From the Ramsar Forum

Society of Wetland Scientists seeks proposals for its Ramsar grants programme

(posted to the Ramsar Forum, 12 October 2000)

Solicitation for proposals to the Society of Wetland Scientists International Committee's Ramsar Support grant program

The Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) is a group of over 4,700 scientists, managers, administrators, consultants, teachers, students, and others with an interest in wetlands. SWS publishes a peer-reviewed scientific journal called Wetlands and a newsletter called the SWS Bulletin, holds an annual conference and regional conferences, and manages scholarship and awards programs.

In 1999 SWS established a new grant program to support SWS members with Convention on Wetlands/Ramsar-related activities, including the selection, designation, management, and networking of Ramsar sites.

The SWS International Committee Ramsar Support Grant Proposal Guidelines and application form can be found on the Internet at:

www.sws.org/regional/international/Ramsar.Support.Framework/

or you can request the grant guidelines and application from:

Eric Gilman
Society of Wetland Scientists International Committee
2718 Napuaa Place
Honolulu, HI 96822 USA
E-mail: egilman@lava.net
Phone: 808.988.1976
Fax: 808.988.1440

Applications must be received by 1 November 2000. SWS will announce decisions in December. Projects are funded at a level of US $5,000 per year on a competitive basis as reviewed by a 3-member SWS Ramsar Support Framework Subcommittee of the SWS International Committee, in consultation with a Ramsar Bureau representative. This year the SWS International Committee has US $20,000 available for the grant program. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of International Affairs has provided a grant for US $10,000 to support the SWS Ramsar Support grant program this year.

Only wetland professionals working on Ramsar-related activities in countries that are on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Development Assistance Committee List of Aid Recipients are eligible to receive grants under this program, and priority is given to applicants from countries below the threshold for World Bank loan eligibility. (The OECD DAC List of Aid Recipients can be found in the internet at www.oecd.org/dac/htm/daclst2000.htm). SWS will only consider funding projects that will be completed in one calendar year. Proposals will be evaluated on how well they match the grant program’s selection, management, and networking objectives; the likelihood of the project's success; the value of the outcome for wetland managers; the magnitude of the financial need; and the ability of the project to leverage additional funds.

Last year SWS awarded a grant to Mr. Mam Kosal, Director of Wetland International's Lower Mekong Basin Programme in Phnow Penh, Cambodia to support a program to survey and monitor coastal habitat and nominate one or more wetlands that meet Ramsar criteria for designation to the Ramsar List of Wetlands of International Importance. Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of International Affairs Western Hemisphere Program provided a US $5,000 grant to the SWS International Committee to enable an additional Ramsar Support grant award to be made to an SWS member in the Latin American and Caribbean region. SWS used this federal grant to award a second SWS grant to Dr. Eduardo da Silva of the Institute of Biology da UFBA in Salvador, Brazil to collect baseline and socioeconomic data to nominate one or more wetlands in Bahia, Brazil to the Ramsar List.

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To join the Ramsar Forum, send this message: <join ramsar-forum>, without the < >, to ramsar-mgr@indaba.iucn.org. For more information on 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 13 October 2000, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.