]

The Ramsar Convention – a modern success story for nature conservation. Ramsar's Senior Advisor for Europe Tobias Salathé reports that, as a contribution to the International Year of Biodiversity, Estonia organised an international conference in Tallinn to celebrate 100 years of contemporary nature conservation on 27-29 May 2010. More [02/07/10]

Translation of key Ramsar documents into Arabic

In response to the adoption of the conclusions and recommendations of the Cairo Statement that was elaborated during the ‘Regional Technical Meeting on Implementation of the Ramsar Convention in the Arab Region’ held from the 22 to 25 June 2009 in Cairo, Egypt, we are pleased to announce the completion of translation of the first set of documents as requested by the participants of this meeting who included representatives of the member countries of the League of Arab States as well as concerned regional and international organizations, academics and other wetland experts. More [30/06/10]

RTR on wetland inventory now available

The importance of knowing where wetlands are, and what characterstics they have, has long been recognized by the Parties to the Ramsar Convention as providing the vital basis for many aspects of implementing the Convention successfully. A Framework for a Wetland Inventory Metadatabase provides an important contribution to achieving this goal and is now available as a Ramsar Technical Report in PDF format (English only). More [29/06/10]

The “Nakdong Estuary Eco Centre” in Busan, South Korea, celebrated its third anniversary on 12 June

The “Nakdong Estuary Eco Centre” (NEEC), built in 2007 in Busan, South Korea, invited Ramsar’s Secretary General, Anada Tiéga, to visit its special exhibition on the occasion of the Centre’s third anniversary. More [25/06/10]

"Managing for Change: The Present and Future States of the Marshes of Southern Iraq"

This recent report represents one component of a five-year project funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to support international efforts to restore the important wetlands ecosystem that was drained by the Iraqi government in the early 1990s. The report summarizes the drastic changes in the Marshes since 1973, both in terms of Marsh extent and Marsh health. It also identifies the key factors that need to be addressed to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Marshes and outlines recommendations needed to stabilize and restore these valuable wetlands. The report can be downloaded via this link: http://www.iraqimarshlands.org/

The Nature Conservancy is seeking to recruit a Programme Manager for the Zambezi Basin. The programme is one of the Nature Conservancy’s key projects within its Africa Region. The position works closely with the Africa Region staff, other divisions of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), government agencies, regional institutions, NGOs, multilateral and bilateral agencies, land and water managers, communities and the private sector.

See full details on Terms of Reference here. Interested candidates should send their CV and a cover letter explaining the reasons of their interest and the skills he/she would bring to the position to Raquel Seybert (raquel.seybert@gmail.com), Environmental Consultant at the Nature Conservancy, by 15 July 2010.

Having a Ramsar site – it’s your development opportunity!

In 2008, the natural floodplains along the Upper Rhine, shared between Germany and France, became the largest Transboundary Ramsar Site so far. More [18/06/10] 

Feedback and suggestions are welcome to the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ).