The Ramsar Bulletin Board, 5 September 2009

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Two new Ramsar sites in the South Atlantic.

. The Secretariat is very pleased to announce that the Republic of Kazakhstan has designated a further two steppe lake systems as Wetlands of International Importance, both of them enormously significant areas particularly for migratory waterbirds. One of them is part of the “Saryarka – Steppe and Lakes of Northern Kazakhstan” World Heritage natural property, and both are part of the West/Central Asian Site Network for Siberian Cranes and other waterbirds under the Bonn Convention on Migratory Species. Both of the new sites are in the Kostanay Oblast or province, and both designations are effective as of 12 July 2009. Ramsar’s Assistant Advisor for Asia-Oceania, Ann Aldersey, has prepared brief site descriptions based on the Ramsar Information Sheets that accompanied the designations. [03/09/2009]

News from the SGF. Thailand completes Small Grants Fund project. Bung Boraphet, the largest freshwater wetland in Thailand, now has a comprehensive Plan of Management following the recent completion of the Ramsar Small Grants Fund project, Sustainable Water Use Plan for Bung Boraphet. Based on the principles of wise use, the Plan focuses on managing the competing and intensifying demands on the wetland, including fishing, rice growing and ecotourism, and to address mounting evidence of resource over-exploitation and significant ecosystem change. Read more here. [03/09/2009]

Advance notice. Ad Hoc Working Group's 3rd meeting. The Third meeting of the Ramsar Ad Hoc Working Group on Administrative Reform will take place in Gland, at Ramsar Secretariat Headquarters, on Thursday 3 December 2009. Members and representatives from interested Contracting Parties are invited to make a note in their diaries. Formal invitations will be sent and documents will be made available in due course. [03/09/09]

Now available. Generic hosting agreement for SC meetings. Contracting Parties that might wish to host a meeting of the Ramsar Standing Committee will find here a model agreement that indicates the responsibilities, commitments, and likely costs of doing so.  [03/09/09]

Who's Where?

Anada Tiega, Secretary General, is participating in the high-level segment of the 3rd World Conference on Climate Change in Geneva, Switzerland, 3 and 4 September 2009. [03/09/09]

For more old Ramsar Secretariat travel news, see also 'Who Was Where', 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

Yesterday's News!

Ramsar Small Grants Fund 2009 – Call for voluntary contributions. The Ramsar Small Grants Fund supports small projects promoting the conservation and wise use of wetlands in developing countries and countries with economies in transition. It relies exclusively upon the voluntary contributions from governments and NGOs, and the Secretariat would like to invite any institutions able to support the SGF to talk with us about it. Some 44 proposals have been received for the 2009 cycle and are presently being evaluated by the staff – a portfolio of projects will be published in October. Please read more here. [13/08/09]

Ramsar vacancy for Communications Officer. The Ramsar Secretariat welcomes applications for the position of Communications Officer, ideally to begin on 11 January 2010. Excellent English language writing skills are required, ability also to work in French or Spanish an advantage. Duties include strategic planning for Ramsar communications, content writing for the Ramsar Web site (news, features, reports, etc.) and management of all Web site and Ramsar Forum material, responding to information requests from the public, among others. IUCN provides administrative services to the Secretariat, and candidates must apply (by 9 October 2009) directly to the IUCN Web site at the link provided in this description of the post (français et/y español included). [12/08/09]

Renovation of the Ramsar Web site. The Ramsar Secretariat first set up the Convention’s Web site in 1996, and over the years it has grown enormously in every direction and become difficult to use for many people. Over the past year, with generous financial assistance from the Danone Group, the Secretariat staff have been working on a newly-designed and thoroughly reorganized Web site, which is being launched today. Many of the older parts of the legacy site still need work, however, to adapt them to the new technology, and we have much work still to do. Read more. [10/08/09]

Vacancies for Ramsar interns/Assistant Advisors. The Ramsar Secretariat is seeking applications for the positions of Interns/Assistant Advisors for the following Ramsar regions: Africa, the Americas, and Asia/Oceania. Applicants must be young graduates who are nationals of those regions. Please see more information here and the general information about Ramsar internships here. [10/08/09]

Ramsar Regional Centre opens in Korea. Secretary General Anada Tiéga and Senior Advisor Lew Young returned to Changwon, Republic of Korea, site of the successful 10th meeting of the Conference of the Ramsar Parties last year, to participate in the 21 July opening of the new Ramsar Regional Centre – East Asia. The RRC-EA will support projects and activities that will advance the mission of the Ramsar Convention in East and Southeast Asia, largely by enhancing the recognition of the value of wetlands and science-based wetland management, supporting Ramsar site designation and the establishment of the inventories and management planning, and helping decision-makers and practitioners to develop and use sustained wetland management tools. Maurice Lineman, one of the staff members of the new centre, has provided a brief report (PDF) with some photos of the festivities.[31/07/09])

