News from the CEPA e-mail list

International Year of the Reef - latest news (05/04/07)

Hello CEPA list members:

Here's news of an international focus on coral reefs that might be of interest depending on your location. 2008 was designated as the International Year of the Reef (IYOR 2008) by the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) during its General Meeting held last 22-23 October 2006 in Cozumel, Mexico. This recent resolution is in response to the urgent need to increase awareness and generate action to develop and implement effective strategies for the further conservation and management of coral reefs and associated ecosystems, as well as to increase appreciation for the value of these resources.

The first IYOR was declared and implemented in 1997 in response to the increasing threats and loss of coral reefs and associated ecosystems. IYOR 97 was a global effort to raise awareness and understanding of coral reefs and the threats they face, and support related conservation, research and management efforts.

The ICRI is a partnership of nations and organizations seeking to implement the recommendations of the Rio Earth Summit (Agenda 21, Ch.17) and other international conventions and agreements for the benefit of coral reefs and associated ecosystems, such as mangroves and seagrasses.

For more information, visit http://www.iyor.org or contact info@iyor.org. They have a newsletter than you can subscribe to - and there's an on-going competition to design a logo for IYOR 2008. I'm afraid my message is at the eleventh hour for anyone interested in the latter - final date for receiving designs is April 9th. Full details are available here http://www.iyor.org/logo.html.

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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