Who was where, 2010?

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

The Senior Regional Advisor for Asia-Oceania, Lew Young will be attending the 22nd session of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for Environmental Affairs (CAMRE) in Cairo, Egypt from 17 – 22 December. [17/12/10]

From 13 to 16 December DSG Nick Davidson is in Italy for the final Steering Committee meeting of the 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership GEF project (in Rome), and a technical workshop (in Frascati) of the European Space Agency’s GlobWetland-II project supporting remote sensing for Ramsar wetland inventory and monitoring around the southern Mediterranean basin. [13/12/10]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Regional Advisor for Europe, is in Evian, France on 14 December for a meeting of the Danone Waters Scientific Committee. [06/12/10]

The Regional Affairs Officer, Alexia Dufour is attending a workshop organised by UN-Water, FAO and WHO on 'water country briefs - diagnostic workshop' in Geneva, Switzerland from 9 - 10 December. [09/12/10]

The Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, Maria Rivera is attending the 4th meeting of the Western Hemisphere Migratory Species Initiative organized by the Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States. The meeting is taking place in Coral Gables, USA from 6-10 December 2010. [6/12/10]

SG Anada Tiéga will participate in the 16th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Cancun, Mexico. He will be back in the office on 13 December. [06/12/10]

The Senior Regional Advisor for Asia-Oceania, Lew Young is attending the 5th Meeting of Partners to the East Asian – Australasian Flyway (EAAF) Partnership Network which will be held in the town of Siem Reap, Cambodia from 6 – 10 December 2010. [08/12/10] 

Paul Ouedraogo (Senior Regional Advisor for Africa), Cathleen Cybele (Assistant Regional Advisor for Africa) and Monica Zavagli (Scientific and Technical Officer) will take part in the first Ramsar workshop of the African STRP National Focal Points and other wetland experts in South Africa, from 30 November to 2 December. More details [25/11/10]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe is attending the 2nd annual meeting of Ramsar Site actors in France from 30 November to 2 December at Ile de Ré in France. [23/11/10]

The Senior Regional Advisor for Asia-Oceania, Lew Young will be attending the 2nd Steering Committee meeting of the Ramsar Regional Centre – East Asia in Changwon City, R.O. Korea on 22nd November. He will then attend the 2nd Changwon Declaration Network Meeting from 23 – 26 November which will also be held at the same venue. [22/11/10]

Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer will be attending a CEPA workshop for CEPA Focal Points in southern African countries from 8-11 November in Windhoek, Namibia. She will then be attending a Wetland Link International (WLI) – Asia Conference at the Paya Indah Wetlands, near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 22 – 25 November. [05/11/10]

Anada Tiéga, SG is in Evian, France from 17 to 19 November to attend the 5th Global Conference on sustainable development, bringing together a wide range of players including government officials, NGOs, business sector, scientists, land and water user groups to discuss innovation approaches for sustainable development. [17/11/10]

The Senior Advisor for Americas, Maria Rivera will be attending the Second Inter-American Meeting of Ministers and High Level Authorities on Sustainable Development from 17-19 November in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. [15/11/10]

From 16-18 November 2010 Deputy Secretary General Prof Nick Davidson will be in Cambridge, UK participating in a workshop on lessons learnt from developing and mainstreaming ecosystem services indicators, hosted by UNEP-WCMC. [14/11/10]

The Assistant Regional Advisor for Asia-Oceania, Marian Gwilliam will be in Tahskent, Uzbekistan from 13-19 November to attend a conference on Transboundary Water Issues in Central Asian Countries and to assess a Small Grant Fund project which seeks to designate two more Wetlands of International Importance for Uzbekistan. [12/11/10]

Vainuupo Jungblut, Ramsar Officer Oceania will be travelling to Nadi, Fiji tomorrow to facilitate and deliver a training on mangrove monitoring in the Pacific Islands from 9-11 November. This training is organized through a partnership between SPREP, The University of Tasmania and WWF South Pacific. [05/11/10]

The Senior Regional Advisor for Asia-Oceania, Lew Young, will be in China from 4 – 16 November where he will attend the celebrations for the 15th anniversary of the designation of the Mai Po Inner Deep Bay Ramsar Site in Hong Kong (on 6th November), before travelling to Yunnan province to attend the World Conference on Terraced Landscapes. The Ramsar Convention is one of the collaborating institutions for the conference which will last from 11 – 15 November. [03/11/10]

