From the
Ramsar ForumIncentives and disincentives for wetland wise use
(posted to the Ramsar Forum, 7 June 2002)
Dear friends and colleagues,
Because of an increasing demand for information and technical support in the field of incentives and disincentives for wetland conservation and wise use, the Bureau of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands has decided to be more active in this field.
The Ramsar Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) created an expert Working Group on Incentives as part of its Work Plan 2000-2002 but unfortunately for a number of reasons the Working Group was not able to make significant progress on this topic. The Bureau would now like to revive this Working Group to deal with all kinds of incentives, including those related cultural, economic, social, financial, environmental and religious aspects.
If you are interested, please review the draft resolution on incentives which will be considered by Ramsar COP8 in November 2002, on the following web page : http://ramsar.org/cop8_docs_index_e.htm.
The Bureau's proposal is, at least until Ramsar COP8 in November, to create a small, rather informal network of people from different parts of the world, interested in working on incentives for wetland conservation and wise use. Subject to the terms of COP decisions and what further work on incentives they will call for, including by the STRP, a decision will then be made on how best to formalise this network into an official Ramsar Working Group, possibly within the STRP framework. Until that time, and unless there is someone who would like to take the lead, I offer to coordinate the work of this network.
I suggest that as a first step, you express your interest in being part of the network. Those who know others who might be interested should feel free to forward them this message. In two or three weeks I then will consolidate a list of members of the network.
Our intention is to do some modest but real work. We therefore suggest the following work plan for the coming months :
1. Gather interesting papers
on incentives that directly or indirectly could be used for wetland conservation
and wise use, and eventually put them on dedicated section of the Ramsar's web
site.
2. Promote the exchange of views and ideas on interesting experiences with wetland-related
incentives worldwide.
3. As a next step, it might be appropriate to edit and publish some of these
experiences in a Ramsar book on incentives.
4. Maybe, at a later stage, publish Ramsar guidelines on incentives. This could
formally form part of the work programme for the STRP in the 2003-2005 Convention
triennium.
If you are interested in joining this active network, please let me know. If you want to be removed from the mailing list, also let me know.
Best regards to all,
Hope to hear from you soon.
Alain Lambert
Senior Advisor,
Environment and Development Cooperation
Ramsar Bureau
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For more information on the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact
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(tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail
ramsar@ramsar.org). Posted 7 June 2002, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.
