First Meeting of the Caribbean Wetlands Initiative in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from 3 to 7 February 2010

The opening was made by the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of Dominican Republic, Mr Jaime David Fernández Mirabal, who reaffirmed his commitment to support the Ramsar Convention in order to achieve the protection of wetlands. He stated that wetlands are highly important at country level and worldwide.

During this meeting, the Contracting Parties of the Caribbean as well as representatives of international organizations and NGO´s worked on prioritizing the activities and on the establishment of a governance structure for the Initiative. They also prepared the work and financial plan for the triennium 2010-2012, according to the request made by the Standing Committee 40.

As an additional outcome of the meeting, the Santo Domingo Declaration highlights the value of the Caribbean wetlands, urges the international cooperation to develop joint actions and requests the support of governments for the development of the Caribbean Wetlands Initiative.

This meeting was made possible thanks to the Danone-Evian support through the Fund for water resources. This Fund supports the Caribbean initiative.