Ramsar's Senior Advisor for the Americas, Maria Rivera is in Mexico City from 3 to 6 November to attend the International Wetlands Meeting organized by the UNAM and Conagua and will also take part in meetings with the Administrative Authorities to discuss the preparations of the 40th Anniversary celebrations that will take place in Huatulco, Mexico from 31 January to 2 February 2011. [02/11/2010]

Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, will be in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, Japan from 21 to 29 October to attend the Convention on Biological Diversity’s  COP10, including the high-level segment from 27-29 October and the City Biodiversity Summit from 24-26 October. On 1st of November, he will be in Tokyo, meeting with officials from Japan's Ramsar Administrative Authority  to discuss Ramsar implementation. [20/10/10]

The Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, Maria Rivera, will be in Santiago, Chile, from 19-23 October where she will meet with the Chilean Administrative Authority to review the agreements for the restoration of the Carlos Andwanter Ramsar Site and she will also attend the workshop: Involvement of the private sector in the conservation of wetlands. [19/10/10]

From 18-26 October DSG Nick Davidson is in Nagoya, Japan representing the Ramsar Convention at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 10th Conference of Parties. [13/10/10]

SG Anada Tiéga is attending the second triennial meeting of the US Ramsar National Committee, together with 30 US Ramsar Site representatives in Trempealeau, Wisconsin on 12 and 13 October. On 14 October, he will attend the celebrations planned for the designation of the Upper Mississippi River Floodplain as a Wetland of International Importance. He will be back in Gland on 16 October. [11/10/10]

Alexia Dufour, Regional Affairs Officer is taking part in a Ramsar Advisory Mission (RAM) at the « Embouchure de la Moulouya » Site in Morocco, from 12 to 17 October. [11/10/10]

Lew Young, Senior Advisor for Asia-Oceania will be attending a UNDP-GEF workshop entitled ‘Towards a Community of Practice for Wetland Project Managers’, at the town of Urmia, Islamic Republic of Iran from 10 – 13 October, 2010. The workshop will bring together the managers from a range of wetland projects, particularly from Asia and Europe, to draw together the best practices and lessons learnt from each project. [08/10/10]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe will attend the first national Ramsar seminar on the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark, with large seabird cliffs that they plan to designate for the Ramsar List (an outcome of this year’s 2nd Nordic-Baltic Wetland Conference, organised in Norway as part of the homonymous Ramsar Regional Initiative) from 11-14 October. [01/10/10]

Maria Rivera, Senior Advisor for the Americas will be attending the 14th Intergovernmental Meeting on the Action Plan for the Caribbean Environment Programme, 11th meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region and 6th meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) in the Wider Caribbean region from 5 to 9 October in Montego Bay, Jamaica. [29/09/10]

DSG Nick Davidson and Monica Zavagli, Scientific and Technical Support Officer will be at Stetson University, Tampa Campus in Florida for two STRP workshops to advance on task 9.1 on mitigation and compensation for wetland loss guidance and task 2.4 on wetland & energy issues from 5 to 8 October. [01/10/10]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe will take part in the second meeting of the BlackSeaWet Ramsar Regional Initiative (for coastal wetlands around the Black and Azov Seas) management board in Tulcea, Romania from 4-8 October.

Tobias will then attend the first national Ramsar seminar on the Faroe Islands, an autonomous region of the Kingdom of Denmark, with large seabird cliffs that they plan to designate for the Ramsar List (an outcome of this year’s 2nd Nordic-Baltic Wetland Conference, organised in Norway as part of the homonymous Ramsar Regional Initiative) from 11-14 October. [01/10/10]

From 28 September to 2 October the Americas team will be attending the VII meeting of the Regional Initiative for the Conservation and Sustainable Use of the High Andean Wetlands organized by the Government of Costa Rica. They will also visit Palo Verde Ramsar Site, which is included on the Montreux Record. [28/09/10]

