Mekong Water Dialogues - challenges and best practices in wise use of wetlands in the Lower Mekong Basin

Greetings CEPA people:

IUCN Mekong Water Dialogues organized a workshop from 21 - 25 March 2011 in Vientiane, Lao PDR.  The workshop brought together for the first time, the Ramsar Administrative Authorities, Ramsar Site managers, relevant regional NGOs and other wetland experts from the region to share their experiences and best practices in wetland conservation and was attended by around 30 participants from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam, as well as China.

Seven themes were identified and each began with a number of short presentations on case studies followed by small group discussions to consider each thematic area in more detail and record any recommendations for best practices identified through the case studies.

The session themes were:

• Working with local communities;
• Management planning process;
• Wetland habitat management and monitoring;
• CEPA and tourism programs;
• National inventory of wetlands and their values;
• National regulations, guidelines and mechanisms; and
• Opportunities for national and regional cooperation

The 27-page well illustrated report, co-authored by Lew Young, Ramsar’s Senior regional Advisor for Asia-Oceania and Robert Mather from IUCN’s Asia Regional Office, is written in a user-friendly style. With brief boxed text highlighting the main points of each case study and then a concluding section identifying key challenges and best practices, this is easy to dip into depending on your interest, and especially useful for those of you working closely with local communities.

Available here for download www.ramsar.org/pdf/IUCN_Mekong_Water_Dialogues_ March_2011_Ramsar.pdf

Best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat
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Sandra HAILS
CEPA Programme Officer
Ramsar Convention Secretariat
Rue Mauverney 28, 1196 Gland, Switzerland
hails@ramsar.org
Tel: +41 22 9990176; Fax: +41 22 9990169
www.ramsar.org/CEPA-Programme/
facebook: www.facebook.com/RamsarConventionOnWetlands