Who was where, 2003?

A collection of travel news about Ramsar Secretariat staff, in reverse chronological order, drawn from the Who's Where? feature of the Ramsar Bulletin Board.

For more old Ramsar Bureau travel news, see also 'Who Was Where', 2000, 2001, 2002

Peter Bridgewater, Nick Davidson, Tobias Salathé, and Alain Lambert from the Ramsar Secretariat are visiting in Berne, Switzerland, 17 December 2003, for discussions with Swiss authorities. [17/12/03]

Abou Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, is in Algiers, 15-16 November, for the Partners' Conference on the Action Plan of the Environment Initiative of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). The conference is intended to be a partnership meeting to enable African governments and their partners to launch a process of engagement which will lead to effective implementation of the Action Plan. The specific objectives of the Conference will be to: i. To inform and seek the support of development partners on Africa's main priorities, including the Environment Initiative, of which the Action Plan is an important component. ii. To present to development partners a package of initial projects and the supporting capacity building programme which includes a programmatic approach to provide an impetus to the overall implementation of the Action Plan. iii. To discuss with development partners' mutual commitments to, and effective modalities for the implementation of the Environment Action Plan. The Ramsar Convention has been coordinating the wetlands component of this action plan. [15/12/03]

Margarita Astrálaga, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is attending meetings of the United Nations Forest Forum's "Ad hoc expert group on finance and transfer of environmentally sound technologies" in Geneva, 15-19 December 2003. [16/12/03]

Nassima Aghanim, Assistant Advisor for Africa, is in Algeria to attend meetings 8-12 December 2003 with Tour du Valat Biological Station and WWF Living Waters Programme staff and the Convention's Administrative Authority, the Direction Générale des Forêts. [08/12/03]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is luxuriating in Athens, Greece, supposedly "to work for two days (4-5 December) with Spyros Kouvelis and the MedWet Coordination Unit, to review their progress since MedWet/Com5 in Izmir earlier this year and to discuss a range of issues concerning the operations and future development of the MedWet Initiative and the Unit. Thymio Papayannis will be joining parts of the meeting." [03/12/03]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, has been invited to contribute to a meeting on “Sustainable use and conservation of biological diversity: A challenge for society” organized in Berlin by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Science (a meeting bringing together “a large number of scientists and politicians and the public to discuss various topics concerning the current tasks for biodiversity research including social, economic and political aspects”). [01/12/03]

Estelle Gironnet, Assistant Advisor for Europe, is attending the conference "Diversité d'usages sur les grands plans d'eau" organised by the Pôle-relais "Zones humides intérieures" and hosted by the Parc Naturel Regional de Lorraine in France, 27-28 November. [28/11/03]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, Abou Bamba, Ramsar's new Senior Advisor for Africa, and Nassima Aghanim, Assistant Advisor, are in Cotonou, Benin, for the Ramsar Parliamentarians' Meeting for West and Central Africa (27-28 November), organized by the government of Benin, the Ramsar Secretariat, and the Network for Environment and Sustainable Development in Africa (NESDA). The objective of the meeting is to brief members of parliaments of West and Central African countries and draw attention from decision makers and the public to a number of key issues involving the ecological and socio-economic aspects of wetland sustainable use and what parliamentarians can do to help. It is expected that Anada Tiéga, Ramsar former officer for Africa, will be participating as well. [27/11/03]

Guangchun Lei, Senior Advisor for the Asia/Pacific, is visiting Thailand as the guest of DANIDA (the Danish Agency for Development Assistance) and Thailand's Ramsar Administrative Authority, where he will deliver the keynote address at the National Ramsar Workshop and then visit several Ramsar sites and a DANIDA project area. He will be returning to the Secretariat on 6 December 2003. [25/11/03]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is participating at the invitation of the organizers in the international seminar on "Integrated Water Management of the Tisza River Basin", organized by the FAO subregional office in Budapest and Wetlands International, in Budapest, Hungary, 20-21 November 2003. The seminar is one of the steps in a process that should lead to the establishment and implementation of an integrated Tisza river basin water management plan. [20/11/03]

Nassima Aghanim, Assistant Advisor for Africa, is in Cotonou, Benin, 21-30 November 2003, preparing for and then attending the first Ramsar Parliamentary Meeting for West and Central Africa (27-28 November). [21/11/03]

Ellen Dieme and Karin Schneider of Wetlands International are visiting the Ramsar Secretariat, 18-19 November, for discussions with staff on new developments with the Ramsar Sites Database, which is maintained and developed by Wetlands International under contract with the Convention. [18/11/03]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, will be attending the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council meeting in Washington, D.C., USA, 19-21 November 2003. [17/11/03]

Margarita Astrálaga, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is participating in the board meeting of ICRI, the International Coral Reef Initiative, in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands, 17-19 November 2003. [17/11/03]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is attending the Ecotourism Australia 2003 conference in Adelaide, Australia, 8-19 November 2003.[10/11/03]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is attending the 9th meeting of the CBD's Subsidiary Body for Scientific, Technical, and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) in Montreal, Canada, 10-16 November 2003. [10/11/03]

Margarita Astrálaga, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is attending the Global Oceans meeting hosted by IOC - UNESCO in Paris, France and representing Ramsar as a steering committee member in pre-conference workshops on the White Water Blue Water Initiative and on implementation of the Barbados action plan for small island developing states. [10/11/03]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is leading a Ramsar Advisory Mission to Bulgaria, in cooperation with the French GEF (FFEM). [10/11/03]

Alain Lambert, Senior Trade and Development Advisor, is in China 6-13 November to participate in the meeting of the Task Force on Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM) for the Yangtze River. [07/11/03]

Spyros Kouvelis, MedWet Coordinator, is in Nairobi, Kenya, as a guest of CGIAR (Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research) to give an opening address at the official launch of the Challenge Programme on Water and Food Conference. [04/11/03]

Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is in Amsterdam and Wageningen, The Netherlands, 3-6 November 2003, for meetings with the steering committee of the Global Peatland Initiative (GPI), the steering committee of the UNEP-GEF project "Climate Change and Peatlands", and the Ramsar Coordinating Committee for Global Action on Peatlands, his travel sponsored by a GPI grant. [03/11/03]

Representatives of about 35 Permanent Missions to the United Nations in Geneva are visiting the Ramsar Bureau this afternoon, 3 November, for a briefing session on recent developments in the regions and in the work of the Convention generally. [03/11/03]

Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is in Ukraine participating in the joint Ramsar/MAB Advisory Mission in the Danube Delta.[29/10/03]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, goes to Germany on the 20^th  October to deliver the keynote speech during the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation 25th anniversary celebration, then will be in Brazil on the 23^rd October to meet Government representatives and attend a UNU meeting on synergies and linkages of environmental conventions, focusing on the Pantanal.  He will then go to Washington for the WI Board of Directors meeting on the 30^th October, followed by a meeting with Herb Raffaele of USFWS, the Focal Point for the USA’s Administrative Authority, and a meeting with the GEF Secretariat and the UN Foundation. [22/10/03]

Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is at Comacchio in the Po Delta Ramsar site in Italy to participate with the financial support of the hosts in the seminar "Climate change and foreseeable impacts on deltas: new challenge for the conservation of protected areas" and a meeting of the 'Delta chiama Delta' network of Ramsar sites, 8-9 October 2003. (07/10/03)

Guangchun Lei, Regional Coordinator for Asia, is in Brunei to participate the International Symposium on Conservation and Wise use of Mangroves in Southeast Asia (6-8 October), and then meet with Brunei Government Officers, with travel support from the Ramsar Center Japan. (03/10/03)

Alain Lambert, Senior Adviser for Environment and Development Cooperation, is in Cuba for the 4th International Seminar on Wetlands, 5-11 October 2003, where he will make a number of presentations on conservation finance and on economic valuation techniques. (03/10/03)

Iván Dario Valencia, Assistant to the Regional Coordinator for the Americas, is joining Margarita Astrálaga at the Western Hemisphere Migratory Birds Conference in Termas de Puyehe, Chile, 6-8 October 2003. (03/10/03)

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is on leave but is presently in Cadiz, Spain, for the International Wader Study Group's annual conference and participating in a workshop reviewing the deteriorating status of migratory wader (shorebird) populations worldwide on different flyways. (26/09/03)

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is in Geneva for a meeting of UNEP's Environmental Management Group, 26 September. (26/09/03)

