The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

First of the Evian Encounters set for October 1998

The Ramsar Convention's Evian Project

Evian Encounter for the Neotropics set for October 1998

The Evian Encounters is a programme consisting of four high-level seminars to be held in Evian, France, during the three-year period of the Evian Project, 1998-2000. Invitations have gone out for the first of these, for officials of the Neotropical Region, and three more Encounters are in the planning stages for other Ramsar regions.

26-30 October 1998

The two-day High Level Round Table will be held in the prestigious city of Evian, on the shores of Lake Léman, France, and the two-day briefing tour will take participants to different sites along the road from the city of Evian to La Camargue, in the south of France, one of the most significant sites in the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance.

The Encounter is designed to provide an opportunity for senior policy makers to share experiences and to gain insights into the development and implementation of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar, Iran, 1971). Among the topics under consideration will be the emerging role of the Ramsar Convention in global water management, Ramsar’s partnership with other Conventions -- most notably the Convention on Biological Diversity -- and strategies for mobilizing the resources of the bilateral and multilateral donors.

Los Encuentros de Evian: The working language of the first Evian Encounter will be Spanish.

The Evian Encounters are a component of the Evian Project, a series of activities aimed at furthering the implementation of the Ramsar Convention, financed by the Groupe Danone France (which includes the Evian mineral water company) and the French Global Environmental Facility (FFEM), with support from the city of Evian and the Conservatoire du Littoral, a French Government institution that owns and manages properties along the French coast and lake shores for conservation purposes.

For further information about the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Bureau, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ramsar@ramsar.org). Posted 7 September 1998, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.