Ramsar Site Success Stories Request. The Ramsar Convention is looking for success case studies that illustrate the process and benefits of Ramsar site designations in the Americas in order to prepare a toolkit publication tailored to governmental decision-makers, technical officers and site managers, as well as NGOs, that encourages the implementation of a strategic framework and priorities for Ramsar site designations under the Convention’s international network of wetlands. Read more here. [31/07/09]

La Convención de Ramsar esta buscando estudios de caso exitosos que ilustren el proceso y beneficios de la designación de sitios Ramsar en las Américas para preparar una publicación orientada a los tomadores de decisiones Gubernamentales, oficiales técnicos y manejadores, al igual que de Organizaciones No Gubernamentales, que promueva la implementación del marco estratégico y prioridades para la designación de Sitios Ramsar en el contexto de la red internacional de humedales de la Convención. Continúe leyendo

Iran removes site from the Montreux Record. The Alagol, Ulmagol and Ajigol lake complex (1400ha), Islamic Republic of Iran, comprises three small lakes and associated marshes in the semi-desert steppes near the border with Turkmenistan. The wetland was designated a Ramsar site in 1975 because of its abundance and diversity of wintering waterbirds, a number of which are internationally threatened. As a result of increasing threats, however, in 1993 it was placed on the Montreux Record "of Ramsar sites where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring or are likely to occur". Following its successful efforts, in November 2008 the government of Iran sent a report to the Secretariat proposing that the site be taken off the Record, and this was strongly supported in the report by a Ramsar Advisory Mission (No. 60) to the site in May 2009. The improvements to the site were achieved through the national and provincial budgets of the DOE, an increasingly high level of cooperation with other governmental stakeholders, and with the local communities and NGOs. Read more here. [17/07/09]

Pakistan breaks mangrove-planting record. The government of Pakistan, as part of its National Year of the Environment efforts, set out to break the Guinness World Record for the most mangrove trees planted at a single site in a 24-hour period. On 15 July 2009, 541,148 young mangrove trees were planted in the Indus Delta Ramsar site in southern Sindh Province, bettering the previous record of 447,000 trees. The Ministry of Environment’s press release on the event can be seen here (PDF), and WWF International’s “Leaders for a Living Planet” certificate for the Minister in recognition of the achievement, signed by Lifeng Li, Director of WWF-International Freshwater Programme, can be seen here (PDF). [16/07/09]

4th Meeting of the Group of Experts on Biodiversity and Climate Change of Bern Convention, 2-3 July 2009, Strasbourg, France. The Secretariat of the Bern Convention on the Conservation of the European Wildlife and Natural Habitats convened its Group of Experts on Biodiversity and Climate Change to provide recommendations to put forward to Standing Committee this autumn. Ramsar was invited and Monica Zavagli attended the meeting (the first time Ramsar participated),  also providing a presentation on the works of the Convention and STRP on the Climate change issue. The Group of Experts – made up of about 30 people from the Convention’s Member States (including Ramsar focal point Olivier Biber for Switzerland), other international conventions such CMS and CBD, and international organizations such as UNEP WCMC, IUCN and ProNatura – revised and commented on the reports prepared specifically for invertebrates, plants and Protected Areas.  Recommendations, other documents and presentations are available here. [14/07/09]

River restoration and management in Europe. On 28-29 May 2009 the European Centre for River Restoration (ECRR, www.ecrr.org) celebrated its ten year anniversary with an international seminar in Lelystad, the Netherlands. It focused on European Union Natura 2000 and Ramsar sites and explored how to create synergies between river restoration and management. The seminar was also the occasion to celebrate the president of ECRR -- when retiring later this year, Bart Fokkens will look back to 40 years of professional service at Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch Centre for Water Management, and he was honored with the creation of the “Bart Fokkens Fund”, a Dutch-Armenian development fund “from brain drain to brain gain for Armenia”. Ramsar’s Tobias Salathé was present and has prepared this illustrated report. [10/07/09]