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is on leave but is presently in Cadiz, Spain, for the International Wader Study Group's annual conference and participating in a workshop reviewing the deteriorating status of migratory wader (shorebird) populations worldwide on different flyways. (26/09/03)

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is on Porquerolles island, south of France, for a seminar on "Fisheries and Biodiversity", 21-23 September 2003. (23/09/03)

Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is in Laufen, Germany, for a meeting of the Expert Ecological Group of the Danube Commission ICPDR. (23/09/03)

Margarita Astrálaga, Regional Coordinator for the Americas, is in Parana City, Argentina, for the International Seminar on Sustainable Development of Wetlands in Latin America - International Symposium on Ecotourism and Wetlands, 25-27 September, her participation supported by Fundación Proteger and WWF Living Waters Programme. After a week working with the Administrative Authority in Buenos Aires, she will participate in the Western Hemisphere Migratory Birds Conference in Termas de Puyehe, Chile, 6-8 October, at the invitation of the US State Department and Fish and Wildlife Service, where a hemispheric strategy for the conservation of migratory wildlife from North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean will be under development. (23/09/03)

Guangchun Lei, Regional Coordinator for Asia, is in The Netherlands to attend an Integrated River Basin Management workshop, 17-20 September, organized by CIDA and China Council with participation by the IRBM Task Force Members of China Council (of which both he and Alain Lambert are members).(17/09/03)

Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is attending the seminar "Current issues of conservation and wise use of wetlands and wetland biodiversity in the European new independent states", 14-19 September 2003, near Lake Sevan, Armenia. More information on the LakeNet Web site, http://www.worldlakes.org/initiative/armenia_seminar.htm.(15/09/03)

Margarita Astrálaga, Regional Coordinator for the Americas, is participating in the inter-agency consultative meeting on the establishment of the Global Marine Environment Assessment (GMA), in Paris from 8 - 9 September 2003, hosted by the IOC/UNESCO [08/09/03]

Peter Bridgewater, Secretary General, is in Durban, South Africa, for the World Parks Congress, where he will be leading in a number of Ramsar-related and other activities before returning on 19 September. He will be sending news reports to this Web site as events unfold, and will be joined there by the Bureau's Alain Lambert in a few days. (04/09/03)

Montse Riera is in Durban, South Africa, seconded to IUCN to help set up and run registration for the World Parks Congress, 8-17 September 2003. [01/09/03]

Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, offering a lecture in the "Integrated Water Resources Management" course at Neuchâtel University, 3 September 2003. (03/09/03)

Alain Lambert, Senior Advisor on Development Cooperation, is in Cancun, Mexico, for the 18th Global Biodiversity Forum, 5-7 September 2003, preceding the World Trade Organization negotiations. [03/09/03]

Gordana Beltram (Slovenia), Chair of the Ramsar Standing Committee, is visiting the Bureau today, 1 September 2003, for discussions with the Secretary General, Peter Bridgewater. [01/09/03]

Margarita Astrálaga, Regional Coordinator for the Americas, is in Habana, Cuba, for the 6th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), through to 5 September 2003. [29/08/03]

Guangchun Lei, Regional Coordinator for Asia, and his Assistant Liazzat Rabbiosi are in Kathmandu, Nepal, organizing the Ramsar workshop on "Wetland Conservation and Wise Use in the Himalaya High Mountains" with WWF International and ICIMOD, 30-31 August 2003. [01/09/03]

Montse Riera is in Durban, South Africa, seconded to IUCN to help set up and run registration for the World Parks Congress, 8-17 September 2003. [01/09/03]

Doug Hulyer and Malcolm Whitehead of theWildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT)in the UK are visiting the Ramsar Bureau, 28 August 2003, for discussions about the further development of Wetlands Link International (WLI). [28/08/03]

Estelle Gironnet and Iván Dario Valencia, Assistants to the Regional Coordinators for Europe and the Americas, are visiting the Ramsar site Baie du Fanel et Le Chablais on the Lake of Neuchâtel, 22 August, as part of activities hosted by the Government of Switzerland to mark the 30th anniversary of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). [22/08/03]

Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is in Wageningen, the Netherlands, for the opening day of the International Course on Wetland Management, organized by RIZA of the Dutch Government to build capacity worldwide in implementation of the Ramsar wise use management guidelines. [20/08/03]

