Translation and publication of Ramsar guidance (09/03/04)

Good morning everyone:

Here's an item from our "What's New" section of the Web that exemplifies implementation of operative paragraph 33 of the CEPA Resolution (VIII.31) which "URGES those Parties with other national and local languages different from the three official languages of the Convention to consider translating key Ramsar guidance and guidelines into those languages in order to make them more widely available".

The "Guidelines for integrating wetland conservation and wise use into river basin management" (Resolution VII.18 adopted at COP7 in 1999) were published in 2000, with case studies and other illustrative material, as Handbook 4 in the Ramsar Toolkit. Now the Global Environment Centre has prepared a suite of new versions of Handbook 4 to meet the needs of the Southeast Asian region. With financial support from the ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation, GEC has produced language versions in English, Indonesian, Malay, Thai, and Vietnamese, with 13 new case studies from Southeast Asia, and is making these available as a 36-page softcover brochure and in PDF format both on CD-ROM and downloadable from the "RBI Portal". More information from GEC's Oi May here http://www.ramsar.org/forum_riverbasin_seasia.htm .

Best wishes, Sandra Hails, Ramsar Secretariat

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