From 29 September to 1 October, Tobias Salathé, Senior Regional Advisor for Europe is leading a Ramsar Advisory Mission to S’Albufera de Mallorca RS, Spain, looking into the Nature Park management regulations and structure and notably into problems linked with a current golf course development. [22/09/10]

From 14-15 September, Tobias Salathé, Senior Regional Advisor for Europe, is taking part in the Council of Europe (Berne Convention) Expert Seminar on Protected Areas and Ecological Corridors, in Strasbourg, France. He will then take part, from 24-26 September, in the meeting of the Advisory Board and give a Ramsar lecture in the international Master course on the Management of Protected Areas of Klagenfurt University, Austria. [10/09/10]

Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer will be attending the closing days of the International Training of Trainers on Wetland Management course organized each year by the Wageningen UR's Centre for Development Innovation in the Netherlands, from 23-24 September 2011. [22/09/10]

Alexia Dufour, Regional Affairs Officer is attending the 3rd International Congress of Integrated Management in High Watersheds in Megève, France, from 22 to 23 September. [22/09/10] 

Lew Young, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia – Oceania will be in Changwon, South Korea from 13 – 17 September to assist on an 'Information Sharing Workshop and Training on Wetland Management’ being organized by the Ramsar Regional Centre – East Asia. Following this, Lew will be in Hong Kong from 20 – 22 September to attend an event organized by WWF Hong Kong to raise funds for the development of a shorebird conservation strategy for the East Asian – Australasian Flyway, one of the Regional Initiatives of the Ramsar Convention. [10/09/10]

Ramsar's Senior Advisor for Europe, Tobias Salathé, is taking part and giving a lecture in a national Ramsar seminar in Bonn, Germany, from 3-4 September. He will then give a lecture at the NATO Advanced Study Institute “Watershed approach to Environmental Security” focusing on the Don and Azov Sea basin, in Rostov, Russian Federation from 5 to 10 September. [02/09/10]

From 6 to 9 September Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is participating in the annual Stockholm World Water Week (SWWW), including in a UN-WATER partners meeting, and speaking on the Ramsar Convention and water in an SWWW symposium on “International Year of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management: Science-Policy Interfaces”. [06/09/10]

Monica Zavagli, Scientific & Technical Support Officer, and the STRP lead for the Wetlands Restoration Thematic Work Area, Kevin Erwin are attending the 7th SER European Conference on Ecological Restoration in Avignon, France, from 26-27 August. [25/08/10]

Lew Young, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia - Oceania, will be away from the Secretariat from 6 July until 22 August. He will be visiting Bhutan from 12-17 July, the Lao PDR from 19-24 July, and will then be in New Caledonia from 30 July - 7 August for a workshop on wetlands in the Pacific region. For the remainder of the time, he will be based in Hong Kong. [05/07/10]

Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer will be in Urmia, Iran, from the 9 -13 August running a workshop for CEPA National Focal Points in central Asia and eastern Europe. [06/08/10]

Marian Gwilliam, Assistant Advisor for Asia-Oceania is in New Caledonia from 26 July to 9 August to take part in a workshop on wetlands in the Pacific region. [26/07/10]

From 31 July to 9 August Alexia Dufour, Regional Affairs Officer will be in Nouméa, New Caledonia, to attend a Workshop co-organized by the Ramsar Secretariat and SPREP to Review Implementation of the ‘Regional Wetlands Action Plan for Pacific Islands’. [22/07/10]

Deputy Secretary Nick Davidson is in Ede, the Netherlands on 29 and 30 July for discussions with Wetlands International (WI) on the development of their “Wetlands Knowledge-base” work in relation to the Ramsar Sites Information Service and related Ramsar STRP and WI work. [28/07/10]

SG, Anada Tiéga is in Cambridge, UK, from 20 to 21 July, to visit the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) and discuss the implementation of the MOU signed on 4 June 2010. On 22 July he will take part in the celebration of the 10th Anniversary of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT) in London. He will be back in the office on 27 July. [20/07/10]

Cathleen Cybele, Assistant Advisor for Africa is in Cape Verde to visit a SGF project from 21 to 25 July. [22/07/10]