Alain Lambert, Senior Advisor for Environment and Development Cooperation, is in Campo Grande, Cuiabá, and Cáceres, Brazil, 13-16 August, for meetings with government and non-governmental officials. [13/08/03]

Guangchun Lei, Regional Coordinator for Asia, is in Beijing, China, 9-24 August, for discussions with the Administrative Authority there. From 25 to 29 August, he will be at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to participate in a workshop on water policy, following which he will be in Kathmandu, organizing a workshop on "Wetland Conservation and Wise Use in the Himalaya High Mountains" with WWF International and ICIMOD, 30-31 August 2003. [08/08/03]

Alain Lambert, Senior Advisor for Environment and Development Cooperation, is in Brasilia, Brazil, 10-11 August, for meetings with government officials. [12/08/03]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Wageningen, The Netherlands, for discussions with Wetlands International about the progress of the Ramsar Sites Database and STRP Support Service, both operated by WI under contract with the Ramsar Convention. [05/08/03]

Alain Lambert, Senior Advisor for Environment and Development Cooperation, is in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 24-25 July, for discussions with FUNBIO and EPI. [24/07/03]

Dr Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is in Besançon, France, 21 July 2003, to participate in a meeting of the scientific committee of the national Peatlands Centre of France, one of the six thematic centres set up by the Ecology Ministry as part of the French National Wetlands Programme. [21/07/03]

Dr Lei Guangchun, Regional Coordinator for Asia, is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 19-26 July, to participate in the 8th Asia-Pacific Migratory Waterbird Conservation Committee meeting and to visit the three new Malaysian Ramsar sites. [19/07/03]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Montreal, Canada, 6-13 July 2003, to participate in a CBD meeting on further elaboration and guidelines for implementation of the ecosystem approach. [08/07/03]

Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is visiting Latvia 5-11 July for discussions with the Administrative Authority there and visits to a number of current and potential Ramsar sites. [08/07/03]

Alain Lambert, Senior Advisor for Environment and Development Cooperation, is in Brussels, Belgium, 1-2 July 2003, for the inauguration of the European Forum on Sustainable Trade and for a meeting on the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Multilateral Environment Agreements (MEAs). The major subject to be discussed at both meetings is: "How to integrate environmental and social concerns into the work of the WTO" -- in other words, how to make sure that trade also benefits the poor without damaging the environment.[02/07/03]

Delmar Blasco, Secretary General, is in Paris for a meeting of the Steering Committee of the Danone Project, including introducing his soon-to-be-successor as Secretary General, Peter Bridgewater, to the Danone officers; he will also be meeting with the new Director in the Nature and Landscape Directorate of the French Ministry of Ecology and Sustainable Development, and attending a farewell reception for his own good self offered by the Conservatoire de l'espace littoral. [01/07/03]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Espoo, Finland, to participate in a pair of UNFCCC workshops examining synergies and cooperation with other conventions. [01/07/03]

Anada Tiéga, Regional Coordinator for Africa, is in Cotonou, Benin, for the African Regional Conference jointly organized by the Secretariat of the UNCCD and the government of Benin, 30 June to 4 July2003, to prepare African countries to the sixth Session of the UNCCD Conference of the Parties (COP6) to be held in Havana, Cuba from 25 August to 5 September 2003.

Guangchun Lei, Regional Coordinator for Asia, is in Tajikistan, 28-29 June, for the International Conference on "Pamir: the Source of Freshwater of Central Asia", after which will be visiting a number of nongovernmental organizations in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and returning to the Bureau on 3 July. [26/06/03]

Delmar Blasco, the Secretary General, and Peter Bridgewater, who will take over as Ramsar Secretary General in August, are in Kampala, Uganda, 23-25 June 2003, for discussions on the progress of preparations for Ramsar COP9, set for 2005. [23/06/03]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Marrakesh, Morocco, 16-22 June for the International Association for Impact Assessment (IAIA) conference. He will be running a workshop session jointly with the CBD secretariat on biodiversity, wetlands, and impact assessment and participating in planning meetings with IAIA on their new project for enhancing country capacity on biodiversity and wetlands. [16/06/03]

