The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands

Ed: Ilse Strausa, one of the CEPA NGO Focal Points from Latvia, played a leading role in the development of this publication. My thanks to Ilse for sending copies to the Bureau and supplying the information below on the publication.

Latvia now joins Thailand in translating into their national language the Ramsar Wetland Values and Functions fact sheets, first published on World Wetlands Day 2002. Produced by the Latvian Ornithological Society, the 24-page Latvian version includes a foreword by the Minister of Environment and the President of the Latvian Ornithological Society, as well as an overview about wetlands and their conservation, and some introductory material on the Ramsar Convention. The main text presents each of the 11 original Ramsar themes with their global perspective alongside material covering the same themes from a Latvian perspective. The final page includes a useful list of contact details for the main Latvian organisations that are active in wetland research, conservation and CEPA.

The Latvian Nature Conservation Agency sponsored the adaptation of the text while the publication costs were covered by the Latvian Country Office of the Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe. The 500 copies printed so far are being distributed to environmental educators in Latvia, and the Ornithological Society is now looking for further sponsorship to print a large number of copies for wider distribution.

[For information on translation and adaptation of Ramsar's World Wetlands Day materials in 2003, go here.]

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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 ). Posted 10 September, 2003. Sandra Hails, Ramsar.