From 9-20 July, Deputy Secretary General Nick Davidson is in Canberra and Albury, Australia, to participate in a workshop on climate adaptation options in the Murray-Darling Basin; meet with Ramsar’s Administrative Authority and work with STRP member Max Finlayson on finalizing a number of STRP products and reports. [09/07/10]

Nick Davidson, DSG, is in Salt Lake City - Utah, USA, from 27 June to 2 July participating in the 2010 meeting of the Society for Wetland Scientists (SWS). [24/06/10]

Lew Young, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia - Oceania, will be attending the 16th Scientific Council Meeting of the Convention on Migratory Species in Bonn, Germany, 28-30 June, 2010. [25/06/10]

Maria Rivera, Senior Advisor for Americas, will be in Mexico from 21 to 26 June in a Ramsar Advisory Mission with experts in Environmental Impact Assessment and conflict management to evaluate the impacts of development projects to the Ramsar sites Marismas Nacionales and Laguna Huisache Caimanero.  [21/06/10]

Fom 23 to 26 June, SG Anada Tiéga is in the United States to attend the special meeting of the UN Environment Management Group (EMG). [24/06/10]


Alexia Dufour, Regional Affairs Officer, is in the Republic of Congo from 23 to 28 June to participate in a Ramsar Advisory Mission (RAM) on the Cayo-Loufoualeba site. [18/06/10]

From 22 to 24 June, Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, will present the Ramsar Convention priorities in Albania during a UNEP workshop on MEA for Albanian civil servants in order to strengthen Albania’s participation in international environmental cooperation. [18/06/10]

From 22 June to 24 June, Deputy Secretary General Nick Davidson is in London (UK) participating in the 2010 Biodiversity Indicators Partnership (BIP) project Steering Committee and Technical Partners meetings. [18/06/10]

From 10-13 June the DSG Nick Davidson will be in Skokjan, Slovenia to represent Ramsar as a permanent observer to Wetlands International’s Supervisory Council ; and then in Den Haag, the Netherlands, until 16 June to speak at a workshop celebrating the 15th anniversary of the African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and to sign a partnership agreement for continuing the “Wings over Wetlands” waterbird flyways initiative. [04/06/10]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, provided a testimony (“grand témoin”) on river conservation at the meeting “Eau, espaces, espèces” in Orléans, France, 9-10 June.

Lew Young, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia-Oceania, will be attending the ‘Workshop on Wetlands and the Ramsar Convention in the Arabian Peninsula’ in Muscat, Oman from 7 – 9 June. The workshop aims to develop a work plan to support the conservation and wise use of wetlands in the Arabian Peninsula, especially amongst the countries that are not yet Contracting Parties to the Ramsar Convention. [04/06/10]

Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, is in Busan, Korea, from 7 to 11 June to attend the third meeting of the Ad Hoc Intergovernmental and Multi-Stakeholder Group on an Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). [07/06/10]

Deputy Secretary General Nick Davidson is in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, 7-9 June, along with Senior Advisor for Asia/Oceania Lew Young for the “Workshop on Wetlands and the Ramsar Convention in the Arabian Peninsula”, during which the DSG will formally launch the Ramsar 40th Anniversary logo for 2011.

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, will be participating in the 10th meeting of the Mediterranean Wetlands Committee (MedWet/Com10) in Bastia, Corsica, from 30 May to 3 June.

Nadia Alexeeva, Assistant Advisor for Europe, will be in Arkhangelsk, Russia, 31 May - 5 June, to attend the VI International Contact Forum on Habitat Conservation in Barents (Euro-Arctic Region).

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, will be attending the conference on Nature Conservation Beyond 2010 – 100 years of conservation in Estonia, 26-28 May in Tallinn.

Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, is in Nairobi from 21 to 27 May to attend the third meeting of CBD's Working Group on Review of Implementation.


María Rivera, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, will be in Guatemala assisting in a Ramsar Advisory Mission at the Laguna del Tigre Ramsar Site from 10-16 May 2010

Monica Zavagli, Scientific & Technical Support Officer, and Nadezhda Alexeeva, Assistant Advisor for Europe, are attending a workshop on water and adaptation to climate change in transboundary basins in Geneva, 10-11 May 2010, organized by UNECE.

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, will attend the meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA-14) at the UNEP premises in Nairobi, Kenya from 10-14 May 2010.

