The Government of Switzerland bids farewell to Ramsar's Secretary General, 14 July 2003
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Sign the memorial Wellie! On 14 July 2003, the departing Secretary General, Mr Delmar Blasco, receives as a parting gift a memorial pair of Wellington wetland rubberboots signed by everybody.
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14 July, Carmen Revenga (left) and Ramsar Bureau staff sign the sacred wellie before the party begins.
An aircraft-carrier-deck worth of little squooshy things on toothpicks, and the assembled hordes of Ramsar, IUCN, WWF, and the Government of Switzerland.
Minister Philippe Roch of Switzerland pays tribute to the Secretary General's leadership of the Ramsar Convention since 1995, surpassing even his own eloquence as a keynote speaker at Ramsar COP8 in Valencia.
Enrapt audience pauses in its assault upon the squooshy-toothpick hors d'oeuvres table.
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The Minister's address, and Delmar's measured but wise reply.
The Secretary General, in turn, thanks the Government of Switzerland for its continued support in hosting the Bureau and funding Ramsar projects in Africa.
(Olivier Bibier is standing just left of Minister Roch.)
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Ramsar's Delmar Blasco talking about stuff with IUCN's Director General, Achim Steiner.
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Left: Delmar Blasco [with the wine glass] and IUCN's Chief Scientist Jeff McNeely [with the beer bottle]. Right: Denis Landenbergue, WWF Living Waters Programme, still trying to sign the sacred wellie.
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Left: Achim Steiner, head of IUCN, and Claude Martin, head of WWF International.
Right: IUCN's Jean-Yves Pirot and Georgina Peard.
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Left: Philippe Roch and Delmar Blasco.
Right: from the Swiss delegation, Meinrad Küttel and Sybille Vermont.
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Left: Ramsar's Alain Lambert and Anada Tiéga.
Right: WWF's Claude Martin and Ramsar's Lei Guangchun.
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Left: Margarita Astràlaga and Ramsar's soon-to-be Secretary General Dr Peter Bridgewater.
Right: Ibrahim Shaame, Delmar Blasco, Alain Lambert.
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Left: Ger Bergkamp (IUCN), Carmen Revenga (World Resources Institute), Carlos Villalba (Ramsar).
Right: Delmar Blasco and Achim Steiner.
Ramsar smiles: Annette Keller, Montse Riera, Carmen Revenga, Carlos Villalba, and Ivan Dario Valencia say "Goodbye, Delmar. Thanks, and good luck in the future."
Photos by Sandra Hails and Liazzat Rabbiosi.
