Recommendations of the Groningen Conference

Recommendation 2.4 on Support for the interim secretariat

2nd Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties
Groningen, the Netherlands
7-12 May 1984

Recommendation 2.4: Possibilities of financial or other support for the interim secretariat

RECALLING Recommendation 1.10 of the Cagliari Conference;

RECOGNIZING the effective contribution of the interim secretariat in the preparation and servicing of the Groningen Conference;

INFORMED of the serious shortfall in voluntary contributions provided by the Contracting Parties towards the costs of interim secretariat arrangements since the Cagliari Conference;

RECONFIRMING the need for permanent arrangements for administrative, scientific and technical support for the effective promotion and implementation of the Convention;

WELCOMING the offer made by the Government of the Netherlands to convene a Task Force with the mandate, inter alia, to examine the options available for such permanent arrangements and the ways they should be financed, so as to ensure that they will be as cost-effective as possible;

CONSIDERING the urgent need in the meantime to improve the financial situation of the interim secretariat;

THE SECOND CONFERENCE OF THE CONTRACTING PARTIES

URGES the Contracting Parties and interested international organizations to give careful consideration to the possibilities of finding financial or other means to support the interim secretariat to the Convention.

For more information about the Recommendations of the Groningen COP or the Ramsar Convention itself, 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 2 March 1997, updated 11 March 2000, Dwight Peck, Ramsar.