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, will be in Greece to meet with Ramsar Greek Administrative Authority and  the MedWet Secretariat, on 17-18 May in Athens.

Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, will make a presentation on the "2010 Biodiversity target and the status of Inland Water Ecosystems" at the launch of the Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, organized by UNEP in Geneva on 10 May. 

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, will attend a meeting in Sasbach, Germany, 5 - 6 May. The meeting will take place in the transboundary Ramsar site Upper Rhine-Oberrhein and participants will debate on "how French and German municipalities may use the designation of Ramsar lead to concrete action". 

All staff members are attending the 41st meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands in Kobuleti, Georgia, 26 April to 1 May.


Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe and Nadia Alexeeva, Assistant Advisor for Europe, were in Brekstad, Ørland Municipality, Norway, 12-16 April, to attend the 2nd Nordic-Baltic Wetlands Conference “The role of protection and wise use of wetlands in securing biodiversity and ecosystem services” arranged as a part of the Nordic-Baltic Wetlands Initiative (NorBalWet). [07/04/10]

Due to the air transport perturbations, Tobias and Nadia are back in the office on Friday 23 April. [22/04/10]


Lew Young, Senior Advisor for Asia and Oceania, is visiting the Poyang Lake Ramsar site in China with a team from IUCN and WWF during the period 12-16 April. The team will also be meeting with government officials and local experts to provide examples of dam construction projects where adverse impacts to the environment have been minimized through careful planning, design and management, so that these case studies can be used as examples for the proposed dam that may be built across the mouth of the lake. [07/04/10]

Due to the air transport perturbations, Lew is back in the office on Friday 23 April. [22/04/10]

Sandra Hails, CEPA Programme Officer, is attending a CEPA workshop in Thailand, 19 to 23 April. [20/04/10]

Tobias Salathé is, together with Ramsar expert David Pritchard, on a Ramsar Advisory Mission (N°64) to Aakersvika RS in Norway on 8 and 9 April. [07/04/10]

Deputy Secretary General Nick Davidson is in Helsinki, Finland, 8-9 April, to speak on Ramsar’s experiences of developing collaborative implementation between multi-lateral agreements, at a “Synergies in the Biodiversity Cluster” symposium organized by the Ministry of Environment of Finland. [06/04/10]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe and Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, are in Paris, France, on 6 April to attend the meeting of the Steering Committee regarding the partnership between Danone, IUCN and the Ramsar Convention Secretariat. [06/04/10]

María Rivera, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, is participating in an experts meeting on the relationship between the World Heritage Convention, conservation and sustainable development from 29 to 31 March 2010 in Paraty, Brazil. [29/03/10]

The Ad Hoc Working Group on Administrative Reform has been meeting today, 29 March 2010, in the Secretariat's facilities to agree its final report and recommendations to the 41st meeting of the Standing Committee on Ramsar Secretariat matters. [29/03/10]

Lew Young, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia/Oceania, is in Turkmenbashi City, Turkmenistan, from 23 to 27 March 2010 to attend a conference on “the value of the ‘Altyn Asyr’ Turkmen Lake in improving ecological status of the region”. The conference is organized by the Ministry of Nature Protection, Ministry of Water use and Academy of Science of Turkmenistan. During his visit, Lew will also visit the Turkmenbashy Bay Ramsar site, which is the wetland that Turkmenistan listed as its first Wetland of International Importance when it acceded to the Convention in 2009. [18/03/10]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Regional Advisor for Europe, is attending the Ministerial Wadden Sea Conference, in Sylt, Germany from 17 to 19 March. [18/03/10]


María Rivera, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, is taking part in a workshop, 18 March 2010, on Wetlands and Climate Change in Latin America and the Caribbean in Veracruz, Mexico, organized by the World Bank. [18/03/10]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Regional Advisor for Europe, is in Georgia from 7 to 12 March 2010 to meet with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and local NGOs as part of the preparations for SC41 meeting (26 April to 1 May). Tobias will be in Rome from 14 to 16 March to take part in the Steering Group meeting of the Mediterranean Wetlands initiative.  [08/03/10]

Mireille Katz, Executive Assistant to the Secretary General, is currently attending the meetings with the MoE in Georgia and will be back in the office on 15 March. [08/03/10]

