The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

The Mediterranean Wetlands Committee -- background and basic documents

This is only a brief introduction to MedWet/Com; for full information about MedWet, see the Web site of the Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative.

Background on the Mediterranean Wetlands Initiative (MedWet)
skip the background, go straight to the docs

MedWet is a coordination mechanism for wetland activities in the Mediterranean Basin, designed to involve all major stakeholders. It owes its origins to an international conference organized by the International Waterfowl & Wetlands Research Bureau (IWRB) [now Wetlands International] in Grado, Italy, in February 1991. The MedWet1 project (1992-1996), funded by the European Union and involving the five EU member states in the Mediterranean (France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain), began building the collaborative MedWet network and developed regional methods and tools.

As part of MedWet1, the Mediterranean Wetlands Strategy was developed by the eleven participating partners (Ramsar Bureau, the EC, 5 EU-member states, and 4 NGOs) after wide consultation in the region. MedWet1 culminated in a major Conference on Mediterranean wetlands (Venice, Italy, June 1996), at which the Mediterranean Wetlands Strategy, based on the first global Strategic Plan of the Ramsar Convention, was endorsed.

In the same year (1996), the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, under whose guidance the MedWet Initiative had been developed, established the Mediterranean Wetlands Committee (MedWet/Com). MedWet/Com meets every year and a half and guides the strategic direction and implementation of the Initiative; it includes representatives of 25 Mediterranean governments, the Palestinian Authority, the European Commission, intergovernmental conventions and UN agencies (Barcelona/UNEP; Council of Europe/Bern; Ramsar; UNDP), non-governmental organizations (BirdLife International, IUCN, Wetlands International, WWF International) and the wetland centres Greek Biotope/Wetland Centre (EKBY),  Station Biologique de la Tour du Valat in France, Sede para el Estudio de los Humedales Mediterraneos (SEHUMED) in Spain, and the Centro de Zonas Húmidas, Instituto de Conservaçao da Natureza (ICN) in Porgugal.

In 1999 MedWet became a formal inter-regional structure for the implementation of the Ramsar Convention (Resolution VII.20 of Ramsar’s COP7) and serves as a model for regional wetland cooperative structures elsewhere. A MedWet Secretariat has been established under the Ramsar Convention Bureau (the Convention’s secretariat) -- it comprises the MedWet Coordinator (who reports to the Secretary General) and four colleagues, all outposted Ramsar Bureau staff based in Athens, Greece, with the financial support of the Government of Greece, and it is assisted by the MedWet Technical Network of five well-known research and conservation institutes units (EKBY, SEHUMED, Tour du Valat, ICN, and -- joining in 2005 -- ARPAT).

Between meetings of the Mediterranean Wetlands Committee, MedWet relies on the Steering Group to take operational decisions and solve problems in the implementation of the Commitee's decisions. One representative of each of the regions of Africa, Middle East and Europe is appointed to serve for three years at a time as member of the Group.

The MedWet Technical and Scientific Team

The goal of MedWet is "to stop and reverse the loss and degradation of Mediterranean wetlands, as a contribution to the conservation of biodiversity and to sustainable development in the region."

Meetings of the MedWet Committee

More info

For further information about MedWet, visit http://www.medwet.org or see its regular newsletters, or write to info@medwet org. The book Mediterranean wetlands at the dawn of the 21st century was published in 1999 as a contribution to Ramsar’s 7^th Conference of Contracting Parties and reviews MedWet’s first eight years of activities.

For further information about MedWet or the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, please contact the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, Rue Mauverney 28, CH-1196 Gland, Switzerland (tel +41 22 999 0170, fax +41 22 999 0169, e-mail ). Posted 13 March 2001, updated with help from Sofia Spirou 28 November 2006, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.