New Deputy Secretary General joins the Ramsar Bureau

On 18 February 2000, the Ramsar Bureau staff wolfed down half a ton of homemade lunch stuff and bade farewell to Dr Bill Phillips, our Deputy Secretary General for the past two and a half years, at the same time welcoming Dr Nick Davidson as his successor.

From left: Nick Davidson, Delmar Blasco, Bill Phillips

"Today is the last day of Dr Bill Phillips as Deputy Secretary General of the Convention on Wetlands. We are saying farewell to Bill with a sincere gratitude for his important contribution during the two and half years that he worked here. He has provided invaluable support for the new directions that I have been trying to give to the Convention, and in addition he has taken a number of important initiatives to make the Convention more relevant and efficient, including a number of changes in the operations of the Ramsar Bureau. We wish Bill all the best in his return to his home country, Australia.

As from next Monday, the Deputy Secretary General in Ramsar will be Dr. Nick Davidson, a British citizen. He has been until now the Science Coordinator at Wetlands International. Thus, Nick comes to Ramsar with a solid background in wetland sciences and a first-hand knowledge of the work of the Convention. We welcome him most warmly!"

Delmar Blasco
Secretary General
Convention on Wetlands

Dr Phillips (right) evidently trying to terrify Dr Davidson with partially false anecdotes about Ramsar.

"La Oficina de Ramsar se complace en informarles que hoy ha sumido sus funciones de Secretario General Adjunto el Dr. Nick Davidson, en reemplazo del Dr. Bill Phillips, quien por razones familiares y profesionales decidió regresar a su país de origen, Australia.

El Dr. Davidson (Reino Unido) se desempeñó hasta ahora como Coordinador Científico de Wetlands International, en la Oficina de Coordinación Internacional basada en los Países Bajos. Por lo tanto, el Dr. Davidson trae consigo a Ramsar una sólida formación científica en temas relacionados con los humedales y un estrecho conocimiento de la Convención."

Dr Phillips, orating the entire farewell speech he had prepared to read to the Standing Committee and never got the chance, whilst Bureau staff had to try lamely to pretend to be Standing Committee members to keep him in the mood.

Dr Phillips bequeaths to Dr Davidson a special pair of Deputy-Secretary-General snowboots, required for living anywhere near our secretariat in Switzerland.

Dr Phillips giving still more scary advice on living in Switzerland to Dr Davidson and his friend Linda Bridge. Montse Riera on the left.

Annette Keller (left) holding the partygoers spellbound with an explanation of Swiss-German epistemology from the beginnings to the present era.

Evans Okong'o, Caroline Cronin (who's helping the Bureau rearrange its filing system), Parastu Mirabzadeh

Valerie Higgins, Taeko Takahashi, Flor de María Salvador Pérez

Anada Tiéga

Sandra Hails, Paulette Kennedy, Annette Keller

Parastu Mirabzadeh, Dwight Peck

Alexander Belokurov (2nd from left), who took all of the photos on this page except this one.

"Dear Ramsar Staff, dear Delmar, Dwight, Bill and Nick,

Just a quick reaction on the changes that are going on in the Ramsar family. I fully agree with the congratulations for the excellent work that Bill did for the Convention, and I hope he will be able to spend some days at next conferences as well, so we can exchange further ideas and learn from his experiences.

I very much welcome Nick in his new position, although this caused that I missed him at the GOOSE2000 specialist group meeting of Wetlands International that I organised last January in Belgium! I am sure Nick will be most inspiring in the Ramsar environment, and I look forward to meet him and all of you at one of the next meetings.

all the best ! prof. Eckhart Kuijken, Institute of Nature Conservation (Brussels, Belgium), eckhart.kuijken@instnat.be 18 February 2000."

Please pass on my best wishes to Bill, and DOC's appreciation for his work.  I look forward to seeing him in Australia!

Joris de Bres, General Manager External Relations, Department of Conservation, New Zealand JDeBres@doc.govt.nz

Please express my best wishes to Bill. It was great fun to work with him.

Palle Uhd Jepsen, Senior Adviser, Nature and Wildlife Section, National Forest and Nature Agency, Denmark, E-mail: puj@sns.dk

From: Herb_Raffaele@fws.gov 

Dear Delmar, I just wanted to pass on our best wishes to Bill, who did a fine job during his tenure with the Bureau. We look forward to continuing our work with him on wetlands issues in his new role back in Australia.

Herb Raffaele, US Fish and Game Service, USA

We would like to express sincere thanks to Dr Bill Phillips for what he did for the Ramsar Family and wish him good health and all the best in his return to home country.

Nguyen Khac Kinh, Deputy Director General, Vietnam National Environment Agency ( ramsarvn@svr1-han.unep.net )

I would like to express in behalf of the Israeli delegates to Ramsar, our sincere thanks to Dr. Bill Phillips for his short, but valuable service for the Ramsar Family. We are wish him a new interesting post and all the best on his return to Australia.

Dr. Reuven Ortal, Director, Aquatic Ecology Department, Israel Nature and National Parks Protection Authority, reuven.ortal@nature-parks.org.il