Spyros Kouvelis, the MedWet Coordinator, is in Marseille, France, to attend the 6th National Focal Points meeting of the RAC/SPA (Regional Activity Centre for Specially Protected Areas - under the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan of the Barcelona Convention). [19/06/03]

Anada Tiéga, Regional Coordinator for Africa, is in Mali, 17-23 June 2003, in order to assist Mali authorities in the preparation of their national wetland policy and to participate in the inception workshop of the Wetlands International's new Programme in West Africa. [18/06/03]

Delmar Blasco, Nick Davidson, Carlos Villalba, Tobias Salathé, Anada Tiéga, and Lei Guangchun, have decamped for Izmir, Turkey, to participate in MedWet/Com5, the 5th meeting of the MedWet Committee,11-15 June 2003. [11/06/03]

Margartia Astràlaga, Regional Coordinator for the Americas, is in Arequipa, Peru, for the 3rd Latin American River Basin Congress, 9-13 June 2003. [11/06/03]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Bonn to make a Ramsar statement to the UNFCCC's Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) concerning climate change and wetlands and the outcomes of Ramsar COP8. [05/06/03]

Tobias Salathé, the Regional Coordinator for Europe, is in Chaffois, France, for the ceremonies inaugurating the Bassin du Drugeon as a Wetland of International Importance. [05/06/03]

Delmar Blasco, Secretary General, is in Athens, Greece, for the signing of an MOU concerning Greece's support for the establishment of the MedWet Coordination Unit in Athens. [03/06/03]

Estelle Gironnet, Assistant to the Regional Coordinator for Europe, is in Chaffois, France, to make the Bureau's presentation at a conference about wetlands and the Ramsar Convention, 3 June, in advance of ceremonies on 5 June inaugurating the Bassin du Drugeon as a Wetland of International Importance. [03/06/03]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Geneva, 30 May, for the United Nations Forum on Forests' workshop on the transfer of environmentally sound technologies for the sustainable management of mangrove forests. [30/05/03]

Margarita Astralaga, Regional Coordinator for Americas, is in Bogota, Colombia, 28-30 May, for an international workshop on the sustainable use of wetlands; on 2-6 June she will be in New York to represent Ramsar at the UNOALOS meeting on follow-up to the oceans component of WSSD; and then from 8 to 13 June she will be attending the Latin American Congress on River Basins in Arequipa, Peru. [28/05/03]

Sandra Hails, Ramsar's CEPA programme, is attending the first meeting of Wetlands International's CEPA (communications, education, and public awareness) Specialist Group, 26-27 May 2003, in Waginengen, The Netherlands. [26/05/03]

Margarita Astralaga, Regional Coordinator for Americas, is visiting the Cordoba Wetland with Ministry of Environment officials, Bogota, Colombia (24 May); participating in the Scientific Workshop of the Iberoamerican network of wetlands in Panama city, where she will make a presentation on achievements and challenges for the Ramsar Convention in the Neotropics (26 May); and attending the Board meeting of the Panama Centre (27 May) -- and then back to Bogota, on to New York City, and then to Arequipa, Peru: more on these later. [24/05/03]

Spyros Kouvelis, the MedWet Coordinator, is on the island of Zakynthos, Greece, 19-20 May, to address the conference "Applying EU Environmental Legislation in the Field of Marine and Coastal Protection", organized by the National Marine Park of Zakynthos and Eco-Logic. [20/05/03]

Delmar Blasco, the Secretary General, is in Paris for meetings 19-20 May with the European Space Agency concerning its "Tiger Initiative" for using remote sensing in water resources management in Africa. From 21-23 May he will be in London to give one of the opening keynote presentations and participate in the "2010 - The Global Biodiversity Challenge" conference hosted by the CBD and UNEP-WCMC, concerning the biodiversity-related conventions' response to the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development's target of reducing the rate of the loss of the world's biological diversity by 2010. At the weekend, 24-25 May, he will be in Wageningen, The Netherlands, for the board meeting of Wetlands International. [19/05/03]

Melanie Steinkamp, North American Programme Manager for Wetlands International, is visiting the Ramsar Bureau, 16 May, for discussions with the Regional Coordinator for the Americas, Margarita Astrálaga, on priorities for upcoming work in the region. [16/05/03]

Nejib Benessaiah from MedWet Coordination Unit is in Turkey (first Ankara and then Izmir) 14-18 May, to discuss preparations and practical arrangements for the upcoming Mediterranean Wetlands Committee meeting (Medwet/Com5), 12-15 June. [16/05/03]

Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, is in Venice, Italy, for the workshop "Ramsar incontra Venezia: per una gestione sostenibile del patrimonio ambientale", 9 May 2003. STRP member Maria José Viñals and former Ramsar Senior Policy Advisor Mike Smart are also amongst the featured speakers. [09/05/03]

The Ramsar Convention Bureau is hosting the International Coral Reef Initiative's (ICRI) Coordinating and Planning Committee (CPC) Meeting at the IUCN / Ramsar Headquarters, in Gland, Switzerland on the 8th and 9th May 2003. More info from ICRI, http://www.icriforum.org/router.cfm?show=secretariat/sec_home.html&Item=1. [08/05/03]

Delmar Blasco, Secretary General, is in Paris for handover briefings with his successor, Peter Bridgewater of UNESCO's MAB programme, and for discussions among Ramsar, UNESCO, and the private-sector Danone Groupe about possibilities for a trilateral environmental educational programme based upon funding support from Danone. (Danone has been contributing generously for many years to the Ramsar Convention's "Evian Project" for education and public awareness activities regarding wetlands.) [07/05/03]

Anada Tiéga, Regional Coordinator for Africa, is in Ethiopia, 5-10 May, for a CBD workshop on sustainable use, following which he will be going to Malawi, 11-13 May, for a donor's meeting on Lake Malawi/Nyasa/Niassa, funded by WWF South Africa, with the participation of WWF, the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC), SIDA, FAO, US-AID, the World Bank, SADEC, and the Ramsar Bureau. From there he travels on to Maputo, Mozambique, 14-18 May, for a workshop "Wetland conservation and wise use in Mozambique: Status and Prospects in relation to the Ramsar Convention" concerning that country's accession to the Convention and a visit to a potential Ramsar site. [05/05/03]

Delmar Blasco, Secretary General, is participating in a roundtable on post-conflict environmental issues in Iraq at UNEP headquarters, Tuesday 29 April, in Geneva, Switzerland. [29/04/03]

Tobias Salathé, Regional Coordinator for Europe, will be in Chisinau, capital of the Republic of Moldova, from 22-27 April, mainly to participate in the first regional session (for Eastern Europe and the CIS) of the Global Biodiversity Forum (cf. www.gbf.ch) to which the Ramsar Bureau is a sponsor, and also to meet with the Ramsar Administrative Authority. [17/04/03]

Anada Tiéga, Regional Coordinator for Africa, will be in Dakar, Senegal, from 22-28 April 2003, where he will represent the Ramsar Bureau in the inception workshop of the Wetlands International Programme in West Africa. The workshop will address the new Programme on Integrating Research and Wise Use in four "Wetland Ecoregions" of West Africa: Western Sahelian wetlands and floodplains, West African mangroves and rice -growing zone, West African Seaboard from Mauritania to Guinea, and Coastal wetlands of the Gulf of Guinea. He will also take the opportunity to meet with relevant Senegal officials to discuss the NEPAD Wetland Strategy and Action Plan and various national issues including the development and implementation of a national wetland policy. Whilst there, he will also meet other partners including IUCN, the Senegal River Basin Organization (OMVS), UNDP, and the Wetlands International Office in Dakar to discuss collaborative work on wetland inventory, wetland management and capacity building in Senegal and West Africa. [17/04/03]

Carlos Villalba, Technical Support Officer, is in Athens to participate in the MedWet Technical Network Meeting (14-15 April, 2003, MedWet Coordination Unit, Villa Kazouli). The participants will be discussing preparations of MedWetCOM5 (next June, Izmir, Turkey) and the MedWet Work Plan and Drafts MoUs of the MedWet Network, and there will also be a meeting of the MedWet Inventory Group. [14/04/03]

Alain Lambert, Senior Advisor for Environment and Development Cooperation, is in Vilm, Germany, this week, delivering a course at the International Academy for the Environment. On 24-25 April he will be in Montpelier, France, attending the Comité de pilotage for the French project on valuing wetland products. [14/04/03]

Delmar Blasco, Secretary General, is in The Netherlands today for a board meeting of RIZA's successful Wetland Management and Wetland Restoration training programme in Lelystad. [02/04/03]

Doug Taylor ofWetlands Internationalis working in the Ramsar Bureau this week, preparing for next week's STRP meeting and accomplishing other business as well. [02/04/03]

Diego Fernandez, European Space Agency, is visiting the Bureau today to discuss the 'GlobWetlands' project that ESA are currently developing as a follow up to their TESEO Ramsar wetlands project completed earlier this year. "GlobWetlands" will aim to develop further and test remote sensing methods for a range of different wetland types to meet on-the-ground users' needs for about 50 wetlands, with a focus on Europe and Africa. [25/03/03]

Anada Tiéga, Regional Coordinator for Africa, is in Morocco, 19-22 March, to participate in the validation of the results of a wetland inventory, including the selection of new Ramsar sites, following inventory work supported by WWF's Living Waters Programme. He and Denis Landenbergue will also be visiting some existing and proposed Ramsar sites and discussing Morocco's new role as a member of the Standing Committee with representatives of the Administrative Authority. [19/03/03]

Delmar Blasco, Secretary General, Guangchun Lei, Regional Coordinator for Asia, and Spyros Kouvelis, the MedWet Coordinator, are in Kyoto, Japan, to participate in the Third World Water Forum, 16-23 March 2003. Regular reports should be arriving here throughout the week. [14/03/03]

Alain Lambert, Senior Advisor on Environment and Development Cooperation, is in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, for a 17-19 March workshop sponsored by Ramsar, DFID, and UNCTAD on the establishment of a "Bolsa Nusantara" sustainable trade initiative. [16/03/03]

Anada Tiéga, Regional Coordinator for Africa, is in Paris to represent the Convention in a meeting organized by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Natural Resources and Environment Division to discuss the African Component of the European Water Initiative. He will provide information on the NEPAD Wetland Strategy/Action and the proposed pilot projects to initiate the implementation. After that he will visit the UNESCO World Heritage Center and MAB Programme to discuss matters of common interess in the implementation of the MOC with these institutions. In essence, they will discuss: Joint action on training and capacity building for managers of Ramsar sites that are World Heritage sites and Biosphere Reserves; Sites in danger / Montreux Record sites, and possible joint missions; Possible joint actions on NEPAD. He will be back in the Bureau on 13 March. [11/03/03] Update -- he cut it short -- too much work to do on the NEPAD stuff, so he's back in the Bureau pulling an all-nighter again. [13/03/03]

Spyros Kouvelis, MedWet Coordinator, presents his own dizzying itinerary for this month: "On Wednesday 12 March I am going to Barcelona, Spain, to the meeting of the Mediterranean Committee on Sustainable Development (MCSD), which operates under the UNEP / Mediterranean Action Plan (MAP). The meeting is expected to define the strategic "Orientations" framework for the MCSD from a sustainable development point of view, focusing on Environmental, Social, Economic and Governance aspects, also in the wake of the WSSD. MedWet is a partner of the MCSD, and I will be promoting the issues of sustainable development in wetland areas, focusing on knowledge (inventory, monitoring), management and most important, economic uses, primarily water use and agriculture. Friday [14/03] I am leaving for Kyoto for the 3rd World Water Forum, along with Delmar, Lei and Maria Jose Viñals (my costs covered by GWP-Med). Finally, from Kyoto I am going straight to Sri Lanka on 22 March for a collaboration with the International Water Management Institute (a CGIAR partner), in our effort to jointly design and hopefully establish a large scale programme on water use, agriculture and wetlands for the North African region. All that will take me to the end of the month when I am coming back to Athens, in order to plunge in the preparations for the MedWet/Com5 in Izmir, Turkey." [11/03/03]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, and Margarita Astralaga, Regional Coordinator for the Americas, are in Montreal for the 8th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Subsidary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA), 10-14 March. [09/03/03]

Spyros Kouvelis, the MedWet Coordinator, is in Palma de Mallorca to attend the kick-off meeting of the MedWet/Regions project. This is a project that was prepared by Tour du Valat on behalf of Medwet, and was proposed and approved by the EU INTERREG MEDOC funding programme. It brings together 11 Regions from Spain, France, Italy, Portugal and Morocco, and includes activities for wetlands management, inventory and public awareness. [06/03/03]