 Mexico names 113th Ramsar site. The government of Mexico has designated Humedales de Bahía Adair (42,430 hectares, 31º35’N 113º53’W) in Sonora state, effective last World Wetlands Day, 2 February 2009, as its 113th Wetland of International Importance. As summarized by Ramsar’s Nadia Castro, the site is composed of three types of habitats, including estuaries, artesian wells, and salt marshes, and is located in the Gran Desierto de Altar, one of the most arid and extreme deserts of North America. The site supports 12 fauna species found under special protection in Mexican law, such as the endangered Desert Pupfish (Cyprinodon macularius) endemic to the region, and species listed in CITES such as the marine turtles Caretta caretta, Chelonia agassizi, Chelonia mydas, Dermochelys coriacea and Lepidochelys olivacea. Three fish species, Gillichthys seta, Anchoa mundeoloides and Leuresthes sardina, are endemic to the northern Gulf of California, as well as two endemic flora species: Distichlis palmeri and Suaeda puertopenascoa. The main hydrological value of these wetlands is the presence of the Sonoyta-Puerto Peñasco Aquifer of prehistoric formation. The main land uses include tourism and real estate in the coastal zone, conservation, salt extraction, scientific research, environmental education, subsistence fishing, oyster culture and ecotourism. [29/05/09]

Uzbekistan hosts 15th meeting of the ISDC. The 15th Meeting of the Interstate Sustainable Development Committee (ISDC) was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on 26 May 2009, attended by the Ministers of Environment from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as representatives from a range of regional stakeholders, e.g. Central Asia Youth Environmental Network, Ramsar Secretariat, UNEP, UNDP and WWF. Ramsar's Lew Young prepared this brief report on the meeting's conclusions. [29/05/09]

Award nomination for Petit Loango film. The documentary film on oil exploration in Petit Loango National Park in Gabon, commissioned by GRASP and the Ramsar Convention, was nominated for a ROSCAR Award at the 2009 Wild Talk Africa Film Festival in Durban. The film was screened on 22 April 2009 at the festival, followed by a discussion with GRASP Chief Consultant and Year of the Gorilla Ambassador, Ian Redmond. Although the film did not bring home the award, the nomination was certainly a great achievement in itself given the number of entries. A preview of the movie is available on the GRASP website at http://www.unep.org/grasp. [28/05/09]

Now available. Meeting reports. The official report of the 40th meeting of the Standing Committee (11-15 May 2009) is available here, with links to Word and PDF versions -- the decisions of the meeting are here in English and will be available soon in French and Spanish. The report of the 15th meeting of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) is available here, and the STRP Work Plan 2009-2012, approved by SC40, is here. [26/05/09]

From the Ramsar Forum. "No net loss" of wetlands. “Dear colleagues, I am seeking information about “no net loss” of wetlands policies.  If you are aware of a jurisdiction (other than the US, Canada, and Hong Kong) that has adopted a “no net loss” policy, I would appreciate it if you could provide a citation or link to the pertinent law, regulation, or policy. On a related note, I am also seeking examples of Ramsar sites that have a connection to wetland mitigation projects.  In the US, for example, Izembek National Wildlife Refuge is the beneficiary of an in-lieu fee mitigation program that purchases in-holdings (privately-owned land within the refuge).  Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, which the US recently designated, includes about 2,880 of former mitigation bank lands.  If you know of other cases of Ramsar sites with connections to mitigation projects, I would be grateful for that information. My email is gardner@law.stetson.edu. Thanks, Roy”. -- Royal C. Gardner, Professor of Law and Director, Stetson University College of Law, Gulfport, Florida. [25/05/09]

International Day for Biological Diversity. "On behalf of the Ramsar community, I send my best wishes on the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity, 22 May 2009. This year’s theme, ‘Invasive Alien Species’, is an especially appropriate one for the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment wetland synthesis report has indicated, invasive species are considered one of the main direct drivers of the degradation of wetlands alongside habitat change, climate change, over-exploitation, and pollution." Here is a message from the Secretary General, Anada Tiéga, on the relevance of this day to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. [22/05/09]

Atlas of wader birds published. "More than half the populations of waders in Europe, West Asia and Africa are declining at an accelerating rate." That is the conclusion of the Wetlands International’s Wader Atlas, the first comprehensive overview of key site networks for waders in Europe, West-Asia and Africa, launched in London 20 May 2009 at a conference in London called “Global Biodiversity Mechanisms”, hosted by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). The Wader Atlas (An Atlas of Wader Populations in Africa and Western Eurasia) identifies 876 key sites – such as lakes, coastal areas, floodplains - for 59 of the 90 wader species in those countries covered by the UN African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA). Amongst these, the book identifies 68 sites at which more than five wader species occur in internationally important numbers (using the Ramsar criterion of more than 1% of global population). There are 112 sites where more than 40,000 waders have been counted. Ramsar STRP member David Stroud served as one of the editors of the new work, and Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, was one of the assistant editors. See press releases from JNCC and Wetlands International for more information. [21/05/09]

