Macedonian version of the Cultural Heritage of Wetlands fact sheets

The Cultural Heritage of Wetlands published in Macedonian by the Bird Study and Protection Society of Macedonia (BSPSM).

This was the good news sent recently to the Ramsar Bureau by Metodija Velevski, secretary of the Macedonian National Ramsar Committee, on behalf of Prof. Branko Micevski of the BSPSM and chair of the NRC, as well as Ramsar's NGO CEPA Focal Point in that country.

Published as a 25-page full-color booklet, the text is a fully-illustrated translation of Sandra Hails' eleven "Cultural Heritage of Wetlands" fact sheets published by the Bureau under its Danone/Evian Project as part of the World Wetlands Day celebrations for 2002, with an additional two-page case study with text and photos detailing the ancient fishing techniques on Dojran Lake, a transboundary lake shared by the FYR of Macedonia and Greece (see note below).

This attractive publication was funded by the IUCN Netherlands Committee under their Small Grants for Wetlands Programme and provides an excellent model for countries wishing to adapt Ramsar public-awareness materials into local languages with Bureau staff assistance and financial support from sympathetic sources. More information about the brochure can be obtained from Meto Velevski at bspsm@unet.com.mk.

Dojran meeting, December 2001. Dojran is shared between Greece and FYR Macedonia, and in the past few years it has suffered a significant fall in the water level, coupled with increased pollution concentration due to the reduced water volume and increased agricultural run off. Under the initiative of MedWet, supported by the Greek Biotope/Wetland Centre (EKBY) and Skopje office of the Germany's aid agency, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ), a first meeting was held on 11 and 12 December 2001, hosted by EKBY in Thessaloniki and chaired by MedWet. More info here.

The English, French, and Spanish PDF versions of the Cultural Heritage of Wetlands info pack are available here.