Margarita Astralaga, Regional Coordinator for the Americas, is in Managua, Nicaragua, for the "Government-designated Expert Workshop on Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies for the Sustainable Management of Mangrove Forests in Latin America and the Wider Caribbean", an initiative led by the Government of Nicaragua and the United Nations Forum on Forests. [04/03/03]

Alain Lambert, SAEDC, is in the Comoros 18-24 February, invited by UNDP, to discuss the practical aspects of the creation of 5 new protected areas (Ramsar Sites) and to moderate 3 participatory workshops to define the funding priorities for the Environmental Funds to be created. He will also meet with the Minister of Finance and for the Environment to discuss possible debt swaps to capitalise the Environmental Fund. [18/02/03]

Board meetings and associated budget workshops, etc., of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment are taking place this week, 10-13 February, in the headquarters of the Ramsar Convention and IUCN-The World Conservation Union in Gland, Switzerland. Lots of tasty hors d'oeuvres spread out on tables in the lobby. [11/02/03]

Nick Davidson, the Deputy Secretary General, is in Montreal to participate in another CBD/Ramsar Joint Work Plan activity, CBD's Expert Meeting on indicators for biological diversity, including indicators for rapid assessment of inland water biodiversity (10-13 February). He will also be discussing Ramsar's inputs to CBD SBSTTA8 in March 2003 which will address programmes of work on inland waters, marine and coastal ecosystems, mountains and dry and sub-humid lands, and the preparation of further SBSTTA papers concerning guidelines on integrated coastal zone management. He will also be discussing with CBD Secretariat and the International Association for Impact Assessment the development of a joint CBD/Ramsar symposium at IAIA's international conference in Marrakesh this June, designed to further develop the links and input of IAIA to the work of the conventions, and he will be meeting with Atlantis Scientific, the contractors on the European Space Agency's TESEO wetlands earth observation project, to discuss opportunities for further collaboration on development of tools and methodologies designed to support Ramsar implementation. [10/02/03]

Anada Tiéga, the Regional Coordinator for Africa, is in Nairobi to participate in the first meeting of the NEPAD Working Group on Wetlands, 10-11 February, to finalize the Strategy and Action Plan on Wetlands and establish priorities among project concepts. [10/02/03]

Delmar Blasco, the Secretary General, having celebrated World Wetlands Day at Lake Nakuru in Kenya, is in Nairobi this week for the UNEP Governing Council meeting on MEAs. On Wednesday, he will be participating in IUCN's event for the World Parks Congress, at which their new publication on alien invasive species will be launched. [03/02/03]

Alain Lambert, the Senior Adviser for Environment and Development Cooperation, is in Peru, 25 January to 1 February, on a wetland project preparation mission organized by the Peruvian Environmental Fund PROFONANPE and Pro Natura Peru. From 1 to 7 February he will be in Washington, USA, finalizing the Conservation Finance Guide of the Conservation Finance Alliance, with representatives of Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, the World Bank, WWF-US, and WCS. [28/01/03]

Nick Davidson, the Deputy Secretary General, is in Frascati, Italy, for the final meeting of the European Space Agency's TESEO project, which includes work on developing earth observation techniques for wetlands. On 24 January he will be visiting the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Rome to discuss opportunities for future collaboration. (23/01/03)

Spyros Kouvelis, the MedWet Coordinator, is in Tunisia to participate in the final Steering Committee meeting of the SAP-Bio project (Strategic Action Plan on Biodiversity), a GEF-funded project for all of the Mediterranean (conservation of species and habitats in the coastal & marine Mediterranean). MedWet is a member of the committee and has participated actively in its implementation. He will stay on for a meeting next week jointly organized by the Tunisian government and IUCN on Ichkeul lake, the only Ramsar site of Tunisia, included in the Montreux Record. The objective is to identify the appropriate course of action and restoration possibilities for Ichkeul. MedWet will be represented by Spyros and Tour du Valat, as experts, by Jean Jalbert and Pere Tomas Vives. (23/01/03)

Tobias Salathé , the Regional Coordinator for Europe, is in Basle, Switzerland, on 23 January for the 80th birthday celebration for Ramsar Founding Father Dr Luc Hoffmann. (23/01/03)