Argentina designates high altitude Ramsar site. Argentina has named a new Ramsar site, effective World Wetlands Day 2009 –  Lagunas Altoandinas y Puneñas de Catamarca (1,228,175 hectares, 26º52’S 067º56’W) – that lies between 3,010m and 6,885m a.s.l. and is part of the Laguna Blanca MAB Biosphere Reserve. As summarized by Ramsar’s Nadia Castro, it includes a complex of high Andean endorheic river basins representative of the Central Dry Puna: shallow meso- and hypersaline lakes, shallow and deep brackish lakes, and deep hypersaline lakes. 19,000 individuals of Puna flamingo (Phoenicoparrus jamesi) and 2,100 of Andean flamingo (P. andinus) gather in this site, which represents 18% and 6% of the worldwide population of these species, respectively. The site also hosts several endemic species of the High Andean Puna, such as the Giant Coot (Fulica gigantean), Andean Avocet (Recurvirostra andina), Crested Duck (Anas specularioides alticola), Vicuña (Vicugna vicugna), Andean Fox (Pseudalopex culpaeus) and a frog species endemic to the Catamarca region (Telmatobius hauthali). In addition, IUCN Red List threatened species Andean cat (Leopardus jacobita) and short-tailed chinchilla (Chinchilla brevicaudata) occur in the area, as well as 14 migratory species (e.g. Calidris melanotos, C. bairdii, and Tringa flavipes). This High Andean wetland is a highly vulnerable and fragile ecosystem and is threatened by overgrazing, unregulated tourism, mining prospecting, and flamingo egg collection.

The area is one of the 14 priority sites of the Wetland Network of Importance for Conservation of High-Andes Flamingos in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. Preparations for the Ramsar site designation were assisted by WWF International’s Freshwater Programme, the Danone Fund for Ramsar, and the Fundación Yuchán. [20/05/09]

Kazakhstan names two important lake systems. The government of Kazakhstan has designated two new Wetlands of International Importance, effective 7 May 2009 -- Koibagar-Tyuntyugur Lake System (58,000 hectares, 52°39’N 065°45’E) and Kulykol-Taldykol Lake System (8,300 hectares, 51°23’N 061°52’E) -- bringing that country's Ramsar sites total to four sites covering 531,141 hectares. Both are lake complexes in the Kostanay oblast in the northern part of the country. Both have also been designated in the Western/Central Asian Site Network for Siberian Cranes and Other Globally Endangered Wetland Bird Species in the framework of the Convention on Migratory Species and, for both of them, RIS site information has been developed with the assistance of the UNEP/GEF Siberian Crane Wetlands Project. Ramsar's Assistant Advisor for Asia/Oceania, Ann Aldersey, has provided these brief site descriptions based on the RIS information. [20/05/09]

40th Standing Committee meeting. The Ramsar Standing Committee has completed its 40th meeting, its first full meeting with the new membership elected by COP10. The 76 members and observers settled all of the necessary administrative matters – establishing a Subgroup on COP11, clarifying the role of the Management Working Group, approving budget audits and the Work Plans of the Secretariat and the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) – and then worked their way through the process of approving proposals and in some cases allocating funding for Regional Initiatives operating under the framework of the Convention. There were also a number of lively discussions of how best to promote the Changwon Declaration, World Wetlands Day, and other activities, and preparations were got under way for the next meeting of the COP, set for Bucharest, Romania, in 2012. [18/05/09]

Now available. From Standing Committee 40 . . .The PowerPoint presentations and the Opening Statements(the Report of the meeting to follow soon). [18/05/09]

Also now available: The documents and reports of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Administrative Reform, including the Co-Chairs' letters to the Executive Director of UNEP and the Director General of IUCN. [15/05/09]

Uganda designates famous “Mountains of the Moon”. In a brief ceremony during the opening session of the 40th meeting of the Standing Committee, Paul Mafabi, commissioner of the Wetlands Management Department in Uganda’s Ministry of Water and Environment, accepted the Ramsar site certificate for Uganda’s newest Wetland of International Importance – “Rwenzori Mountains Ramsar site” (99,500 hectares, 00°25’N 030°00’E). The new site, within a National Park and World Heritage Site, is located in the west of the country, ranging from 1,600 to 5,100 meters above sea level in mountains that are home to one of only three glaciated areas in Africa (with Mounts Kenya and Kilimanjaro) and contiguous with the Ramsar site “Parc national des Virunga” in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Uganda’s new designation, effective 13 May 2009, has been supported significantly by WWF – Uganda and WWF International’s Freshwater Programme.

Cynthia Kibata, Ramsar Assistant Advisor for Africa, has prepared this Annotated List description of the site based on the Ramsar Information Sheet submitted with the designation.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome to the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ).