Focus on Ramsar Sites: A new survey of African Ramsar sites AND the new publication Ramsar Sites of the World

Greetings CEPA people:

1. Many of you may remember previous emails on surveys of Ramsar Sites in the USA and Canada looking at the benefits of Ramsar site designations. Now we have a similar survey carried out across Africa.

African Wetlands of International Importance: Assessment of Benefits Associated with Designations under the Ramsar Convention, by Royal Gardner (Stetson University College of Law), Kim Diana Connolly (University of South Carolina School of Law), and Abou Bamba (Ramsar Secretariat), has just been published in the Georgetown International Environmental Law Review, vol XXI, issue 2, and is posted on the Ramsar Web site with permission from the Review. The article discusses the survey results from 26 sites in 18 countries. Benefits associated with Ramsar designation included increased support for protection and management of the sites, increased scientific studies, increased funding opportunities, increased ecotourism, and poverty alleviation. Download it here (5MB):http://www.ramsar.org/wurc/wurc_africa_survey_2009.pdf.

The USA study by Professors Gardner and Connolly's is available here http://www.ramsar.org/wurc/wurc_gardner_elr2007.pdf) and the Canadian survey herehttp://www.ramsar.org/wurc/wurc_canada_survey_2007.pdf)

2. New publication: Ramsar Sites of the World :

Namue Lee writes “The Ministry of Environment Korea, WWT, and UNDP/GEF Korea Wetland Project are pleased to announce the publication of Ramsar Sites of the World in support of the goals of the Ramsar Convention on wetlands.

This new publication shows exemplary conservation practices of 17 Ramsar sites around the world: South Korea, Mali, China, India, Iran, Japan, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, Brazil, Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. 

24 wetland experts and more than 40 photographers deliver the vivid description of Ramsar sites of 17 countries and willingly took their valuable time to make this publication possible.  We certainly hope that their effort will encourage people to take an action for our precious wetlands in the world.

By visiting the following website, you can easily download the pdf version of the book:http://koreawetland.org/en/sub05.asp.”

If you have any comment, please contact Namue Lee at the UNDP/GEF Korea Wetland Project (namue@korea.kr) or Chris Rostron at WWT (Chris.Rostron@wwt.org.uk).

With best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat