News from the CEPA e-mail list

A new National CEPA Action Plan in the making (28/02/05)

Good afternoon Everyone:

As the World Wetlands Day reports pour in, we're finding out a great deal about what is going on around the wetland world (and slowly getting them up on the Web site!). Here's some excellent news from the Ma. Dulce M. Cacha, President of the Society for the Conservation of Philippine Wetlands and the CEPA NGO Focal point. Working with the Government CEPA Focal Point, a national workshop was organized to develop the first draft of their National Wetlands CEPA Action Plan. Ma Cacha's message is copied below (with a link to a full report on their Web site), but I would just like to take this opportunity to remind all the CEPA Focal Points on this CEPA list that I would be very pleased to hear about any on-going plans in your country to develop a Wetland CEPA Action Plan, whether at the regional, national, catchment or local level).

Here's the message from Ma. Cacha:

"Greetings! The Society for the Conservation of Philippine Wetlands (SCPW), the NGO focal point for the Ramsar CEPA Programme, in cooperation with its government counterpart, the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau, has come up with a project to develop the National Wetlands CEPA Action Plan.

In time for the celebration of World Wetlands Day, a national workshop was conducted on 02 February 2005 to craft the first draft of the National Wetlands CEPA Action Plan. Thirty identified key stakeholders from all over the country gathered at the Visitors' Center of the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Nature Center to attend the workshop.

The product of the workshop will be subjected to an online consultation and will be complemented by announcements to regional and local stakeholders to enable them to take part in the process. The results will be collated and reviewed for incorporation to the pre-final document, which will then be presented in a national consultation.

A poster exhibit on the development of a wetland as a tourism site was also set up in the lobby of the venue. Open to architecture students in the country, the "Design Competition: Developing Lumban Delta as an Eco-Tourism Site" is a scale modeling design competition organized by the SCPW and the Architecture Students Association of the Philippines aimed to support various environment-friendly tourism activities and generate a site development plan taking into account the principles of sustainable development. The winning entry will be donated to the municipality of Lumban. Details of the celebration can also be viewed in the SCPW website http://www.psdn.org.ph/wetlands/2005wwd.htm.

Ma. Dulce M. Cacha, President Society for the Conservation of Philippine Wetlands, wetlands@psdn.org.ph."

With best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat

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Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer
Ramsar Convention Secretariat
Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 999 0176; Fax: +41 22 999 0169
E-mail: hails@ramsar.org
Web Site: http://ramsar.org
CEPA mini-Web site: http://ramsar.org/outreach_index.htm

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