Deputy Secretary General Nick Davidson is participating in the final Partners Meeting and Steering Committee meeting of the “Wings over Wetlands” (WOW) African-Eurasian waterbird flyways GEF-funded project in South Africa, from 8 to 12 March 2010.  [08/03/10]

María Rivera, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, participates in the Mesoamerican Congress on Protected Areas, taking place in Mérida, México, from 9 to 12 March 2010. On 16 of March, María will be attending a workshop on Wetlands and Climate Change Latin America and the Caribbean in Veracruz, Mexico, organized by the World Bank. [08/03/10]

Abou Bamba, Senior Regional Advisor for Africa, is attending the 6th Meeting of the Regional Steering Committee of the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project (of UNIDO) from 24 to 25 February 2010 in Accra, Ghana. [22/02/10].

Tobias Salathé, Senior Regional Advisor for Europe, is currently in Tulcea, Romania, 16 February 2010, at the first meeting of the management board of the Black Sea coastal wetlands initiative; during the same trip he is discussing with the Romanian authorities the progress of preparations for the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties. [17/02/10]

María Rivera, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, is accompanying the Secretary General in the USA: Washington, D.C., from 15-17 February 2010 to have meetings with the World Bank and sign an Memorandum of Cooperation with the OAS, and from the 18-19 February they will be in Florida to sign an MOU with Stetson University, participate in a ceremony in Corkscrew Ramsar site, and visit the Everglades Ramsar site. [15/02/10]

The Secretary General, Mr Anada Tiéga, is visiting Panama and the USA, 9-19 February 2010, and the Republic of Korea and Indonesia, 21-26 February. A more detailed itinerary is available here. [11/02/10]

María Rivera, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas, is participating in the CREHO board meeting in Panama, 9-12 February 2010, and accompanying the Secretary General in discussions with authorities in the USA, 13-19 February 2010. [11/02/10]

Nadezhda Alexeeva, Assistant Advisor for Europe, is in Sofia, Bulgaria on the 14th – 18th February. She will attend the workshop “QR-modeling for wetlands management and education. Potentials and prospectives” organised by the Central Laboratory of General Ecology of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences within WETLANET project, and she will meet with the Bulgarian Ramsar National Focal Point. [10/02/10]

The Deputy Secretary General, Nick Davidson, is at Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat, 8-11 February 2010, for meetings of the Mediterranean Wetland Observatory (MWO) and the new European Space Agency GlobWetland-II project which will deliver wetland inventory and monitoring tools and capacity building for southern and eastern Mediterranean countries. [09/02/10]

Lew Young, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia/Oceania, will be in Japan from 12 – 20 February and in Seoul, Korea, from 21 – 23 February 2010. In Japan, he will principally be attending the 5th Ramsar Festival in Osaki City when there will also be a meeting of the Network Sites in Japan belonging to the East Asian – Australasian Flyway Partnership Network. At the same time, he will be making site visits and meeting with the Japanese Ramsar National Focal Point, NGOs and other stakeholders involved in wetland conservation in the country. In Seoul, he will be accompanying the Ramsar Secretary-General to hold meetings with government representatives and NGOs about the implementation of the Convention in South Korea [09/02/10].

Vainuupo Jungblut, Ramsar Programme Officer - Oceania, is in Honiara, Solomon Islands , 10 – 12 February 2010 to take part in the pre-inception workshop for the Mangrove Ecosystems for Climate change and Livelihood (MESCAL) project led by IUCN Oceania. The MESCAL Project is a USD$3.4 million project funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The main goal of the project is to help reverse recent trends in the loss of mangroves, increase resilience of the people of the Pacific to climate change and provide natural insurance against the effects of climate change and extreme events. The project involves five countries: Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu and is due for completion at the end of 2013. [06/02/10]

Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, Abou Bamba, Senior Advisor for Africa, and Assistant Advisor Cynthia Kibata are in Seychelles to participate in World Wetlands Week celebrations in that country. Read more here. [01/02/10]

The Deputy Secretary General, Nick Davidson, is participating in the 6th Trondheim Conference on Biodiversity (1-5 February 2010, hosted by the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment), which this year is focusing on lessons learned from the 2010 biodiversity target and the development of post-2010 targets under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and on 2 February he will be giving a World Wetlands Day presentation to the conference. [29/01/10]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Advisor for Europe, is participating in the “high level event for the signing of the agreement on the protection and sustainable development of the Prespa Park area” in Prespa municipality, Greece. This will also be the occasion to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Prime Minister’s Prespa Park declaration on WWD 2000. [01/02/10]

María Rivera, Senior Advisor for the Americas, is celebrating World Wetlands Day in Ozama wetlands in Dominican Republic where the Administrative Authority has organized workshops with the local communities. From the 3-7 of February she will be participating in the Wetland Caribbean Initiative meeting that will take also place in Santo Domingo. [01/02/10]

Alexia Dufour, Regional Affairs Officer, is in Angers, France, 1 February 2010, where the Minister of Environment will launch the French national wetland policy in the Ramsar site “Basses vallées angevines”, and on World Wetlands Day, 2 February, she will participate in the WWD2010 press conference in Geneva at the Museum d’histoires naturelles. [28/01/10]

Lew Young, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia/Oceania, is in Kolkata, India, 1–5 February 2010, to participate in the World Wetland Day celebrations organized at the East Kolkata Wetlands Ramsar site by the South Asian Forum for Environment (SAFE). He will also visit Delhi to meet with the Ramsar National Focal Point for India during his trip. [27/01/10]

Monica Zavagli, Scientific and Technical Support Officer, is in Samoa where she has contributed an article to be distributed with a statement from the director of SPREP in a press release on WWD.

Nadezhda Alexeeva, Assistant Advisor for Europe, is in Turkey on the 1st - 4th February. She will visit an ongoing Ramsar Small Grants Fund project “Effective Management of the Ramsar Sites in Turkey”, attending “Turkey’s Ramsar Site Management Experience Sharing Meeting” in Samsun and meeting with the Ramsar Administrative Authority, the General Directorate of Nature Conservation & National Parks, the project implementing organisation, Doğa Derneği, and other project stakeholders. [27/01/10]

The Ad Hoc Working Group on Administrative Reform is holding its 4th meeting, 26 January 2010, in the Ramsar Secretariat facilities in Gland, Switzerland. [26/01/10]

Monica Zavagli, Scientific and Technical Support Officer, is in Apia, Samoa, 25-29 January 2010, for discussions with the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme concerning the work of the Scientific and Technical Review Panel. [25/01/10]

Anada Tiéga, Secretary General, is in Dakar, Senegal, 20-23 January 2010, to attend the 8th World General Assembly of the International Network of Basin Organizations (INBO). [21/01/10]

Nick Davidson, Deputy Secretary General, is in Paris 21-22 January 2010 to participate in the UNESCO International Year of Biodiversity high-level event, including representing Ramsar in a roundtable of the biodiversity-related Conventions. [21/01/10]

Assistant Advisor for Asia-Oceania, Ann Aldersey, is in Bangladesh from the 6th - 15th January. She is meeting with the Ramsar Administrative Authority, the Ministry of Environment and Forests in Dhaka. Following that, she will travel to Khulna to visit an ongoing Ramsar Small Grants Fund project in the Sundarbans Reserved Forest Ramsar wetlands, participating in project launching activities and meeting with project stakeholders. [07/01/10]

Lew Young, Senior Regional Advisor for Asia/Oceania, is in Tehran 3 – 8 January 2010 to participate in the 2nd meeting of the Collaborative Management Board of the Ramsar Regional Centre – Central and West Asia to review the work of the centre over the past couple of years and to develop a workplan for 2010. [06/01/10]

The Secretary General, Mr Anada Tiéga, is visiting Panama and the USA, 9-19 February 2010, and the Republic of Korea and Indonesia, 21-26 February. A more detailed itinerary is available here. [11/02/10]

Tobias Salathé, Senior Regional Advisor for Europe, is currently in Tulcea, Romania, 16 February 2010, at the first meeting of the management board of the Black Sea coastal wetlands initiative; during the same trip he is discussing with the Romanian authorities the progress of preparations for the 11th meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties. [17/02/10]

María Rivera, Senior Regional Advisor for the Americas